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Benefit Of Eating Grapes
May Help Lower Blood Pressure,
Reducing Potential Heart Damage...
A University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center study suggests grapes
may prevent heart health risks beyond the basic blood pressure-lowering
impact that can result from a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. The heart-
protective benefits may be the result of the phyto-nutrients and naturally
occurring antioxidants present in grapes, stimulating a protective process
in the genes that reduces damage to the heart muscle.
The controlled laboratory study was presented at the 2009 Experimental
Biology convention in New Orleans. The researchers examined the effect
of a blend of green, red, and black grapes that were mixed into the diet as
part of either a high or low-salt diet. Comparisons were made between
subjects consuming the grape powder and those that received a mild dose
of a common blood pressure drug hydrazine.
After 18 weeks, the subjects that received the grape-enriched diet had
lower blood pressure, better heart function, and fewer signs of heart muscle
damage than the those that ate the same salty diet but didn't receive grapes.
Those that received the blood pressure medicine, along with a salty diet also
had lower blood pressure, but their hearts were not protected from damage
as they were in the grape-fed group.
There are the small changes that diet can bring, but the effect of grape
intake on genes can have a greater impact on disease down the road,
explained the researchers performing doctoral work in nutrition science
at Michigan State University.
Heart cells, like other cells in the body, produce an antioxidant protein
called Glutathione, which is one of the first defenders against damaging
oxidative stress. High blood pressure causes oxidative stress in the heart
and lowers the amount of protective Glutathione.
However, intake of grapes actually turned on Glutathione-regulating genes
in the heart and significantly elevated Glutathione levels. This may explain
why the hearts of grape-fed subjects functioned better and had less damage.
The study received funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute,
part of the National Institutes of Health, through a National Research Service
Award. Although the current study was supported in part by the California Table
Grape Commission, which also supplied the grapes and grape powder, the
authors note that the commission played no role in the study's design, conduct,
analysis or the preparation of the journal article for publication.
The latest results take research on the health benefits of grapes "a step further"
by examining the mechanisms impacted by antioxidant-rich grapes.
Such naturally occurring phyto-nutrients have already been shown in other
research to reduce other potentially harmful molecular and cellular activity
in the body. The study further demonstrates that a grape-enriched diet can
have broad effects on the development of hypertension and the risk factors
that go with it.
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