ORIGINAL ARTICLE Anti-obesity effects of resveratrol: comparison between animal models and humans Alfredo Fernández-Quintela 1,2 & Christian Carpéné 3 & Maialen Fernández 1 & Leixuri Aguirre 1,2 & Iñaki Milton-Laskibar 1 & José Contreras 4 & Maria P. Portillo 1,2 Received: 16 October 2016 /Accepted: 6 December 2016 # University of Navarra 2016 Abstract The prevalence of obesity has increased rapidly during recent years and has reached epidemic proportions. As a result, the scientific community is interested in active biomolecules which are naturally present in plants and food- stuffs and may be useful in body weight management. In recent years, polyphenols have made up one of the most fre- quently studied groups among these molecules. Numerous studies have been carried out on animals to analyse the poten- tial anti-obesity effects of resveratrol, a non-flavonoid poly- phenol, and a general consensus concerning the body-fat- lowering effect of this compound exists. By contrast, studies in humans have been few so far. Moreover, in these studies, the effectiveness of resveratrol is low. The aims of the present review are to summarize the results reported so far on this topic and to justify the differences observed between animals and humans. It seems that the reduced response to resveratrol in humans cannot be attributed to the use of lower doses in humans because the doses that induce body-fat-lowering effects in rodents are in the same range as those used in human studies. With regard to the experimental period length, treat- ments were longer in animal studies than in human studies. This can be one of the reasons contributing to the reduced responses observed in humans. Moreover, animals used in the reported studies are young while volunteers participating in human studies are adults, suggesting that resveratrol may be more efficient in young individuals. In addition to differences in the experimental designs, metabolic differences between animals and human cannot be discarded. Keywords Resveratrol . Animal models . Humans . Adipose tissue . Body weight Introduction The prevalence of obesity has increased rapidly during recent years, reaching epidemic proportions. An important issue to be emphasized is that nowadays, obesity is not only an adult problem as children are also increasingly affected. According to WHO data, in 2014, approximately 1.9 billion adults, aged 18 and older, were overweight. Of these, over 600 million were obese. As far as children are concerned, 41 million chil- dren under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2014 [41]. Obesity is associated with increased risk of development of numerous adverse health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases and cancer, among others [18]. Energy restriction and physical activity are the commonly used tools in overweight and obesity treatment. However, due to social and economic reasons among others, compliance with this treatment protocol is often very poor, especially in the long term. Furthermore, the number of drugs approved for obesity treatment remains limited as a consequence of their * Maria P. Portillo mariapuy.portillo@ehu.eus 1 Nutrition and Obesity Group, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Faculty of Pharmacy and Lucio Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Vitoria, Spain 2 CIBERobn Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Madrid, Spain 3 INSERM U1048, Institute of Metabolic and Cardiovascular Diseases (I2MC), National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM U1048) and University Paul Sabatier (I2MC-UPS), Toulouse, France 4 Endocrinology and Nutrition Service, Infanta Luisa Hospital, Sevilla, Spain J Physiol Biochem DOI 10.1007/s13105-016-0544-y