Rodent of the week: Eat grapes

Have you seen all those gorgeous grapes in the grocery stores these days? Eat 'em. They may help you with high blood pressure that results from a salty diet.

Research published this week in the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences, examined rats from a research breed that develops high blood pressure when fed a salty diet. The rats were fed a mixture of green, red and black table grapes in powdered form along with their regular salty diet. When the grape-fed rats were compared 18 weeks later with control-group rats, who ate a salty diet without grapes, they were found to have lower blood pressure, better heart function, reduced inflammation throughout their bodies and fewer signs of heart muscle damage. Some of the rats in the control group received a blood-pressure medication. Those rats had lower blood pressure but their hearts weren't protected from damage as were the grape-fed rats.

"These findings support our theory that something within the grapes themselves has a direct impact on cardiovascular risk, beyond the simple blood pressure-lowering impact that we already know can come from a diet rich in fruits and vegetables," said Mitchell Seymour, who led the research as part of his doctoral work in nutrition science at Michigan State University.

The rats in the study mimic the condition of many Americans who develop hypertension because of their diet and then develop heart failure over time because of prolonged hypertension, the researchers noted. But the addition of the grape powder changed the trajectory of the rats' health.

-- Shari Roan

Photo credit: Advanced Cell Technology Inc.