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Ingredient guide

Is resveratrol safe? Side effects and cautions

Written by the Full Measure editorial team, which sells supplements. Approved for publication by the Full Measure owners. Updated .

Drafted with AI assistance from the sources listed below. How we write these

Quick answer

LiverTox lists few side effects for resveratrol, mainly minor stomach upset, nausea, headache and fatigue. Problems grow with the dose: gut upset from 2.5 g a day, and higher LDL and liver enzyme rises around 1 g or more. It can also change how the liver clears some medicines.1,2,3,4,5

Key facts

  • LiverTox rates resveratrol an unlikely cause of liver injury, with no published cases.1
  • At 1 g a day, 6 of 40 women past menopause stopped early because of side effects.4
  • In older men, 250 mg a day blunted the fitness gain from 8 weeks of training.6
  • The EU requires supplement labels to tell people taking medicines to use resveratrol only under medical supervision.7

Side effects reported

LiverTox lists few side effects: minor stomach upset, nausea, headache and fatigue.1

Diarrhea and other gut symptoms at 2.5 g a day or more; at 2,000 mg twice a day, 6 of 8 healthy adults had diarrhea.2,8

In 40 women past menopause taking 1 g a day for 12 weeks, in a study without a placebo group, six stopped early because of side effects. Diarrhea affected 30%, one woman had a severe rise in liver enzymes without symptoms, and two had severe rashes.4

Its authors called for placebo-controlled trials, since without a comparison group not every complaint can be pinned on resveratrol.4

Liver

Slight rises in liver enzymes at 1.5 to 3 g a day that returned to normal after stopping. LiverTox rates resveratrol an unlikely cause of liver injury and reports no published cases of serious liver injury.1

In a 2026 review, trials lasting 12 weeks or more raised alkaline phosphatase, an enzyme measured in routine blood tests, an effect rated high certainty.9

If you have liver disease, ask your doctor before starting, and mention resveratrol before any blood test of liver function.

Blood fats and vessel markers at high doses

Higher total and LDL cholesterol at 1,000 mg a day in a 16-week trial of middle-aged men.3

At 1,000 mg a day for 90 days in older overweight adults, two blood markers linked to blood vessel and clotting risk rose more than with 300 mg or placebo.10

Both effects appeared at 1,000 mg a day. In the older adults, 300 mg a day did not move the same markers.10

If you train

In older men training for 8 weeks, 250 mg a day blunted the fitness gain and cancelled the fall in blood pressure that training brought in the placebo group.6

If getting fitter is your aim, weigh that finding before adding resveratrol. It comes from one small trial of 27 men around 65.6

Medicines

Ask your pharmacist or doctor first

NIH's LiverTox database lists a possible interaction between resveratrol and anticoagulant blood thinners. The warfarin label asks for more frequent INR checks whenever a botanical product is started or stopped, and MedlinePlus says some supplements may raise the risk of bleeding with warfarin.1,11,12

Expected from how the two work, not shown in studies

At 1 g a day for 4 weeks, resveratrol slowed three liver enzymes that clear many medicines (CYP3A4, CYP2D6 and CYP2C9) and sped up a fourth (CYP1A2) in 42 healthy volunteers.5

The European Union requires labels of supplements with trans-resveratrol to say that people taking medicines should use them only under medical supervision, because it may interact with specific medicines.7

LiverTox also lists a possible interaction with estrogens. If you take hormone therapy or another estrogen medicine, ask your doctor first.1

Who should ask first

  • Anyone taking a prescription medicine, especially a blood thinner1
  • Anyone with a bleeding disorder, liver disease or a hormone-sensitive condition
  • Anyone pregnant or breastfeeding, or under 18: Europe's authorization covers adults only7

The European Union allows synthetic trans-resveratrol in supplements at no more than 150 mg a day for adults. In a 29-day study of 40 healthy volunteers, 0.5 and 1 g a day were tolerated, while 2.5 and 5 g a day caused mild to moderate gut symptoms.2,7

Questions people ask

Can I take resveratrol every day?

The blood vessel trials gave it daily for up to 24 weeks, and LiverTox reports few side effects. In pooled trials of 12 weeks or more, alkaline phosphatase rose, and use over years has not been studied in the trials summarized here.1,9

Does resveratrol cause skin side effects?

Two of 40 women taking 1 g a day had severe rashes in one study without a placebo group. Rashes are not among the side effects LiverTox lists.1,4

Is resveratrol safe with kidney disease?

This page has no checked evidence for people with kidney disease. Ask your kidney doctor before taking it.

Are side effects different for men and women?

A study of 40 women past menopause at 1 g a day found diarrhea in 30%, while in mixed groups of healthy volunteers gut problems appeared from 2.5 g a day. The studies differ in dose and design, so they cannot show a true difference between the sexes.2,4

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Sources

  1. Resveratrol. In: LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; 2012-. Updated November 30, 2024. Opened 2026-10-01.
  2. Brown VA, Patel KR, Viskaduraki M, et al. Repeat dose study of the cancer chemopreventive agent resveratrol in healthy volunteers: safety, pharmacokinetics, and effect on the insulin-like growth factor axis. Cancer Res. 2010;70(22):9003-9011. Opened 2026-10-01.
  3. Kjær TN, Ornstrup MJ, Poulsen MM, et al. No Beneficial Effects of Resveratrol on the Metabolic Syndrome: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2017;102(5):1642-1651. Opened 2026-10-01.
  4. Chow HH, Garland LL, Heckman-Stoddard BM, et al. A pilot clinical study of resveratrol in postmenopausal women with high body mass index: effects on systemic sex steroid hormones. J Transl Med. 2014;12:223. Opened 2026-10-07.
  5. Chow HH, Garland LL, Hsu CH, et al. Resveratrol modulates drug- and carcinogen-metabolizing enzymes in a healthy volunteer study. Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2010;3(9):1168-1175. Opened 2026-10-01.
  6. Gliemann L, Schmidt JF, Olesen J, et al. Resveratrol blunts the positive effects of exercise training on cardiovascular health in aged men. J Physiol. 2013;591(20):5047-5059. Opened 2026-10-01.
  7. European Commission. Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/1190 of 19 July 2016 authorising the placing on the market of trans-resveratrol as a novel food ingredient under Regulation (EC) No 258/97. Official Journal of the European Union, L 196, 21.7.2016, p. 53. Opened 2026-10-07.
  8. la Porte C, Voduc N, Zhang G, et al. Steady-State pharmacokinetics and tolerability of trans-resveratrol 2000 mg twice daily with food, quercetin and alcohol (ethanol) in healthy human subjects. Clin Pharmacokinet. 2010;49(7):449-454. Opened 2026-10-07.
  9. Sun JN, Yang R, Fang L, et al. Effects of resveratrol supplementation on multiple health outcomes: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. Nutr J. 2026;25(1):63. Opened 2026-10-01.
  10. Mankowski RT, You L, Buford TW, et al. Higher dose of resveratrol elevated cardiovascular disease risk biomarker levels in overweight older adults: a pilot study. Exp Gerontol. 2020;131:110821. Opened 2026-10-07.
  11. Warfarin sodium tablets: prescribing information and Medication Guide (Teva Pharmaceuticals USA). DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine. Published June 23, 2025. Opened 2026-10-07.
  12. Warfarin. MedlinePlus Drug Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine. Last revised March 15, 2026. Opened 2026-10-07.

This page is information, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about your own situation.