Resveratrol
The polyphenol in red wine, taken with heart and later life in mind.
- Heart and circulation
- Cholesterol and blood fats
- Memory and thinking
- Inflammation and joints
- Blood sugar
- Weight and body fat
A plain-English overview, not advice. Written from published reviews and trials and from what people say in public forums.
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On this page
What is resveratrol?
Resveratrol is a polyphenol that plants make to defend themselves against bacteria and fungi, found in more than seventy species and above all in grape skins and seeds. Small amounts turn up in red wine and a few foods: it was picked out in the early 1990s as a possible explanation for the French paradox. Supplements concentrate it far past anything a glass holds, as trans-resveratrol drawn from grape skins or Japanese knotweed. Close to two hundred studies have since tested it across more than twenty conditions.
Why do people take resveratrol?
Heart and circulation
The thinking. The red wine story is what put resveratrol on the shelf, and the heart is still the commonest reason people reach for it. The thinking is that a compound which relaxes blood vessels and discourages platelets from clumping might show on a blood pressure cuff.
What research has found. Two pooled analyses found no overall change in blood pressure, though both saw the upper number fall at larger daily doses and in adults with type 2 diabetes. A small trial after a heart attack measured better artery widening, and a review of research in women past the menopause reported much the same. One trial ran the other way: in older men doing hard training, resveratrol blunted some of the gains the training gave alone. Studies here point in different directions, so this one is still being worked out; the dose, how long people took it and who took part all seem to matter.
Cholesterol and blood fats
The thinking. Cholesterol belongs to the same picture people carry of red wine and the heart, and resveratrol is often taken with a recent blood test in mind. The idea is that a strong antioxidant might slow the oxidation of fats in the blood.
What research has found. This is where the reviews part company most plainly. Two pooled analyses, one of seven trials in 282 adults and one of twenty-one, found no change in cholesterol or triglycerides. A dose-response analysis found falls in total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL, larger after twelve weeks, and the largest review of all, forty trials in 2,551 adults, reported modest falls in several of the same measures. The studies disagree, so this is unsettled: dose, duration and who took part all seem to shift the result.
Memory and thinking
The thinking. A good number of people take resveratrol with their seventies in mind, and memory is the part of that they can notice week to week. The thinking is that it reaches the brain, and that steadier blood flow there might show in how readily words come back.
What research has found. Healthy older adults retained more words after six months, and women past the menopause scored better on verbal memory with a larger blood-flow response to mental effort. A review of five studies in adults with memory difficulties reported better scores. Against that, a pooled analysis of four trials in 226 people found no difference on memory tests, though vigour and fatigue ratings did shift. Results here go both ways, which usually means the dose, the length of a trial or the group taking part makes the difference.
Inflammation and joints
The thinking. Aching joints and a general sense of being inflamed are why a fair number of people try resveratrol, often beside turmeric. The idea is that it interferes with the switches the body uses to turn inflammation on, so the proteins it sends out when tissue is irritated settle a little.
What research has found. Most of this is measured in blood tests. A pooled analysis of thirty-three studies found two inflammatory proteins lower, and only above 500 mg a day, while two others did not move; an earlier review of ten trials found C-reactive protein unchanged. Trials in adults with polycystic ovary syndrome, fatty liver and type 2 diabetes reported lower markers and higher antioxidant activity, and the one trial to count joints found fewer swollen and tender ones in a hundred adults with rheumatoid arthritis. No clear picture has settled here: the studies pull in different directions, and which measure was taken seems to matter as much as the supplement.
Blood sugar
The thinking. Blood sugar is where resveratrol has been tested most, and people often take it after a routine blood test has shown their numbers drifting up. The thinking is that it nudges the same energy-handling machinery the body uses when food is short, so cells answer insulin more readily.
What research has found. Who took part seems to decide the answer. A pooled analysis of eleven trials in 388 people found lower fasting glucose, insulin and glycated haemoglobin in those with diabetes, and no change at all in those without. Trials in adults with type 2 diabetes mostly run the same way; careful studies in healthy or lean volunteers, one using an insulin clamp in 24 men, found nothing. Studies here point in different directions, so this one is still being worked out; the dose, how long people took it and who took part all seem to matter.
