Grapes contain polyphenols and flavonoids that are known for their antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects.
Grape consumption reduces fatty liver, extends lifespan, alters gene expression in the brain, changes metabolism, and has positive effects on behavior and cognition. Image credit: Nicky Pe.
“We have all heard the saying ‘you are what you eat’ which is obviously true since we all start out as a fetus and end up being an adult by eating food,” said Western New England University researcher John Pezzuto, senior author of three new studies.
“But these studies add an entirely new dimension to that old saying.”
“Not only is food converted to our body parts, but as shown by our work with dietary grapes, it actually changes our genetic expression. That is truly remarkable.”
In the first study, published in the journal Foods, Dr. Pezzuto and his colleagues found that long-term addition of grapes to the diet of mice led to unique gene expression patterns, reduced fatty liver and extended the lifespan of animals consuming a high-fat western style diet.
“What is the effect of this alteration of gene expression? Fatty liver, which affects around 25% of the world’s population and can eventually lead to untoward effects, including liver cancer, is prevented or delayed,” they said.
“The genes responsible for the development of fatty liver were altered in a beneficial way by feeding grapes.”
In the second study, published in the journal Food & Function, not only is the expression of genes altered, but metabolism is also changed by dietary grapes.
In addition to genes related to fatty liver, the authors found increased levels of antioxidant genes with the grape-supplemented diets.
“Many people think about taking dietary supplements that boast high antioxidant activity,” Dr. Pezzuto said.
“In actual fact, though, you cannot consume enough of an antioxidant to make a big difference.”
“But if you change the level of antioxidant gene expression, as we observed with grapes added to the diet, the result is a catalytic response that can make a real difference.”
Another remarkable effect was the ability of grapes to extend the lifespan of mice given a high-fat western pattern diet.
The high-fat western pattern diet is known to be associated with adverse conditions such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, autoimmune diseases, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Adding grapes to the diet, which did not affect the rate of consumption or body weight, delayed mortality.
“Although it is not an exact science to translate years of lifespan from a mouse to a human, our best estimate is the change observed in the study would correspond to an additional 4-5 years in the life of a human,” Dr. Pezzuto said.
“Precisely how all of this relates to humans remains to be seen, but it is clear that the addition of grapes to the diet changes gene expression in more than the liver.”
In the third study, published in the journal Antioxidants, the researchers found that grape consumption alters gene expression in the brain.
At the same time, grape consumption had positive effects on behavior and cognition that were impaired by a high-fat diet, suggesting the alteration of gene expression produced this beneficial response.
“More studies are required, but it is notable that the daily administration of grapes had a protective effect on brain metabolism,” they said.
“It now may be suggested this is due to alteration of gene expression.”
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Asim Dave et al. 2022. Consumption of Grapes Modulates Gene Expression, Reduces Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, and Extends Longevity in Female C57BL/6J Mice Provided with a High-Fat Western-Pattern Diet. Foods 11 (13): 1984; doi: 10.3390/foods11131984
Diren Beyoğlu et al. Addition of grapes to both a standard and a high-fat Western pattern diet modifies hepatic and urinary metabolite profiles in the mouse. Food & Function, published online July 20, 2022; doi: 10.1039/D2FO00961G
Falguni Parande et al. 2022. Effect of Dietary Grapes on Female C57BL6/J Mice Consuming a High-Fat Diet: Behavioral and Genetic Changes. Antioxidants 11 (2): 414; doi: 10.3390/antiox11020414
