Grapes could save life

Could grapes save life. Maybe. A new research published online in March 2013 in The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry suggests that grapes help reduce the symptoms of heart failure associated with chronic high blood pressure.

Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System found that when grapes were fed to rats, it benefited the cardiac physiology by influencing the activities of genes and metabolic pathways that boost levels of glutathione. Glutathione is the most abundant cellular antioxidant in the heart.

The researchers fed rats that were hypertensive and prone to heart failure a grape-enriched diet. After 18 weeks, they found that the grape consumption reduced the occurrence of heart muscle enlargement and fibrosis, decreased the formation of excess fibrous connective tissue, and improved the heart’s diastolic function.

Heart failure stemming from chronic hypertension can result in an enlarged heart muscle that becomes thick and rigid (fibrosis), and unable to fill with blood properly (diastolic dysfunction) or pump blood effectively, the researchers explained.

Grapes are a good source of antioxidants and other polyphenols, which the investigators credited with their beneficial effects on the heart.

However, it has to be seen if the same effects are actually possible in human beings.

Dr. Ajay Sati.