Whether you liked it or not 2009 was the year you probably found out about resveratrol. General awareness of resveratrol as a health supplement has been growing steadily over the last few years. When news magazine 60 Minutes profiled the anti-aging compound found in red wine in a January 2009 segment though, resveratrol suddenly shot to prominence. Sales of the supplements then took off, rivaling even acai berry in volume.
But then Oprah and Dr Oz filed suit (US District Court of New York Case # 09CV7297 Judge Batts) against against 50 acai and resveratrol supplement marketers citing unlawful use of their name, and the resveratrol craze came to a screeching halt … at least, for a couple of months.
The Oprah/Dr Oz lawsuit remains in the news, but consumers appear undeterred and are picking right back up where they left off. So much so, the Nutrition Business Journal projects resveratrol sales in 2010 will be five times those of 2009.
“The thing that makes resveratrol different”, says Andrew Ekman of http://ResveratrolHabit.com, “is there is so much scientific research showing the positive effects resveratrol has on the body.” Indeed, a search for 'resveratrol' on PubMed, the government directory for scientific publications shows 564 listings for the year 2009. As these numbers indicate there is a lot of excitement in the scientific community about resveratrol.
Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, the company profiled in the 60 Minutes story continues to see positive results from the human trials it is running. Other researchers like Will Steward of the Leicester Royal Infirmary, who oversees research there, including human trials involving resveratrol for its ability to reduce the risk of cancer, are also getting positive results.
Steward has great hopes for resveratrol. In an interview with James Silver of Wired Magazine, he said of the human trials of resveratrol he recently conducted, "Resveratrol, up to five grammes daily, was well tolerated and safe, and blood markers of biological effect looked promising, showing that [resveratrol]
Though when asked about resveratrol supplements his comments struck a much more conservative tone, allowing only that, “there is no strong scientific evidence of anything that you can claim right now in terms of any potential beneficial clinical effect of resveratrol in humans.”
Scientific reserve notwithstanding, the supplement buying public doesn't seem to want to wait. Resveratrol sales grew lustily in the first quarter of 2010 and show no signs of slowing up. Says Ekman, “I think after all the exposure resveratrol got last year the public has made up it's mind about it.”
And people are voting with their wallets. Demand for the product shows they want the anti-aging benefits now and resveratrol supplements are to be where they get them.
Andrew Ekman is the founder and President of http://ResveratrolHabit.com.
ResveratrolHabit.com is a site dedicated to keeping the public up to speed on the pros and cons of resveratrol supplements and news related to resveratrol. To claim your copy of the highly informative Resveratrol Report, go to http://resveratrolhabit.com/
