Grapes Combat Heart Failure

Eating grapes may offer some protection against heart failure caused by high blood pressure. E. Mitchell Seymour, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Michigan Health System fed hypertensive, heart failure-prone rats a grape-enriched diet for 18-weeks. Their results confirmed earlier findings showing that grape consumption reduced heart muscle enlargement and fibrosis, and improved the diastolic function of the heart. However, in this NIH-funded study the researchers were able to determine the mechanism behind these benefits. Results showed that grape consumption “turned on” antioxidant defense pathways, by increasing the activity of related genes that boost production of glutathione, the most abundant cellular antioxidant in the heart. “Our earlier studies showed that grapes could protect against the downward spiral of hypertensive heart failure, but just how that was accomplished – the mechanism – was not yet known,” said lead investigator E. Mitchell Seymour, Ph.D. “The insights gained from our NIH study, including the ability of grapes to influence several genetic pathways related to antioxidant defense, provide further evidence that grapes work on multiple levels to deliver their beneficial effects.” “Our earlier studies showed that grapes could protect against the downward spiral of hypertensive heart failure, but just how that was accomplished – the mechanism – was not yet known,” said Dr Seymour. “The insights gained from our NIH study, including the ability of grapes to influence several genetic pathways related to antioxidant defense, provide further evidence that grapes work on multiple levels to deliver their beneficial effects.”