Resveratrol is a naturally occurring polyphenol that provides a number of anti-aging health benefits including improved metabolism, cardioprotection, and cancer prevention. Much of the work on resveratrol and cancer comes from in vitro studies looking at resveratrol actions on cancer cells and pathways. There are, however, comparatively fewer studies that have investigated resveratrol treatment and cancer outcomes in vivo, perhaps limited by its poor bioavailability when taken orally. Although research in cell culture has shown promising and positive effects of resveratrol, evidence from rodents and humans is inconsistent. This review highlights the in vivo effects of resveratrol treatment on breast, colorectal, liver, pancreatic, and prostate cancers. Resveratrol supplementation in animal models of cancer has shown positive, neutral as well as negative outcomes depending on resveratrol route of administration, dose, tumor model, species, and other factors. Within a specific cancer type, there is variability between studies with respect to strain, age, and sex of animal used, timing and method of resveratrol supplementation, and dose of resveratrol used to study cancer endpoints. Together, the data suggest that many factors need to be considered before resveratrol can be used for human cancer prevention or therapy.

Emerging research has shown that subtle factors during pregnancy and gestation can influence long-term health in offspring. In an attempt to be proactive, we set out to explore whether a nonpharmacological intervention, perinatal exercise, might improve offspring health. Female mice were separated into sedentary or exercise cohorts, with the exercise cohort having voluntary access to a running wheel prior to mating and during pregnancy and nursing. Offspring were weaned, and analyses were performed on the mature offspring that did not have access to running wheels during any portion of their lives. Perinatal exercise caused improved glucose disposal following an oral glucose challenge in both female and male adult offspring (P Ͻ 0.05 for both). Blood glucose concentrations were reduced to lower values in response to an intraperitoneal insulin tolerance test for both female and male adult offspring of parents with access to running wheels (P Ͻ 0.05 and P Ͻ 0.01, respectively). Male offspring from exercised dams showed increased percent lean mass and decreased fat mass percent compared with male offspring from sedentary dams (P Ͻ 0.01 for both), but these parameters were unchanged in female offspring. These data suggest that short-term maternal voluntary exercise prior to and during healthy pregnancy and nursing can enhance long-term glucose homeostasis in offspring.running; pregnancy; programming; mice IN 2007, 23.5 MILLION PEOPLE in the US were estimated to have diabetes, and this number is increasing (4). Interestingly, and what is often underappreciated, is that the metabolic status of an individual is decided not only by their inherited genes, nutritional intake, and physical exercise but also by maternal nutrition and obesity during pregnancy. In 1992, Hales and Barker (18) put forth the thrifty phenotype hypothesis that suggested that malnourished pregnant mothers produce smaller offspring that have a higher incidence of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease in adulthood. This hypothesis has since been modified to the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) (15,17,18).The DOHaD suggests that the maternal environment and fetal programming lead to a higher incidence of several diseases later in life (14, 16). A growing number of studies have been designed to provide evidence for the negative impact of DOHaD, using mice, rats, and sheep as animal models (11,12,31,38). Many of these studies are directed at malnutrition through protein restriction or physical stressors that produce similar effects (8,11,34,44,45), but more recent studies are elucidating the metabolic effects of high-fat diet consumption during pregnancy on offspring (22,38,44,48).It has been known since Hippocrates and Galen that physical activity is an important component of a healthy lifestyle (33). However, knowledge about the contributions of maternal exercise during pregnancy and the long-term consequences on offspring is minimal. In both rats and mice, maternal exercise during pregnancy can improve brain physiology and cognition...

Purpose Recent findings have shown the intrauterine environment can negatively influence long-term insulin sensitivity in the offspring. In an attempt to be pro-active, we set out to explore maternal voluntary exercise as an intervention in order to improve offspring insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis. Methods Female Sprague Dawley rats were split into sedentary and exercise groups with the exercise cohort having voluntary access to a running wheel in the cage prior to and during mating, pregnancy, and nursing. Female offspring were weaned into sedentary cages. Glucose tolerance tests and hyperinsulinemic–euglycemic clamp were performed in adult offspring to evaluate glucose regulation and insulin sensitivity. Results Adult female offspring born to exercised dams had enhanced glucose disposal during glucose tolerance testing (P < 0.05) as well as increased glucose infusion rates (P < 0.01) and whole body glucose turnover rates (P < 0.05) during hyperinsulinemic–euglycemic clamp testing compared to offspring from sedentary dams. Offspring from exercised dams also had decreased insulin levels (P < 0.01) and hepatic glucose production (P < 0.05) during the clamp procedure compared to offspring born to sedentary dams. Offspring from exercised dams had increased glucose uptake in skeletal muscle (P < 0.05) and decreased heart glucose uptake (P < 0.01) compared to offspring from sedentary dams in response to insulin infusion during the clamp procedure. Conclusions Exercise during pregnancy enhances offspring insulin sensitivity and improves offspring glucose homeostasis. This can decrease offspring susceptibility to insulin resistant related disease such as type 2 diabetes mellitus. Maternal exercise could be an easy, short–term, non–pharmacological method of preventing disease in future generations.

Objective-Physical activity has been suggested as a non-pharmacological intervention that can be used to improve glucose homeostasis in women with gestational diabetes mellitus. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of voluntary exercise on glucose tolerance and body composition in pregnant high fat diet fed mice.Methods-Female mice were put on a standard diet or high fat diet for two weeks. The mice were then split into 4 groups; control standard diet fed, exercise standard diet fed, control high fat diet fed, and exercise high fat diet fed. Exercise mice had voluntary access to a running wheel in their home cage one week prior to mating, during mating, and throughout pregnancy. Glucose tolerance and body composition were measured during pregnancy. Akt levels were quantified in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue isolated from saline or insulin injected pregnant dams as a marker for insulin signaling.