Resveratrol and Physical Activity: A Successful Combination for the Maintenance of Health and Wellbeing?

Physical exercise is an essential component of human health. In recent years,scientific research has focused on identifying natural compounds and formulating newsupplements aimed at enhancing athletic performance, accelerating muscle recovery, andminimizing the damage caused by physical exertion. The use of antioxidants to counteractthe formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) following physical activity (PA) is already awidely adopted practice. Resveratrol (RES), a polyphenol belonging to the stilbene class,is well known for its potent antioxidant activity and anti-inflammatory effects primarilyattributed to the activation of sirtuins. RES possesses multiple nutraceutical propertiesused for the prevention and treatment of inflammatory, cardiovascular, neoplastic, andinfectious diseases, thus attracting attention to study its use in combination with physicalexercise to promote well-being. Animal trials combining RES and PA have mainly reportedimprovements in muscle, energy, and cardiovascular functions. The data presented anddiscussed in this narrative review are from Pubmed, Scopus, and the Human Gene Database(search limited to 2011 to 2025 with the keywords RES, sirtuins, and physical activityaltogether or in combination with each other). This review gathers several studies on RESfocusing on its nutraceutical properties, epigenetic activities via sirtuins, and the potentialbenefits of combining RES with PA in maintaining health and well-being based on trialsperformed first in animals and later in humans. Human studies have been conducted onvarious populations, including active adults, sedentary individuals, patients with diseases,and elderly individuals. Some studies have confirmed the benefits of RES observed inanimal experiments. However, in some cases, no substantial differences were foundbetween RES supplementation and the control group. In conclusion, the benefits of RES onPA reported in the literature are still not fully evident, given the contrasting studies and thestill limited number of trials, but both RES and PA are successful tools for the maintenanceof health and wellbeing.