Grapes and Phytos

Grapes and Phytos

 

Grapes, a handy dandy healthy finger food! Fruits can be thought of as “nature’s candy”. Grapes fit the idea of candy because they are so sweet and delicious. However, they are so much better for you than candy!

 

Have you heard that wine was good for your heart? Phytos in the skins of grapes are the primary reason. The fermentation process in making wine is not what makes the phytos active (1). Grapes and grape juice have the phytos and are great for your heart, too, plus they don’t have the downsides of alcohol. Sometimes I think people just want an excuse to drink wine!

 

Are all grapes good for you? Of course, the answer is, “Yes.” The red and purple grapes contain significantly more phytos than the green ones, but all grapes have some. The beauty of grapes is more than skin deep (2). So eat up!

 

 

What is in Grapes That is Beneficial?

 

Grapes contain a variety of disease-fighting phytos including resveratrol, quercetin (also in onions), anthocyanins, and catechins (2). The benefits of quercetin have already been reviewed in my posting on onions, but grapes and grape juice have lower concentrations than onions (3). Resveratrol may be the most promising ingredient in grapes and grape products, but other active components also have beneficial effects on the body (1). You may have heard about resveratrol in the news as being the phyto in red wine. Most of the scientific literature on phytos in grapes focuses on resveratrol.

 

 

How Can Grapes Affect the Risk of Heart Disease?

 

Wouldn’t it be great if we could eat anything we wanted to and not absorb the saturated fat and cholesterol? Well, let me give you a bit of good news. Resveratrol inhibits the secretion of bile in your intestines (4). Let me explain why that is such good news. Bile is needed for the absorption of fat and cholesterol. If bile is not being secreted, you are not going to absorb very much of the fat and cholesterol you eat. Isn’t that just wonderful! This one action of resveratrol could decrease the cholesterol levels of many people.

 

OK, let’s say you produce a lot of cholesterol even without eating saturated fat and cholesterol. One theory of how atherosclerotic plaque begins is that LDLs (your bad cholesterol) are oxidized, become toxic, and cause injury to the cells in the wall of the artery. An immune response occurs as a result of the injury and causes a “build-up” or plaque in the area. Resveratrol has been shown to inhibit LDL oxidation and resulting toxicity in cells (5).

 

What if you already have plaque build-up in your arteries? A heart attack is often caused by a blood clot traveling in an artery and getting stuck in an area where the atherosclerotic plaque has narrowed it. The interruption of blood flow in the artery is what causes the heart attack. The blood-thinning effects of aspirin is why doctors may advise their patients to take one each day. This is also one of the reasons why fish oil is good for your heart. The omega-3 fatty acids in the fish oil help to thin the blood. Resveratrol from grapes is a winner in this area, too, because it significantly decreases blood clotting activities (6). In addition to inhibiting blood clotting, resveratrol dilates the blood vessels and increases blood flow. This effect was demonstrated when male patients who already had coronary heart disease were given a red grape extract mixed in water (7). So, resveratrol has several effects that help to prevent a heart attack.

 

Rat studies have shown that even when a heart attack is occurring, resveratrol reduces the size of the heart attack and extent of injury and significantly preserves heart function (8, 9). Let me reiterate this, WHILE a heart attack is occurring, resveratrol is still at work. These studies seem to indicate that if you are at risk for a heart attack, resveratrol could save your life.

 

 

How Can Grapes Affect Cancer Risk?

 

Resveratrol from grapes has protected against all three stages of cancer development (initiation, promotion, & progression) in skin cancer in mice (10). Initiation is when a carcinogen invades your cells, promotion is when something causes the cancer to become active, and progression is when the cancer is growing. The initiation stage may occur years before promotion and progression. Even if you are not in the habit of eating grapes or drinking grape juice or wine at the time a carcinogen invades your body, resveratrol may still be able to inhibit cancer growth if you start eating grapes or drinking grape juice later. Let the reader understand that I am not encouraging anyone to start drinking wine, so I often omit it from the list.