Weight and body fat
The thinking. Resveratrol turns up in routines aimed at weight, usually as one part of a wider metabolic push. The thinking rests on what it appears to do to fat cells: slow the processes that lay fat down, and speed the ones that break it up.
What research has found. The two pooled analyses disagree. The earlier, of thirty-six trials, found small average falls in weight, body mass index, fat mass and waist, largest in adults with obesity. The more recent, twenty-three trials in 1,005 adults with overweight or obesity, found no clear change in most of those measures, with waist circumference the exception, down about two centimetres. The studies disagree, so this is unsettled: dose, duration and who took part all seem to shift the result.
What does resveratrol do in the body?
Resveratrol is not a nutrient, so the body has no job it needs it for. It is taken up from the gut readily enough, but broken down and cleared so fast that little is left circulating in its original form, and that is the biggest constraint on everything else it might do.
Inside cells it works by interference rather than by supplying anything. It is a strong antioxidant, mopping up the reactive molecules that damage tissue, and it damps down several of the signalling routes that govern inflammation, cell death and energy handling. It also has a mild oestrogen-like action on receptors in the lining of blood vessels, which is part of why so much of its research has been in women after the menopause.
What do people say about taking resveratrol?
These are anecdotes people have shared, not evidence.
What people like
- Three of the five threads read come from one long-illness community, so these reports lean towards people already managing fatigue and pain.
- More energy or sharper alertness is the commonest thing people say they notice, sometimes within days of starting.
- A few describe easier joints or steadier stamina, but each was taking several other supplements and could not separate them.
- One person who has taken it for five years reports feeling well on it, and warming up quickly after a dose.
Common complaints
- Two complaints come up about equally: feeling no different at all, and sleep disturbed unless the capsule is taken early.
- Stomach upset and headache each appear once: loose stools on a knotweed-sourced powder, and a bad headache lasting days.
- One person in the long-illness community says it clearly worsened their symptoms, the sharpest negative report in the threads read.
How people take it
- Doses described run from a hundred milligrams to two or three grams a day, with no amount anyone agrees on.
- Morning with food is the usual pattern, and one person found a larger amount every few days suited them better than daily.
- Most take it inside a wider routine, beside fish oil, glucosamine, vitamin D, creatine or quercetin, which blurs any single effect.
Read from these public discussions:
- Anyone use Resveratrol? (AnandTech, 2009)
- Resveratrol anyone? (Phoenix Rising, 2013)
- resveratrol dosing? (Phoenix Rising, 2013)
- Why aren't you giving ALA and Resveratrol a go? (Phoenix Rising, 2019)
- Anybody take an NMN supplement? (Mumsnet, 2022)
What forms of resveratrol are there?
| Form | What’s different | Per serving, on products we list |
|---|---|---|
| Trans-resveratrol | The stable form of the molecule, sold as an extract standardised to roughly 50 or 98 per cent. | not in our price tables yet |
What else is worth knowing about resveratrol?
- Trials have used anywhere from 10 mg to 3,000 mg a day, and the review that gathered them all calls resveratrol generally well tolerated up to a gram. In the longest, a year at up to two grams daily, the commonest unwanted effects were nausea, diarrhoea and weight loss.
- How much reaches the blood rises in step with the dose, and the pooled pharmacokinetic work settles on 100 to 500 mg as the range where blood levels and a very low risk of side effects sit together. An extract states its purity: 500 mg of a 50 per cent extract is 250 mg of resveratrol.
- The review of its adverse effects says plainly that how resveratrol behaves alongside other medicines has not been studied; a review of cancer research notes kidney toxicity in people with a blood cancer; and one trial at 3,000 mg a day saw liver enzymes rise rather than fall.
If you take medication, are pregnant, or have a health condition, check with a pharmacist or GP first.
