The core issue for future medical developments has been understanding not just the effects, but the processes that lead to them within the body. Resveratrol actually activates proteins called sirtuins in the body.

These proteins are gaining a somewhat mythical reputation, as they have been found to powerfully stave off many health problems, including diabetes, once they are switched on and pointed in the right direction. Therein lies the trick, with the targeting of sirtuins and the proper activation of them.

For diabetes, there is a particular class of sirtuins located in the brain that control and monitor glucose metabolism, a key issue with diabetes. Therefore researchers at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center delivered resveratrol directly to the brains of mice. The targeted sirtuins were activated, and diabetic symptoms were improved, reducing high blood sugar and insulin levels.

This is a groundbreaking discovery, because it specifically shows the cause and effect process of resveratrol on a specific health problem, rather than just looking at the end result. Therefore instead of taking an all encompassing supplement, drugs can be developed in the future that specifically target sirtuins in the brain for Type 2 Diabetes patients, and those predisposed to the disease.

It also means that more specific work will be done to see which sitruins are activated by resveratrol to cause which effects. It’s a huge step to creating effective, reliable and safe resveratrol drugs that can combat some of the worst health problems on the planet. Thanks to this research at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center, a resveratrol based medication for diabetes that targets sirtuins in the brain is now a real possibility.

Lindsay Brown, associate professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences at The University of Queensland and author of the research says “The breadth of benefits is remarkable – cancer prevention, protection of the heart and brain from damage, reducing age-related diseases such as inflammation, reversing diabetes and obesity, and many more.”

“It has long been a question as to how such a simple compound could have these effects but now the puzzle is becoming clearer with the discovery of the pathways, especially the sirtuins, a family of enzymes that regulate the production of cellular components by the nucleus.

The major points to the study established the following:

Resveratrol exhibits therapeutic potential for cancer chemo-prevention as well as cardio-protection. Brown states “It sounds contradictory that a single compound can benefit the heart by preventing damage to cells, yet prevent cancer by causing cell death,.”The most likely explanation is that low concentrations of Resveratrol activate survival mechanisms of cells while high concentrations turn on the in-built death signals in these cells.”

Resveratrol may inhibit age-related disorders, like neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and inflammation. Brown says “The simplest explanation is that resveratrol turns on the cell’s own survival pathways, preventing damage to individual cells,”. “Further mechanisms help, including removing very reactive oxidants in the body and improving blood supply to cells.”

Low doses of resveratrol increase cellular survival as a function of cardio- and neuro-protection, while high Resveratrol doses increase cell death. “The key difference is probably the result of activation of the sirtuins in the nucleus,” said Brown. “Low activation reverses age-associated changes, while high activation increases the process of apoptosis or programmed cell death to remove cellular debris. Similar changes are seen with low-dose versus high-dose resveratrol: low-dose resveratrol produces cellular protection and reduces damage, while high-dose resveratrol prevents cancers,” Said Brown.

These findings seem to point to resveratrol’s dual role in both maintaining health blood flow and heart health when taken in lower doses, while also exhibiting anti-cancer ant-tumor qualities in larger doses.
Final notes made by Stephen Taylor, from the University of Queensland Pharmacology department, is that red wine Resveratrol is largely inactivated by the digestive processes in the stomach and liver before it reaches the blood stream. So, he concludes that the biological effects could be even more profound with greater bioavailability – this suggests the possible potency of Resveratrol supplements that deliver Resveratrol in capsules, that can pass through the digestive process without dissolving rapidly, may be a better source of Resveratrol than tablet or powders.

The researchers desired to find out if resveratrol could duplicate the effects of caloric restriction in human fat cells by altering their function or size. Other studies had previously demonstrated that resveratrol inhibited lab mice, fed high calorie diets, from becoming obese by matching the effects of caloric restriction.

In their tests they saw that resveratrol hindered the pre-fat cells from increasing and from changing into mature fat cells. Resveratrol was also found to inhibit fat storage. The most intriguing discoveries from their lab tests, related to obesity prevention or treatment possibilities, were firstly,that resveratrol decreased the creation of specific cytokines that may be linked to obesity connected disorders like diabetes, and secondly, resveratrol activated the production of a protien called adiponectin which is known to reduce the risk of heart attacks and is decreased by the onset of obesity.

In summary, the researchers from Germany concluded that resveratrol holds some promise in the treatment of obesity and obesity related disorders such as diabetes and clogged heart arteries.

The article was referenced from Science Daily which reviewed this study funded by the German Research Association and the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts.

In late 1999, research was published of a study that showed that type 2 diabetic participants that drank two five-ounce glasses of red wine with their meal experienced lowered incidences of the production of compounds that can produce vascular damage, an interesting result to say the least for those studying diabetes. More recently, studies on mice have shown that even low levels of resveratrol doses can improve their sensitivity to hormone insulin. The findings could lead to the development of new therapies for both prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes. Continuing research will hopefully tell if resveratrol might have further benefits for not only type 2 diabetes and diabetic vascular disease, but other insulin disorders as well.

Resveratrol is known to activate a gene called SIRT1, and SIRT1 is linked not only to insulin secretion, but also to better insulin sensitivity in mice. Other research has found a connection between SIRT1 and glucose metabolism. Researchers have reported that insulin resistant disorders like diabetes block normal activation of SIRT1, a factor resulting in the active study of SIRT1 activating compounds, of which resveratrol in certainly a front runner.

Ongoing investigation is required before resveratrol supplementation can be responsibly approved for diabetes disorders, but early findings have given enough initial positive results to warrant further research for scientists and medical researchers alike.