The world of resveratrol.

Abstract

Since the discovery of trans-resveratrol (3,5,4’-trihydroxystilbene) as a constituent of wine by Siemann and Creasy, first reported in 1992 (1), the possibility that this compound, almost unique to red wine among constituents of the human diet, may in large measure account for the putative health benefits of this beverage beyond its mere content of vulgar ethanol, excited the imagination of the scientific and medical communities, initiating a ferment of research and enquiry that continues to this day. Indeed, ripples of these activities from time to time flow into the pages of the lay press, so that resveratrol has become a molecule impacting the consciousness of many well-informed members of the lay public. In March, 1997 we published a major review incorporating 183 references forming the bulk of the world literature on resveratrol up to that time (2). Our bottom line was that the future of resveratrol did not look particularly promising given the reality that, despite its miraculous performances in the culture dish and the test tube, the intact bodies of mice and men proved to be an inhospitable millieu robbing it of its presumed powers. To us, it seemed to be a compound for whom the bell tolled , but others did not share this gloomy prognosis. In fact, so much new work on this topic has been published in a mere two years-and-a-bit that a reappraisal of the situation deserves a welcome and is mandated by the present Symposium. Resveratrol exists as trans and cis isomers. Very little is known about the latter. When the nature of resveratrol is not specified, the reader should assume that the text refers to the trans isomer.