Resveratol has gained quite a reputation – although it has to be said built mainly by the people selling or promoting it as the latest life extending, weight losing and general all round ‘must have’ supplement – but is there any truth behind Resveratol and weight loss for men or is it all just marketing?
The first results are in from one of a dozen or so clinical trials currently in progress world wide on the effects of Resveratol and weight loss and it seems while there were definite benefits for those in the trial, weight loss wasn’t one of them!
According to an article in today’s LA Times which reported:
Without changing their diet or exercise habits, the mens’ metabolic function improved, evidence of inflammation declined, fat deposits in their livers decreased and circulating triglyceride levels fell. While their bodies burned up the same amount of energy over a 24-hour period, their bodies’ resting and sleeping metabolic rate declined and their muscles’ use of fuel became more efficient — signs that they were using and storing calories more like athletes in training than obese couch potatoes.
There was just one incongruity in the picture researchers gleaned from the clinical tests of the men taking it: although clearly healthier, they were not losing weight.
The study, which was carried out in the Netherlands, involved giving 11 obese but otherwise healthy men 150 milligrams of a Resveratol supplement per day (about the same amount your body would absorb were you to drink around 20 bottles of red wine) for 30 days and comparing them to men who had taken a placebo.
According to the article 150 milligrams given to the overweight men is far less (pound for pound) than that given to mice in earlier experiments conducted on its yet produced similar concentration levels in the blood of the men.
Meanwhile the Dutch researchers say that future studies should concentrate on testing the actual safety of taking the supplements long term as well as testing different dosage levels to the 150 milligrams they used in their trials.
Surprise surprise then, a Resveratol supplement is not going to be the ‘magic pill’ for weight loss many would have us believe but as is often the case with these things – no smoke without fire and all that – Resveratol may well have some use in the future in the battle against illnesses such as melanoma, Alzheimer’s and heart disease and there are currently 25 clinical trials either underway.
It seems while the weight loss door has been slammed closed, other more interesting doors have opened up for the scientists.
Source: LA Times