Danish
The global media has often been guilty of singling out a specific dietary component as a panacea for modern lifestyle diseases. Although often having a basis in truth, the claims are often scientifically unfounded. Ole Vang of Roskilde University believes that resveratrol, a compound found in berries, grapes and red wine, potentially has extremely beneficial health effects, but wants to go the right way about proving it.
The effects of diet on lifestyle diseases
“Our focus is on understanding how the molecular mechanisms of various dietary components affect lifestyle diseases such as cancer, coronary heart diseases and diabetes,” says Vang. In pure form, some have been shown to reduce the risk of these diseases in animal models. However, we are not trying to prove that they have a health promoting effect; rather we are trying to understand why and how they work by collaborating with the scientists
that are
showing the effects of these compounds
in
vivo.” As well as resveratrol,
Vang and his team have been looking at indoles, which are found in cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage and broccoli, and other polyphenols such as
flavonoids, which are found in various fruits and vegetables. “The media coverage of resveratrol
and other potential dietary health promoting compounds has made a number of claims concerning their health
benefits and disease-
preventing effects over the years,” says Vang. “I found this rather curious, as quite honestly most of these claims had little
basis 114 scientific fact. This
“Ironically, the primary molecular target of resveratrol has yet not been identified after 15 years of intensive research”
gap between the claims and the scientific facts was really the basis for the first international resveratrol conference that was held in Helsingør in Denmark, in which we tried to figure out what public recommendation to give for resveratrol, the first of which we published last year.” One of the major problems with resveratrol
research in recent times
has been that although many effects have been shown in experimental animal models as well as in human cells, there has yet to be any conclusive proof on its effects in living humans. However, steps in the right direction have been taking place, with a small number of clinical trials carried out in the last year to see whether the compound has any preventative effects on the biomarkers (biological indicators) for coronary heart disease and diabetes. “The anti-oxidant effects of
in
resveratrol and many other dietary components have been widely described in the media over the last few decades,” says Vang, “but one of
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