Photo Credit: "© [Olga Kriger] / Adobe Stock
A new study suggests that eating grapes is good for your health and may even be able to prolong life when added to a fatty western diet.
The new research, published in the journal, Foods, also leads experts to believe that adding as little as two cups of grapes a day to a western diet can reduce fatty liver disease while extending the life of mice.
Part funded by the California Grape Commission, the study reinforces what is already known about grapes, that they are nutrient-dense whole foods that punch above their weight in terms of health benefits.
Lead author John Pezzuto PhD, dean and professor of pharmaceutics of the Western New England University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, explained: “Overall, I believe this work will be viewed as a tour de force in the field of nutrigenomics.
“Not only ‘you are what you eat,’ but ‘you become what you eat’ through alteration of gene expression, even in the brain. You must wonder if dietary habits and behaviour and personality are more closely related than ever imagined.”
Scientists agree that further studies need to be carried out in humans to determine whether grape consumption can have the same effect as it does on mice.
For now, experts continue to recommend a healthy, balanced diet rich in nutrient-dense whole foods to promote overall health and well-being.
