Resveratrol based oral nutritional supplement produces long-term beneficial effects on structure and visual function in human patients

• Published in: Nutrients 2014-10, Vol.6 (10), p.4404-4420
• Main Authors: Richer, Stuart, Patel, Shana, Sockanathan, Shivani, Ulanski, 2nd, Lawrence J, Miller, Luke, Podella, Carla
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: age-related macular degeneration; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging - drug effects; Aging - pathology; Case Report; Dietary Supplements; DNA methylation; Epigenetics; Female; Humans; Longevinex; Macular degeneration; Macular Degeneration - diet therapy; Macular Degeneration - pathology; Macular Degeneration - physiopathology; Male; MicroRNAs; Middle Aged; Nutritional Support - methods; ophthalmology; resveratrol; Retina - drug effects; Retina - pathology; Stilbenes - administration & dosage; Stilbenes - pharmacology; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome; Visual Acuity - drug effects; visual structure and function
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu6104404

Longevinex® (L/RV) is a low dose hormetic over-the-counter (OTC) oral resveratrol (RV) based matrix of red wine solids, vitamin D3 and inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) with established bioavailability, safety, and short-term efficacy against the earliest signs of human atherosclerosis, murine cardiac reperfusion injury, clinical retinal neovascularization, and stem cell survival. We previously reported our short-term findings for dry and wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients. Today we report long term (two to three year) clinical efficacy. We treated three patients including a patient with an AMD treatment resistant variant (polypoidal retinal vasculature disease). We evaluated two clinical measures of ocular structure (fundus autofluorescent imaging and spectral domain optical coherence extended depth choroidal imaging) and qualitatively appraised changes in macular pigment volume. We further evaluated three clinical measures of visual function (Snellen visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and glare recovery to a cone photo-stress stimulus). We observed broad bilateral improvements in ocular structure and function over a long time period, opposite to what might be expected due to aging and the natural progression of the patient's pathophysiology. No side effects were observed. These three cases demonstrate that application of epigenetics has long-term efficacy against AMD retinal disease, when the retinal specialist has exhausted other therapeutic modalities.