A new set of nutritional studies has found that table grapes offer previously unidentified health benefits, adding potentially marketable dietary value to Kern's top-grossing agricultural commodity.
In studies of mice fed the kind of high-fat diets common in Western diets, the addition of grapes yielded reductions in fatty liver, extended lifespans and improved cognition, according to recently published reports.
John Pezzuto and other researchers at Western New England University reported in the journal Foods that research observed actual changes in genetic expression, which he called "truly remarkable."
The report was one of three recently publishedstudiesdone with fruit donated by the California Table Grape Commission, which also helped pay for the research.
A published summary of Pezzuto's work said standard or high-fat diets, which are associated with negative health outcomes, lead to certain gene expressions that "each are modulated by the addition of grapes." Adding grapes, or in this case grape powder, produced changes "more similar to a standard diet than to a high-fat diet."
It went on to say the lifelong inclusion of grapes in a high-fat diet "increases longevity."
Commission President Kathleen Nave noted in a news release California grape growers have supported grape research at more than 70 institutions for more than 20 years.
"Some studies have shown positive effects on health, and others have not been as promising," she stated. "The results reported by John Pezzuto and his team are exciting and rewarding on many levels."
"The potential for improvements in human health is significant as is the strength of the data, which logically supports the need for follow-up work in human clinical trials," Nave added.
Other top crops in Kern notably, pistachios, almonds and citrus have been recognized for their nutritional value, as well, and the grape industry first started promoting grapes as healthy decades ago. But the ones announced by the commission earlier offer new detail on just how beneficial it may be to eat a crop that does well in Kern County.
Another study published in the journal Antioxidants, also by researchers at WNEU, found eating grapes changed the way genes express in the brain. It said the fruit helped behavior and cognition in mice fed a high-fat diet.
The third study, published in Food & Nutrition, presented evidence grapes change metabolism in additional to genetic expression.
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Studies in mice suggest health, cognitive benefits from eating grapes - The Bakersfield Californian
