Consumption of resveratrol found to improve cerebrovascular function in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus

A study published in the Journal of Nutrition & Intermediary Metabolism has evaluated the effects of resveratrol in the cerebrovascular function of people with Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

• A team of researchers from the University of Newcastle and Swinburg University of Technology in Australia aimed to determine which is the most effective dose of resveratrol to improve cerebral vasodilator responsiveness in patients with Type 2 diabetes.
• Progressive microvascular dysfunction in Type 2 diabetes patients may damage the ability of cerebral vessels to provide blood to brain regions during metabolic demand.
• Resveratrol is known to improve vasodilator function in the systemic circulation. Thus, they tested whether it has the same effect on cerebral circulation.
• The research team recruited 36 patients with Type 2 diabetes; participants’ ages ranged from 40 to 80 years.
• They gave the participants in a randomized manner a single dose of synthetic trans-resveratrol in 75 mg, 150 mg, and 300 mg, and placebo at weekly intervals.
• They used a Transcranial Doppler ultrasound to evaluate the participants’ cerebral vasodilator responsiveness to a hypercapnic stimulus, such as breathing carbogen gas for three minutes, both before and 45 minutes after the resveratrol or placebo treatment.
• Then, they measured cerebral vasodilator responsiveness in the left and right middle cerebral arteries.
• Results revealed that consumption of each dose of resveratrol caused significant increases in cerebral vasodilator responsiveness compared with placebo, with the lowest dose being the most effective.
• The researchers said that their study is the first to provide clinical evidence of an acute improvement of vasodilator responsiveness in cerebral vessels of a population who are at risk to have endothelial dysfunction and sub-clinical cognitive impairment.

In conclusion, the findings of the study indicated that resveratrol could improve cerebrovascular function in people with Type 2 diabetes.

Journal Reference:

Wong RHX, Nealon RS, Howe PRC. RESVERATROL CONSUMPTION IMPROVES CEREBROVASCULAR FUNCTION IN TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS (T2DM). Journal of Nutrition & Intermediary Metabolism. 2016;4:10. DOI: 10.1016/j.jnim.2015.12.184