The prolongevity effect of resveratrol depends on dietary composition and calorie intake in a tephritid fruit fly

Several studies have shown that resveratrol can extend lifespan in yeast, worm, fruit fly and short-lived fish, as well as mice under a high-fat diet, probably acting through molecular pathways similar to dietary restriction. However, the putative prolongevity effect of resveratrol has not been observed in other studies. To evaluate the robustness of the prolongevity effects of resveratrol, we designed a nutritional study to address the question, Under what nutritional conditions does resveratrol affect lifespan and reproduction? We fed 2592 individual tephritid fruit fly of the species, Anastrepha ludens, 24 diets of different sugar:yeast ratios supplemented with or without 100 microM resveratrol. Sex-specific survival and daily egg laying in females were recorded. Resveratrol was found to have no or little effect on lifespan of males in all the treatments, as well as on lifespan and reproduction of females. Only under one diet combination, resveratrol appears to increase mean lifespan of females but not at a statistically significant level after multiple comparison adjustment. These findings suggest that the prolongevity effect of resveratrol is at most limited to a narrow range of dietary composition and calorie content in this fruit fly. Coupled with a recent study indicating that resveratrol does not extend lifespan of mice fed the standard diet, our findings further question the ability of resveratrol to increase lifespan in organisms under normal conditions.