Resveratrol: The New Ergogenic Aid?

Emily Tieu
About Resveratrol
Naturally occurring antioxidant
Produced by some plants to help protect against
environmental stresses (Dolinsky et al. 2012)
Found in skin of red grapes and other fruits, nuts, cocoa, and
red wine (Higdon, 2008)
Popular nutritional supplement
Wide range of benefits for cardiovascular system (Dolinsky & Dyck, 2011)
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Findings
Increase skeletal muscle mitochondrial biogenesis and fatty
acid oxidation in mice (Baur et al. 2006; Lagouge et al. 2006)
Resveratrol (RESV) supplementation increases exercise
performance in aged mice in absence of exercise training
(Murase et al. 2009)
Improved mitochondrial efficiency in overweight middle-aged
men (Timmers et al. 2011)


Significance
Improvement in physical performance is an ever-present
ongoing goal for clinical and non-clinical purposes
Many performance enhancers are dangerous and banned
Combining RESV supplementation with exercise training may
augment the beneficial effects of exercise
Purpose
Review research on the effect of RESV on skeletal muscle
and heart in animals undergoing exercise training
Evaluate RESV as a natural performance enhancing
supplement
Improvements in skeletal muscle strength and cardiac
function induced by resveratrol during exercise training
contribute to enhanced exercise performance in rats
The Journal of Physiology, 2012
Vernon W. Dolinsky, Kelvin E. Jones, Robinder S. Sidhu,
Mark Haykowsky, Michael P. Czubryt, Tessa Gordon, and
Jason R. B. Dyck
Methods
Fifty 8-week-old male Wistar rats
4 groups:
Sedentary + control
Sedentary + RESV
ET + control
ET + RESV
Endurance training 5 days/week for 12 weeks
Sedentary rats acclimated to treadmill, but no endurance
training
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Exercise Training
Rodent treadmill with electrical stimulation and air puff
60 min of daily progressive running
Exercise performance determined by time to exhaustion
http://extremelongevity.net/
extremelongevity.net/wp-content/uploads/rat_treadmill.jpg
Measurements
Endurance measured by time to fatigue
Isometric muscle measurements
Muscle force measurement of tibialis anterior and soleus
muscle
Fatigue index measured using Burke protocol
In vivo assessment of cardiac and vascular parameters
Echocardiography
Endurance capacity

Summary of Results
RESV improves exercise performance by 20% in exercise group and by 25%
sedentary group
RESV supplementation during ET increases isometric force production
18% strength gain in soleus muscle
58% strength gain in tibialis anterior
RESV did not increase endurance capacity (fatigue index) of isolated skeletal
muscles
Increased endurance not attributed to resistance to muscle fatigue
Running performance more strongly correlated with cardiovascular
performance (Foster et al. 1978)
Cardiac Function Results
Significantly improved LV ejection fraction
Increased exercise tolerance
Cardiac Function Results
Reduced LV wall stress by ~30%
Changes consistent with what would be expected from rats
that had undergone intense ET
Conclusions
Supplementation of RESV allowed rats to run longer and
further than rats only subjected to ET
ET + RESV associated with improved strength of soleus and
TA muscles
RESV is an ergogenic aid that improves ET via changes in
skeletal muscle function and cardiac performance
Limitations
Non-human model
High dosage (~146 mg resveratrol/kg body weight)
Glass of red wine has 0.3-1.3 mg
RESV supplements 100 mg-1200 mg
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Should RESV be
supplemented?
Little known about absorption and clearance of resveratrol,
the identities of its metabolic products, or its effects on the
liver
Research on resveratrol has focused on short-term effects
and on non-human models
Main dietary source is red wine
Potency of supplements?
Bottom Line
Relatively little is known
about the effects of
resveratrol on humans
There may not be enough
resveratrol in red wine to
yield clinical benefits, but a
little bit wont hurt and might
do you some good
http://mindblog.dericbownds.net/2006/11/tony-auth-and-tom-tooles-on.html
Resources
Baur JA, Pearson KJ, Price NL, Jamieson HA, Lerin C, Kalra A, Prabhu VV, Allard JS, Lopez-Lluch G, Lewis K, Pistell PJ, Poosala S, Becker
KG, Boss O, Gwinn D, Wang M, Ramaswamy S, Fishbein KW, Spencer RG, Lakatta EG, Le Couteur D, Shaw RJ, Navas P, Puigserver P,
Ingram DK, de Cabo R & Sinclair DA (2006). Resveratrol improves health and survival of mice on a high-calorie diet. Nature 444, 337342.
Dolinsky VW & Dyck JR (2011). Calorie restriction and resveratrol in cardiovascular health and disease. Biochim Biophys Acta 1812, 1477
1489.
Foster C, Costill DL, Daniels JT & Fink WJ (1978). Skeletal muscle enzyme activity, fiber composition and VO2 max in relation to distance
running performance. Eur J Appl Physiol 39, 73-80.
Higdon, Jane; Drake, Victoria J.; Steward, William P. (May 2008). "Resveratrol". Micronutrient Information Center. Linus Pauling Institute.
Lagouge M, Argmann C, Gerhart-Hines Z, Meziane H, Lerin C, Daussin F, Messadeq N, Milne J, Lambert P, Elliott P, Geny B, Laakso M,
Puigserver P & Auwerx J (2006).Resveratrol improves mitochondrial function and protects against metabolic disease by activating SIRT1 and
PGC-1. Cell 127, 11091122.
Murase T, Haramizu S, Ota N & Hase T (2009). Suppression of the aging-associated decline in physical performance by a combination of
resveratrol intake and habitual exercise in senescence-accelerated mice. Biogerontology 10, 423434.
Timmers S, Konings E, Bilet L, Houtkooper RH, van de Weijer T, Goossens GH, Hoeks J, van der Krieken S, Ryu D, Kersten S, Moonen-Kornips E,
Hesselink MK, Kunz I, Schrauwen-Hinderling VB, Blaak EE, Auwerx J & Schrauwen P (2011). Calorie restriction-like effects of 30 days of resveratrol
supplementation on energy metabolism and metabolic profile in obese humans. Cell Metab 14, 612622.