Resveratrol? Safe or not safe?

There's a lot of interest about resveratrol in helping people and pets, but I'm still wary whether it would be safe to give to my eldest (16) arthritic cat. I keep reading different information, some saying it is safe, others saying that because it's made from grape skin, seed, and stem, that it isn't and could cause toxicity.

Have any of you used it before with good results? Do you tend to stay far from it? Any knowledge on this stuff would be great.


I have been using turmeric  and GC with her, which does seem to help. From what I've read it is considered safe and was also suggested by one of my vets.

Thanks for any suggestions and information.

I did some research on your behalf, see links below, and the conclusions seem to be that either a) it doesn't work or b) it might but there is no data yet to prove it, although studies are ongoing.  Because it's had a lot of press, there is plenty of hype out there for it.

From Wikipedia: The effects of resveratrol are currently a topic of numerous animal and human studies. Despite the mainstream press alleging resveratrol's anti-aging effects,^[5] as of 2013 there was no accepted data to form a scientific basis for the application of these claims to mammals. A series of early reports found that it increased the lifespan of model organisms. Several scientists involved in these studies went on to found Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, a company working to develop resveratrol analogs as proprietary drugs. However subsequent independent research has failed to replicate these results.^[6][7][8] In mouse and rat experiments, telomere lengthening, telomerase activity enhancement, anti-inflammatory, blood sugar-lowering and other beneficial cardiovascular effects of resveratrol have been reported; however, in every experiment to date, resveratrol has failed to extend the lifespan of lean, genetically normal mice^[9][10][11] or rats.^[12]

-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resveratrol

and also, http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2012/06/re...ng-and-unproven-and-now-with-its-own-scandal/