The diet of health and longevity is enriched with a new precious food, grapes! Yes, because grapes are not only anti-inflammatory and anticancer, but also prove to be a fruit capable of counteracting the condition of the fatty liver and increasing longevity. This is what emerges from a recent scientific research published in the journal Foods by a group of American researchers (Dave et al, Foods, Jul 2022).
We are what we eat
We are what we eat, this statement, attributed to Athelme Brillat-Savarin, considered the father of modern gastronomy, is finding confirmation thanks to numerous scientific studies, which testify how what we eat can improve, or even harm, our health. Today we talk about the properties of grapes and the benefits of this delicious fruit at the level of the liver and the duration of our life. American scientists started from the consideration that grapes are a commonly consumed fruit and therefore they decided to analyze its properties starting from the whole fruit, and not only from one of its active ingredients, such as resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant mainly contained in black grapes. The purpose was precisely to verify the effects of grapes within the diet.
The properties of grapes, here's the study
The study took place in the laboratory on a population of mice. The mice were divided into four groups. The first group was given a standard diet, without excesses, the second group a standard diet with the addition of grapes, the third group a diet rich in fat similar to the Western one and the fourth a diet rich in fat and grapes. The grapes were given in the form of powder and included green and black grapes, both with and without seeds. Well, after 3 months it emerged that grapes allowed us to transform the high-fat diet into a standard diet, without excess. In fact, in mice that, along with a high-fat diet also ate grape powder, all fat transport and metabolism processes were more similar to those that occur in a standard diet than in a Western-type diet. Not only that, the grapes were able to reduce the signs of fatty liver, induced instead by the high-fat diet. Finally, thanks to its action on the liver but also against free radicals, grapes have been shown to extend the life span of those who had taken them.
Conclusions
The study analyzed the effects on mice of a quantity of grapes equal to 300 grams of grapes eaten by a person weighing 70 kg. Clearly, it is not possible to include a similar quantity of grapes in one's daily, healthy and balanced diet. But it is also true that, in research, the effects of grapes have been studied within a diet high in fat, not healthy. The teaching of what was observed in the study is that, when we follow a varied and balanced diet, grapes also find their place, always without exceeding, to protect the liver, counteract fatty liver but also inflammation and free radicals and support our longevity.