 

Resveratrol has demonstrated antitumor activities in breast (11), multiple myeloma, lymphoma (12), leukemia (13), prostate (14), ovarian (15), uterine (16), colon (17), colorectal (18), and pancreatic cancer cells (15) in a variety of ways. In leukemia cells, resveratrol worked synergistically with chemotherapy (19) and was even able to kill drug-resistant colon cancer cells (17).

 

 

What Else?

 

We have already learned about the beneficial effects of resveratrol during a heart attack, but it has many of the same types of benefits for stroke. A study of rats pretreated with resveratrol has shown that this phyto decreases the magnitude of a stroke and prevents motor impairment associated with stroke (20). If you are at risk for stroke but drink grape juice or eat grapes, your risk of a severe stroke with motor impairment may be reduced.

Resveratrol has suppressive effects of oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory responses associated with several neurodegenerative diseases such as microaglia (21), Parkinson’s disease (22), Huntington’s disease (23), and even Alzheimer’s disease (24) and dementia (25). This phyto reduces the motor and cognitive impairment of Huntington’s disease in rodents (23). Moreso, it improves performance records in behavior tests and cognitive ability in mice with Alzheimer’s (26). These studies suggest that resveratrol has therapeutic potential in at least some neurodegenerative diseases.

 

Resveratrol appears to be of benefit for some inflammatory gastrointestinal problems. Viral-induced gastroenteritis (inflammation of the stomach) is alleviated when mice are supplemented with grape juice (27). It is also able to reduce the damage caused from chronic colitis and helps to rebuild normal colon cells in rats (28).

 

How about reducing complications of diabetes? Diabetes causes oxidative damage to the nervous system which often results diabetic neuropathy (effects nerves and feeling all over the body), but resveratrol significantly reduces this oxidation in rats (29). It may be a potent neuroprotective agent. Likewise, resveratrol decreases the oxidative stress associated with diabetic nephropathy (abnormal kidney function) (30). Even in non-diabetic acute kidney failure, it helps to restore kidney function in rats (31).

 

These studies are simply a sampling of all the good things in your body that resveratrol may do. It may also be beneficial to help prevent damaging effects of high blood pressure (32) and protect against cataracts (33) and age-related macular degeneration (34).

 

Yes, I do believe the beauty of grapes is more than skin deep!

 

 

 

How to Incorporate Grapes into Your Life

 

In my introductory posting, I caution against supplements but advocate getting your phytos in foods. Phytos in foods are not going to be toxic to your body. As with other antioxidants, taking too much grape extract in a supplement form may actually cause oxidation and the formation of free radicals.

 

How simple can it be to incorporate grapes into your life? Buy grapes and wash them. You may enjoy popping them by the handfuls. Take them as a healthy, disease-fighting snack to school or work. Eat them as a snack after you get home or as a dessert at your meals. In fact, I am eating some right now! Freeze them if you think you will not eat them in a timely manner. You can then eat them straight from the freezer. They are like bite-sized popsicles!

 

Include them in fruit salads, green salads, and gelatins. They can be used as garnishes for many cooked dishes. By the way, you are supposed to eat these garnishes. I even saw a recipe of grilled grapes and other fruits on skewers.

 

Below is a chicken salad recipe with grapes that is almost to “die for.” A popular restaurant in Abilene, Texas is famous for their chicken salad with grapes and is similar to the one below, although I do not actually have their recipe.

 

 

 

Simple Recipe:

 

Chicken Salad with Grapes

2 cups cooked, boned chicken

¼ cup light mayonnaise (or use sparingly)

¾ cup red grapes, halved

½ cup chopped pecans

 

Mix ingredients. Chill and serve with whole-grain bread or crackers.

 

CAUTION: For small children, I recommend the grapes be cut in half lengthwise so they will not get stuck in their throats and cause choking. By getting lodged in the throat, they can completely obstruct the airway and even cause death. Very large grapes may need to be cut in quarters. Small children can then derive much enjoyment by eating grapes and be safe at the same time.