The research behind this page (42 studies)
- The Effects of Resveratrol on Menopausal Cardio-metabolic Changes: A Systematic Review. (2026, systematic review)
- Effect of resveratrol on blood pressure: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized, controlled, clinical trials. (2019, meta-analysis)
- Effect of resveratrol on blood pressure: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. (2015, meta-analysis)
- Resveratrol blunts the positive effects of exercise training on cardiovascular health in aged men. (2013, randomised trial)
- Cardioprotection by resveratrol: A human clinical trial in patients with stable coronary artery disease. (2012, randomised trial)
- Resveratrol Supplementation and its Potential Benefits in Obesity-related Non-communicable Diseases. (2026, meta-analysis)
- The Effect of Resveratrol on Blood Lipid Profile: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. (2022, meta-analysis)
- Effect of resveratrol on lipid profile: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis on randomized clinical trials. (2018, meta-analysis)
- Effects of resveratrol supplementation on plasma lipids: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. (2013, meta-analysis)
- The Role of Resveratrol in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review. (2022, systematic review)
- Effect of resveratrol on cognitive and memory performance and mood: A meta-analysis of 225 patients. (2018, meta-analysis)
- Effects of Resveratrol on Cognitive Performance, Mood and Cerebrovascular Function in Post-Menopausal Women; A 14-Week Randomised Placebo-Controlled Intervention Trial. (2017, randomised trial)
- Resveratrol regulates neuro-inflammation and induces adaptive immunity in Alzheimer's disease. (2017, randomised trial)
- A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of resveratrol for Alzheimer disease. (2015, randomised trial)
- Effects of resveratrol on memory performance, hippocampal functional connectivity, and glucose metabolism in healthy older adults. (2014, randomised trial)
- Resveratrol for the Management of Human Health: How Far Have We Come? A Systematic Review of Resveratrol Clinical Trials to Highlight Gaps and Opportunities. (2024, systematic review)
- Effect of resveratrol on inflammatory cytokines: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. (2021, meta-analysis)
- Lack of efficacy of resveratrol on C-reactive protein and selected cardiovascular risk factors--Results from a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. (2015, meta-analysis)
- Resveratrol treatment in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome decreased pro-inflammatory and endoplasmic reticulum stress markers. (2020, randomised trial)
- Resveratrol reduces albuminuria in diabetic nephropathy: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. (2019, randomised trial)
- The effects of resveratrol on markers of oxidative stress in patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. (2018, randomised trial)
- Resveratrol as an effective adjuvant therapy in the management of rheumatoid arthritis: a clinical study. (2018, randomised trial)
- Resveratrol supplementation improves inflammatory biomarkers in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. (2014, randomised trial)
- The Role of Anthocyanins, Curcumin, and Resveratrol in the Prevention and Management of Metabolic Disorders: A Systematic Review. (2026, systematic review)
- Resveratrol treatment as an adjunct to pharmacological management in type 2 diabetes mellitus--systematic review and meta-analysis. (2015, meta-analysis)
- Effect of resveratrol on glucose control and insulin sensitivity: a meta-analysis of 11 randomized controlled trials. (2014, meta-analysis)
- Role of resveratrol supplementation in regulation of glucose hemostasis, inflammation and oxidative stress in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2: A randomized, placebo-controlled trial. (2022, randomised trial)
- The effects of resveratrol on metabolic status in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease. (2019, randomised trial)
- Resveratrol improves insulin resistance, glucose and lipid metabolism in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a randomized controlled trial. (2015, randomised trial)
- Resveratrol does not benefit patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. (2014, randomised trial)
- High-dose resveratrol supplementation in obese men: an investigator-initiated, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of substrate metabolism, insulin sensitivity, and body composition. (2013, randomised trial)
- Pilot study of resveratrol in older adults with impaired glucose tolerance. (2012, randomised trial)
- Resveratrol supplementation improves glycemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus. (2012, randomised trial)
- Resveratrol supplementation does not improve metabolic function in nonobese women with normal glucose tolerance. (2012, randomised trial)
- The effect of resveratrol supplementation on anthropometric indices, adiponectin and leptin levels in individuals with overweight and obesity: a graded, systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. (2026, meta-analysis)
- The effects of resveratrol intake on weight loss: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. (2020, meta-analysis)
- Anti-Inflammatory Action and Mechanisms of Resveratrol. (2021, review)
- Potential Adverse Effects of Resveratrol: A Literature Review. (2020, review)
- Resveratrol: A Double-Edged Sword in Health Benefits. (2018, review)
- Resveratrol for cancer therapy: Challenges and future perspectives. (2021, review)
- Resveratrol (RV): A pharmacological review and call for further research. (2021, review)
- The Role of Resveratrol in Cancer Therapy. (2017, review)
How much does resveratrol cost?
That depends on the form and the pack, so we work out the price of the same dose of every resveratrol product we can find and rank them.