Resveratrol (RSV), a compound present in red wine, has been hailed for providing a number of health benefits, such as reducing a person's risks for heart disease and lowering blood pressure. It is also believed to enhance the effects of exercise.
Findings of a new research, however, challenge the supposed benefit that using resveratrol supplement has on exercise. RSV has been found to impede the response of the body to physical training.
In the study published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism on July 23, Brendon Gurd from the Queen's University in Canada, along with colleagues, involved 16 men who exercised less than three hours weekly at the start of the research.
The participants then started to perform high-intensity interval training (HIIT), a type of physical training that is known to burn more fat and increase heart rate in a shorter period of time than steady-state workouts. They performed HIITs thrice per week for a period of four weeks and simultaneously took daily doses of either placebo or 150 mg of resveratrol, which is naturally found in the skin of red grapes and is now available in supplement forms that are marketed as a means of enhancing the effects of exercise.
After four weeks, the researchers found that the participants in the placebo group exhibited some of the benefits linked with physical activity while those in the group that received RSV did not see improvements in their physical fitness.
The researchers said that contrary to what many people believe, their findings suggest that RSV actually inhibits the response of the body to exercise, which means that the compound is not as beneficial in terms of enhancing the effects of exercise, as it is widely thought.
"The results we saw suggest that concurrent exercise training and RSV supplementation may alter the body's normal training response induced by low-volume HIIT," Gurd said. "The data set we recorded during this study clearly demonstrates that RSV supplementation doesn't augment training, but may impair the affect it has on the body."
Gurd said that the efficacy of the compound in boosting cardiovascular and metabolic functions is not as profound as previously believed. He also recommended that people who want to experience the benefits of physical activity should be physically active.
