Resveratrol from red wine: An exercise mimetic?

I've posted before about the magic of polyphenols in wine.  A new paper out by Iman Momken et al. in the FASEB Journal (abstract)  now suggests that one of these polyphenols can protect against muscle wasting and bone loss as a result of inactivity.  The group suspended rats by the tail to prevent their hind limbs from significant weight-bearing exercise in an attempt to model the situation during spaceflight (the main focus of the paper).  One group was treated with resveratrol (aka RES, a red wine polyphenol) at 400 mg/kg per day and compared to a control group receiving no treatment or normal rats (no leg suspension).  Over a two-week period, they studied both the physiological changes in the muscle and bone, as well as biochemical pathways involved to better understand the biological function of the polyphenol. 

The physical benefits were fairly clear.  They observed significantly reduced muscle atrophy and much less bone demineralization in RES-treated rats, suggesting that the compound was protective.  The interesting aspect was in the biochemical details.  It is well known that extreme lack of muscle usage (for example, in cases of long-term bed rest) can induce insulin resistance in humans.  In this study, they claimed that rats treated with RES did not lose insulin resistance. However, I thought this was the least convincing data in the paper.  Some of the differences were significant, but I thought the overall effect on insulin/glucose levels was pretty modest.

A much more convincing effect was observed in the bone and muscle.  They monitored a number of biochemical parameters and found that suspension of the hind limb led to significant changes in the morphology and function of muscle tissue.  All of these changes were consistent with atrophy.  Rats in the control group did not have this effect.  In the RES-treated group, suspension of the hind limb was found to produce little or no changes to muscle.  Then they show that specific biochemical pathways are involved in the protective effects of resveratrol, particularly those involved in oxidative stress and fatty acid metabolism. In plain English, they found that even though there was no weight-bearing exercise to stimulate cellular activity, resveratrol was able to preserve these activities and prevent muscle degradation.  That is, it acted almost like an exercise mimetic.

Does this mean we can forget the gym and just drink our way to better health? Can we have a glass or two of wine while watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and call it exercise?  Probably not.  The amount of resveratrol in a typical glass of wine is less than a milligram.  The 250g rats in this study received 100 mg, so the observed benefit came from the equivalent of 100 glasses of wine per day.  Your muscles are really gonna need that resveratrol if you spend every day passed out next to the TV.  However, it does further illustrate the potential health benefits of these wonderful polyphenols.  Maybe on those cold, snowy days in winter you can just pop a RES pill and get the same benefit as a walk around the neighborhood. For you health nuts, you can chase it down with a glass of good Cabernet.