A long-term study adds to the science backing resveratrol’s benefits as it finds the regular consumption of this plant compound could slow cognitive decline by as much as a decade.
The Australian team also concludes that resveratrol consumption amongst postmenopausal women can also contribute to enhanced cognitive and cerebrovascular functions.
“Our observed improvement in overall cognitive performance with resveratrol could potentially reverse cognitive ageing by up to 10 years”says Dr Rachel Wong, a dementia research fellow with the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council (NHMRC-ARC).
“We observed an improvement in overall cognitive performance which appeared to be due to improvements in processing speed and cognitive flexibility, which are critical to supporting executive function in the aging population.”
Since 1990, the number of people globally living with dementia has more than doubled. In 2016, dementia mortality rates in women were almost twice that of men.
This may be partly attributable to the abrupt decline of oestrogen at menopause and the associated loss of its protective effects on cardiovascular and neural functions.
Resveratrol, found in grapes, berries and nuts, has been shown to improve endothelial vasodilator function in humans and improvements to verbal memory in older adults after six months of 200 mg of supplementation per day compared to placebo.
Further research points to doses of 250 milligrams (mg) and 500mg of resveratrol as contributing to increases of resting cerebral blood flow (CBF) in younger adults, although cognitive function was not affected.
Another study found that 75mg resveratrol, the lowest dose tested, was the most efficacious dose to acutely elicit global cerebral vasodilatation and improve performance of a sustained attention task in type 2 diabetes patients.
Source:Nutrients
