Resveratrol or Pterostilbene? An Analysis of Two Promising Stilbenes.
Stilbenes are phytochemicals, a subclass of polyphenolic compounds. They are naturally found in a wide variety of plant foods, such as grapes, blueberries, red wine, and other plants.
Among the most well-known stilbenes are resveratrol, which was the first to be discovered and probably the most famous, and pterostilbene, which was discovered later and appears to be a promising improvement over resveratrol.
Resveratrol vs. Pterostilbene: which is the better stilbene?
Extensive research has been conducted on resveratrol, demonstrating its potential health benefits, including the prevention of various adverse processes such as oxidative stress, inflammation, cancer, and diabetes.
However, the potential biological efficacy of resveratrol may be limited due to its very low bioavailability. For this reason, there are numerous products on the market with high doses of this compound, reaching up to 1.5 g of resveratrol per dose.
For a stilbene to be effective, it must be absorbed in sufficient quantity and remain unaltered long enough to achieve its desired effect. However, resveratrol is rapidly metabolized, resulting in minimal levels of unaltered resveratrol in the blood after intake.
Pterostilbene is an emerging stilbene that shows similar properties to resveratrol but without the disadvantage of low bioavailability, making it a promising alternative to resveratrol.
It is more resistant to metabolic modifications, allowing a greater fraction of ingested pterostilbene to reach its targets and be available for biological activity compared to resveratrol.
While resveratrol offers numerous potential health benefits, its low bioavailability has been a limitation requiring high doses to achieve desired effects. Pterostilbene, with its superior bioavailability and activity (resveratrol ORAC value: 28 µmol Trolox equivalents per gram [TE/g], pterostilbene ORAC value: 64 µmol Trolox equivalents per gram [TE/g]), could be a better alternative for more efficient formulations.
Similar Structures with a Critical Difference
Resveratrol and pterostilbene share a very similar chemical structure, both composed of two aromatic rings with hydroxyl (-OH) groups. However, the crucial difference between them is that resveratrol has three hydroxyl groups, while pterostilbene has only one.
Figure: López-Otín, C., Blasco, M.A., Partridge, L., Serrano, M., & Kroemer, G. (2023). Hallmarks of aging: An expanding universe. Cell, 186(2), 243–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CELL.2022.11.001
Resveratrol's three hydroxyl groups accelerate the molecule's elimination, making it difficult to achieve and maintain appreciable levels of resveratrol in the bloodstream.
In pterostilbene, the other two hydroxyl groups are replaced by methoxy (O-CH₃) groups. This difference is crucial, as it influences how quickly the compound is metabolized and eliminated from the body.
Due to its structural characteristic, pterostilbene is more lipophilic, exhibits better bioavailability, and is biologically more active than resveratrol.
Pterostilbene Shows Better Results in Studies
Some animal research has shown that pterostilbene exhibits a superior pharmacokinetic profile compared to resveratrol, which could explain why the pharmacological activity of pterostilbene often turns out to be superior to that of resveratrol.
Several publications have compared pterostilbene and resveratrol in various diseases and conditions, such as weight management and cognitive protection. In all these publications, pterostilbene has shown better results at similar concentrations than resveratrol.
Source: Liu Y, You Y, Lu J, Chen X, Yang Z. Recent advances in the synthesis, bioactivity, and pharmacokinetics of pterostilbene, an important analogue of resveratrol.
All studies show that pterostilbene is significantly more bioavailable than resveratrol; however, due to its low solubility, the body still absorbs a small fraction of the ingested product.
To address this issue, CIRCE Scientific has developed a highly improved version of pterostilbene: PTEROVITA. Contact us for more information.