The Role of Resveratrol

With extended life expectancy globally, optimising the health and wellbeing of an increasing number

of ageing population is an important economic and medical challenge facing in Australia. Since women

have a longer life expectancy than men, they experienced more of the total disease burden due to

living with chronic diseases such as dementia, rather than from dying early from disease or injury.

Having optimal mental and physical wellbeing without or few chronic debilitating diseases enable

prolonged independent living for older adults (World Health Organization, 2015). This requires

maintaining good health throughout life perhaps by continuous implementation of healthy diet and

lifestyle choices, such as regular exercise to help maintain good circulatory function as adequate

perfusion to our brain and other vital organs are crucial for bodily functions. Non-pharmacological

interventions such as bioactive nutrients have been shown to delay or reverse the circulatory

dysfunction (Barbour et al., 2014, Sinn and Howe, 2008, Wong et al., 2013b) or improve the health of

endothelium - the functional unit of the blood vessels - which can in turn boosts mental clarity, mood,

physical vitality and immune function. Of particular interest for optimising women's health is

resveratrol, a phytoestrogen, which has been shown to improve systemic and cerebral endothelial

functions in humans (Wong et al., 2016a, Wong et al., 2013a). Considering the over-the-counter

availability of resveratrol, investigating the effects of regular long-term supplementation may help to

confirm its sustained benefits, which can eventually provide pivotal evidence in the recommendation

and regulation of food fortification and functional food claims. My research will investigate whether

chronic resveratrol supplementation can deliver sustained improvements on cognition,

cerebrovascular function, cardiometabolic markers, bone mineral density and general well-being in

elderly women.