Resveratrol May Help with Obesity Health

by | Jul 8, 2010 | 2010, Antioxidants, Resveratrol, Weight Control

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Resveratrol in a cell study had 220% less increase in fat cell division. 

In 2004, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) found that over 66% of Americans are overweight or obese and 32% of Americans are obese. Compared to the 2004 survey, the 2006 NHANES showed the prevalence of obesity has increased for children aged 2–5 years from 5.0% to 12.4%, children aged 6–11 years saw an increase from 6.5% to 17.0%, and children aged 12–19 years saw an increase from 5.0% to 17.6% (1). The Center for Disease Control defines overweight as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) between 25 and 29.9 kg/m2 and obese has having a BMI greater than 30 kg/m2 (2).

A significant contributor is increased calorie consumption, with Americans in the year 2000 consuming 2,700 calories per day, 24.5% higher than in the 1970’s (3). This has resulted in a population of Americans that is frighteningly unhealthy. This increase in overweight and obese Americans causes an estimated 365,000 deaths per year are due to obesity (4) at a cost of $75 billion per year (5). Obesity is risk factor for heart disease (6) which costs our healthcare system $448 billion per year (7), Type 2 diabetes (8) which costs our healthcare system $174 billion per year (9), and even dementia (10) which costs our healthcare system over $100 billion per year (11).

Now a new study (12) has found that resveratrol, an antioxidant found in grapes, may help control fat cell activity and thereby help with the toxins excreted from fatty tissue that contribute to the adverse health effects of obesity (13). Resveratrol has been shown to help maintain liver health and blood sugar health by activating a protein called sirtuin 1 (14) which plays a role in lifespan (15). In the study, researcher exposed human fat cells to either a placebo or resveratrol (ranging from 10 micromoles/Liter to 100 micromoles/Liter) for 60 hours.

By the end of the 60 hour period, the fat cell division at 100 micromoles/L  showed an increase of 380% in the placebo group compared to 160% increase in the resveratrol group. There was also a 45% decrease in maturation of the fat cells by resveratrol compared to the placebo group at 100 micromoles/Liter, with even 10 micromoles/Liter decreasing fat cell maturation by 6%. Fat cell division and maturation is a measure of obesity progression. This ability to prevent fat cell division and maturation has enabled resveratrol to promote longevity in simple organisms like the bacteria C. Elegans and the fruit fly (Drosophila Melanogaster) and even in more complex animals like fish (Nothobranchius furzeri) (17, 18, 19).

For the researchers, “our findings open up the new perspective that resveratrol-induced intracellular pathways could be a target for prevention or treatment of obesity-associated endocrine and metabolic adverse effects.”   Cell studies such as this should be regarded as the beginning of the research in this area and need to be confirmed with animal and human studies.

Source: Fischer-Posovszky, Pamela, et al. “Resveratrol regulates human adipocyte number and function in a Sirt1-dependent manner.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 92.1 (2010): 5-15.

© 2010 American Society for Nutrition

Posted July 8, 2010.

References:

  1. “Childhood Obesity” posted on the Centers for Disease Control website.
  2. “Defining Overweight and Obesity” posted on the Center for Disease Control website.
  3. “Profiling Food Consumption In America” posted on the U.S Department of Agriculture website.
  4. Goldfarb B.  CDC Casts Obesity-Related Death Toll in New Light DOC News June 2005; 2(1): 1.
  5. “Obesity: Increases Medical Costs and Death” posted on the North Dakota State University website.
  6. “Risk Factors And Coronary Heart Disease” posted on the American Heart Association website.
  7. “Cardiovascular Disease Cost” posted on the American Heart Association website.
  8. Goran MI. Obesity and risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in children and adolescents  J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2003 Apr;88(4):1417-27.
  9. “Direct and Indirect Cost of Diabetes In The United States” posted on the American Diabetes Association Journals website.
  10. Craft S.  The Role of Metabolic Disorders in Alzheimer Disease and Vascular Dementia: Two Roads Converged.  Arch Neurol. 2009;66(3):300-305.
  11. Ernst, RL; Hay, JW. “The U.S. Economic and Social Costs of Alzheimer’s Disease Revisited.” American Journal of Public Health 1994; 84(8): 1261 – 1264.
  12. Fischer-Posovsky P. Resveratrol regulates human adipocyte number and function in a Sirt1 dependent manner.  Am J Clin Nutr 2010;92:5–15.
  13. Poirier P, Giles TD, Bray GA, et al. Obesity and cardiovascular disease: pathophysiology, evaluation, and effect of weight loss. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2006;26:968–76.
  14. Mantel.  SIRT1, stem cells, aging, and stem cell aging.  Curr Opin Hematol. 2008; 15(4): 326–331. doi: 10.1097/MOH.0b013e3283043819.
  15. Zhou YT.  Reversing adipocyte differentiation: Implications for treatment of obesity. PNAS 1999; 96:5 2391-2395  – posted on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America website.
  16. Yang JY.  Guggulsterone Inhibits Adipocyte Differentiation and Induces Apoptosis in 3T3-L1 Cells.  Obesity 2008; 16:16-22.
  17. Howitz KT, Bitterman KJ, Cohen HY, et al. Small molecule activators of sirtuins extend Saccharomyces cerevisiae lifespan. Nature 2003;425: 191–6.
  18. Wood JG, Rogina B, Lavu S, et al. Sirtuin activators mimic caloric restriction and delay ageing in metazoans. Nature 2004;430:686–9.
  19. Valenzano DR, Terzibasi E, Genade T, Cattaneo A, Domenici L, Cellerino A. Resveratrol prolongs lifespan and retards the onset of age-related markers in a short-lived vertebrate. Curr Biol 2006;16:296– 300