We analyzed 3344 publications concerned with the health-related effects of resveratrol that occurs in wine and grapes. We discovered that publication activity increased until 2010 and decreased slightly afterwards. The most frequent author keywords were classified into six groups: (1) beverage-related keywords, (2) compound-related keywords, (3) disease-related keywords, (4) effect-related keywords, (5) mechanism-related keywords, and (6) broader keywords. By means of reference publication year spectroscopy, we analyzed and discussed the most frequently cited references (i.e., key papers) within the publication set. A rather large portion of the key papers exhibit a deliberative or positive attitude and report on the health effects of resveratrol, although limited data in humans preclude drawing unambiguous conclusions on its health-related benefits. From our analysis, we could not identify specific publications that provide a distinct change of direction of the ongoing scientific discourse. Moderate red wine consumption seems to bear the potential of being health promoting, whereas excessive alcohol consumption can induce liver cirrhosis and cancer.
Keywords: RPYS; bibliometric analysis; health effects; red wine; resveratrol; scientometrics.