April 29, 2013. The results of a study presented on April 22, 2013 at the Experimental Biology conference held in Boston suggest a protective effect for grapes against the damaging effect of metabolic syndrome on the body's organs. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of factors including hypertension, elevated glucose, increased waist circumference and disordered blood lipids that increase the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The condition increases inflammation and oxidative stress, which results in damage to the body's tissues. E. Mitchell Seymour, PhD, of the University of Michigan Health System and his associates tested the effects of supplementation with a blend of green, red and black grape powder in rats prone to obesity that were provided with a high fat diet for 90 days. Unsupplemented animals that were given diets containing the same amount of calories served as controls.
The researchers observed lower levels of serum C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6 in animals that received whole grape powder in comparison with the control group, indicating a decrease in inflammation. Grape-supplemented animals also had reduced liver, kidney and abdominal fat, and improved antioxidant defense proteins in the heart, abdominal fat, skeletal muscle, liver, brain and kidneys.
"Our study suggests that a grape-enriched diet may play a critical role in protecting against metabolic syndrome and the toll it takes on the body and its organs," Dr Seymour stated. "Both inflammation and oxidative stress play a role in cardiovascular disease progression and organ dysfunction in Type 2 diabetes. Grape intake impacted both of these components in several tissues which is a very promising finding."
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