Resveratrol Unlocks Red Wine's Anti-Inflammatory Power
Author: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Published: 2009/07/30 - Updated: 2025/12/17
Publication Details: Peer-Reviewed, Informative
Category Topic: Medical Research - Related Publications
Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main - Insights, Updates
Synopsis: This research reveals how scientists from Scotland and Singapore discovered the mechanism behind red wine's health benefits through peer-reviewed findings published in The FASEB Journal. The study demonstrates that resveratrol - a compound found in red wine - uses a dual approach to prevent dangerous inflammation by blocking the production of molecules that trigger inflammatory responses. The work has direct implications for treating severe acute conditions like sepsis, appendicitis, and peritonitis, which can be life-threatening and often leave survivors with significant organ damage and reduced quality of life. Because elderly individuals and people with compromised immune systems face particular risks from overwhelming inflammatory responses, this research offers a realistic pathway toward developing new therapeutic options that could reduce mortality and improve long-term health outcomes for vulnerable populations - Disabled World (DW).
Introduction
Scientists uncork a potential secret of red wine's health benefits as new research in The FASEB Journal shows how resveratrol works as an effective therapy for life-threatening inflammation.
Main Content
Scientists from Scotland and Singapore have unraveled a mystery that has perplexed scientists since red wine was first discovered to have health benefits: how does resveratrol control inflammation? New research published in the August 2009 print issue of The FASEB Journal, not only explains resveratrol's one-two punch on inflammation, but also show how it or a derivative can be used to treat potentially deadly inflammatory disease, such as appendicitis, peritonitis, and systemic sepsis.
"Strong acute inflammatory diseases such as sepsis are very difficult to treat and many die every day due to lack of treatment," said Alirio Melendez, senior lecturer on the faculty of medicine at Glasgow Biomedical Research Center in Scotland and one of the researchers involved in the work.
"Moreover, many survivors of sepsis develop a very low quality of life due to the damage that inflammation causes to several internal organs. The ultimate goal of our study was to identify a potential novel therapy to help in the treatment of strong acute inflammatory diseases."
In this study, researchers administered an inflammatory agent to two groups of mice. One group was pretreated with resveratrol and the other group was not. The mice that were not pretreated with resveratrol experienced a strong inflammatory response, simulating disease in humans, while the group pretreated with resveratrol was protected from the inflammation.
The scientists then examined the tissues of the mice to determine exactly how resveratrol was able to protect the mice from inflammation. They found that resveratrol used a one-two punch to stop inflammation in the mice by preventing the body from creating two different molecules known to trigger inflammation, sphingosine kinase and phospholipase D.
This finding suggests that resveratrol may be harnessed as a treatment for inflammatory diseases and may also lead to entirely new resveratrol-based drugs that are even more effective.
"The therapeutic potential of red wine has been bottled up for thousands of years," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, "and now that scientists have uncorked its secrets, they find that studies of how resveratrol works can lead to new treatments for life-threatening inflammation."
Insights, Analysis, and Developments
Editorial Note: While the promise of resveratrol-based therapies remains scientifically sound nearly two decades after this research was published, it's worth noting that moving from laboratory results to approved treatments involves rigorous clinical trials and regulatory processes that typically span years. The real value of this work lies not necessarily in drinking more red wine - which carries its own risks depending on individual health circumstances - but in understanding the biological mechanism well enough to develop more potent, targeted derivatives that could eventually benefit patients with severe inflammatory conditions. For people managing chronic health issues or those at risk for sepsis and similar conditions, this type of foundational research represents the kind of scientific groundwork necessary to create genuinely new treatment options, even if those options remain several years away from clinical availability - Disabled World (DW).Attribution/Source(s): This peer reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology and published on 2009/07/30, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.