Research finds that consuming grapes often results in distinctive gene expression patterns, reduces fatty liver, and extends the lifespan of mice consuming a high-fat western-style food plan.
In complete research printed not too long ago within the journal Foods, it was reported that the long-term addition of grapes to the food plan of mice results in distinctive gene expression patterns, reduces fatty liver, and extends the lifespan of animals consuming a high-fat western model food plan. The analysis group was led by Dr. John Pezzuto of Western New England University.
Pezzuto, who’s an writer of over 600 papers within the scientific literature, mentioned he was particularly amazed by these outcomes. “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. 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.”
What is the impact of this alteration of gene expression? As proven on this paper, fatty liver is prevented or delayed. Fatty liver is a situation that impacts round 25% of the world’s inhabitants and may finally result in untoward results, together with liver most cancers. The genes answerable for the event of fatty liver had been altered in a helpful approach by consuming grapes. In ancillary work, not solely is the expression of genes altered, however metabolism can also be modified by dietary grapes. This research was not too long ago printed by a collaborative group led by Dr. Jeffrey Idle within the journal Food & Function.
Studies of grapes add a wholly new dimension to the saying ‘you are what you eat.’
In addition to genes associated to fatty liver, the work discovered that the grape-supplemented diets elevated ranges of antioxidant genes. According to Pezzuto, “Many people think about taking dietary supplements that boast high antioxidant activity. 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 outstanding impact demonstrated on this analysis was the flexibility of grapes to increase the lifespan of mice given a high-fat western sample food plan. The high-fat western sample food plan is understood to be related to opposed situations equivalent to weight problems, cardiovascular illnesses, diabetes, autoimmune illnesses, most cancers, and Alzheimer’s disease. Adding grapes to the diet, which did not affect the rate of consumption or body weight, delayed natural death. Although translating years of lifespan from a mouse to a human is not an exact science, Pezzuto notes that his best estimate is the change observed in the study would correspond to an additional 4-5 years in the life of a human.
Precisely how all of this relates to humans remains to be seen, but it is clear that adding grapes to the diet changes gene expression in more than just the liver. In studies recently published in the journal Antioxidants by Pezzuto and his team of researchers, it was 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 that the alteration of gene expression was what produced this beneficial response. More studies are needed, but it is notable that a team led by Silverman at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) reported that the daily administration of grapes had a protective effect on brain metabolism. This new research indicates that this is due to alteration of gene expression.
References:
“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” by Asim Dave, Eun-Jung Park, Avinash Kumar, Falguni Parande, Diren Beyoğlu, Jeffrey R. Idle and John M. Pezzuto, 5 July 2022, Foods.
DOI: 10.3390/foods11131984
” Addition of grapes to both a standard and a high-fat Western pattern diet modifies hepatic and urinary metabolite profiles in the mouse” by Diren Beyoğlu, Eun-Jung Park, Adolfo Quiñones-Lombraña, Asim Dave, Falguni Parande, John M. Pezzuto and Jeffrey R. Idle, 20 July 2022, Food & Function.
DOI: 10.1039/D2FO00961G
“Effect of Dietary Grapes on Female C57BL6/J Mice Consuming a High-Fat Diet: Behavioral and Genetic Changes” by Falguni Parande, Asim Dave, Eun-Jung Park, Christopher McAllister and John M. Pezzuto, 18 February 2022, Antioxidants.
DOI: 10.3390/antiox11020414
The grapes used in these studies were provided by the California Table Grape Commission, who partially supported the work as well. Kathleen Nave, president of the commission, noted that the grape growers of California are proud to have supported grape research at over 70 institutions throughout the US and the world for over 20 years. She stated that “Grape growers in California have had the privilege of supporting scores of projects over the years. Some studies have shown positive effects on health, and others have not been as promising. The results reported by John Pezzuto and his team are exciting and rewarding on many levels. The potential for improvements in human health is significant as is the strength of the data which logically supports the need for follow-up work in human clinical trials. All of this is rewarding to the growers who have funded research year after year with the sole objective of following the science and learning what we could from high caliber peer-reviewed research. Studies like the ones reported here are not only rewarding to grape growers and of interest to the scientific community, but are of value to everyone who wants to optimize their health and understands that what we eat matters. We can’t ask for more than that.”
