Background/Aims: Obesity is a chronic condition that is associated with significant morbidity and mortality rates and it is increasingly becoming a global problem. It is a complex and multifactorial condition influenced by lifestyle, behaviour and genetics. Relatively recently, there has been an increased interest in the use of plant polyphenols in the treatment of various conditions including obesity. Resveratrol, a polyphenol commonly found in red wine was identified as one of the compounds with potential weight reduction properties. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of resveratrol supplementation on factors associated with obesity in humans.
Methods: Following the PRISMA guidelines, literature searches were performed from four electronic databases (Medline/PubMed, Cochrane Library, CINAHL and EBSCO) to identify all human double blind, randomised placebo controlled trials investigating the effects of resveratrol supplementation on obesity related factors such as BMI, central obesity, adiposity, blood lipid profile and energy expenditure.
Results: Five studies met the inclusion criteria. Dietary supplementation of resveratrol ranged between 0.15-3g/day and the number of participants varied between 8-18. There were no significant differences observed for body fat measurements (P>0.05) in any of the included studies. Furthermore, only plasma triglyceride concentrations were significantly lower in the treatment group after resveratrol supplementation (P=0.03) compared to placebo and only in one study.
Conclusions: Resveratrol supplementation only had a very limited positive impact on blood biomarkers related to obesity, while there were no reported significant losses in weight.
Funding Source(s): N/A