Grab Some Grapes; Reduce Risk of Heart Disease and Diabetes?
Reported April 28, 2010
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — A new animal study shows encouraging results of a grape-enriched diet preventing risk factors for metabolic syndrome; a condition that affects 50 million Americans and is often a precursor to type 2 diabetes.
Researchers from the University of Michigan Health System studied the effect of regular table grapes that were mixed into a powdered form and integrated into the diets of laboratory rats as part of a high-fat, American style diet.
After three months, the rats that received the grape-enriched diet had lower blood pressure, better heart function and reduced indicators of inflammation in the heart and the blood than rats who received no grape powder. Rats also had lower triglycerides and improved glucose tolerance.
The study suggests that it may be possible that grape consumption can change the downhill sequence that leads to heart disease by prolonging the time between when symptoms begin to occur and a time of diagnosis.
“Reducing these risk factors may delay the onset of diabetes or heart disease, or lessen the severity of the diseases,” E. Mitchell Seymour, PhD, lead researcher and manager of the U-M Cardioprotection Research Laboratory was quoted as saying. “Ultimately it may lessen the health burden of these increasingly common conditions.”
“Although there’s not a particular direct correlation between this study and what humans should do, it’s very interesting to postulate that a diet higher in phytochemical-rich fruits, such as grapes, may benefit humans,” Steven Bolling, M.D., heart surgeon at the U-M Cardiovascular Center was quoted as saying.
Source: Experimental Biology convention, April 26, 2010