Long-term addition of grapes to the diet of mice led to unique gene expression patterns, reduced fatty liver and extended lifespan in high-fat Western-style animals, a study reported.
Lead researcher Dr John Pesotto, from the University of Western New England, said he was particularly surprised by the findings, adding: “We’ve all heard the saying ‘what you eat is you’ which is obviously true because we all start as a fetus and end up as adults. By eating food, but these studies add a whole new dimension to this old saying, not only is food transformed into parts of our bodies, but as evidenced by our work with dietary grapes, it actually changes our gene expression, which is really cool.”
What is the effect of this change in gene expression?
According to the research paper, fatty liver is prevented or delayed, and fatty liver is a condition that affects regarding 25% of the world’s population and can eventually lead to unwanted effects, including liver cancer.
According to a study recently published by a collaborative team led by Dr. Jeffrey Edel in the journal Food & Function, the genes responsible for fatty liver growth are altered in a beneficial way by eating grapes. In overtime, not only is gene expression altered, but metabolism is altered. Also by food grapes.
Research has found that diets fortified with grapes increase levels of antioxidant genes. According to Bisotto: “A lot of people think regarding taking supplements that are high in antioxidants. In fact, you can’t consume enough antioxidants to make a big difference, but if you change the level of antioxidant gene expression, as we observed with By adding grapes to the diet, the result is a stimulatory response that can make a real difference.”
Another notable effect demonstrated in this research is the ability of grapes to extend the life of mice on a high-fat Western diet. A high-fat Western diet is associated with adverse conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmune disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. Adding grapes to the diet not only affects consumption rate or body weight but also delays natural death, although translating mouse-to-human life years is not an exact science, and Pesotto notes that his best estimate is that the change observed in the study would correspond to 4 -5 additional years in a person’s life.
The study indicated that grape consumption alters gene expression in the brain. At the same time, grape consumption had positive effects on cognition, and cognition was impaired by a high-fat diet, suggesting that altered gene expression was what produced this beneficial response.
