Grape consumption may lower the risk of fatty liver disease.

Background

It is essential to consume the appropriate foods in order to keep one’s health in good standing, forestall the onset of sickness, and extend one’s lifespan. Ingesting more fruits, vegetables, and grains in their entire form is one of the fundamental principles of a balanced diet.

Other essential principles include consuming fewer processed carbs, trans fats, and saturated fats.

The US Department of Agriculture’s economics research department recommends including at least two cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables in your diet each day.

Fruits and vegetables play a crucial role in preserving the body’s equilibrium and treating pathological diseases. Vegetables and fruits can alter gene expression and control metabolic pathways, according to growing body of data.

Grapes are regarded as miracle fruits. It is recognised that the bioactive elements in grapes can modify the pathophysiology of a number of illnesses, including cancer, diabetes, obesity, and inflammatory diseases.

Additionally, grape compounds are also proven to slow down ageing and lengthen life.

The experts in the current study assessed the effectiveness of grapes in reducing the negative health consequences brought on by a high-fat western-pattern diet.

The risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic illnesses including diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is increased by a diet high in saturated fats, refined carbohydrates, and salt. It is also known that the diet shortens mice’s lives by 34%.

The researchers wanted to know how grape consumption affected longevity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, lipid metabolism, and hepatic gene expression. As test subjects, mice were given either a semi-synthetic diet or a high-fat diet supplemented with 5% grape powder.

The daily intake of roughly 300 gm of fresh grapes by a person weighing 70 kg was calculated to be the equivalent to the supplementing of mice with 5% grape powder.

 

Important findings

Adding grapes to a typical semi-synthetic diet

The difference in gene expression between mice fed a regular diet with and without grape supplementation was examined in one section of the study.

The results of the RNA-sequencing investigation showed that the two groups differed significantly. The structural integrity of the ribosome, mitochondrial protein complex, and protein translation pathways were specifically induced by grape supplementation. Cell development, proliferation, differentiation, and growth are all correlated with the abundance of ribosomal genes.

Additionally, mice fed with a drug-containing diet showed an enrichment in drug metabolism, detoxification, antioxidant, and oxidative stress-related pathways.

Furthermore, mice fed a regular diet supplemented with grapes showed an enrichment in drug metabolism, detoxification, antioxidant, and oxidative stress-related pathways.

These routes frequently involve the antioxidant enzyme glutathione-S-transferase P1 (GSTP1). In addition to promoting the expression of other antioxidant enzymes like glutathione peroxidase, glutathione synthetase, and superoxide dismutase, the RNA-seq results showed that grape supplementation boosts the expression of GSTP1.

These results suggest that dietary grape supplementation contributes to cellular redox equilibrium maintenance, free radical neutralisation, and protection against oxidative stress.

Including grapes in a high-fat diet

A high-fat diet can increase your chance of developing a number of illnesses, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. It is believed that this disease affects about 25% of people worldwide.

The ingestion of grapes lowers lipid buildup in the liver, a key symptom of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, according to a comparison of mice given a high-fat diet with and without grape supplements.

Over 5600 genes had differing expression levels across the two groups, according to the RNA-seq results. Esterification, phospholipid metabolism, sequestration, and hydrolysis, as well as mitochondrial and peroxisomal degradation, are a few of the genes that play a role in lowering fatty liver.

Further investigation demonstrated a relationship between grape supplementation and the control of catabolic processes brought on by high-fat diets and the enrichment of mitochondrial energy metabolism.

Particularly, grape supplementation elevated the expression of genes involved in esterification, free fatty acid sequestration, and fatty acid transport and breakdown.

Additionally, it was found that adding grape supplements suppresses the expression of genes linked to lipid content enrichment, cholesterol synthesis, and the redistribution of lipids from muscle and fat to the liver.

The study also looked at the impact of grape supplements on longevity because a high-fat diet is known to shorten a mouse’s lifespan. The results showed that lifetime dietary grape consumption is linked to a notable increase in survival.

According to the findings of the study, grapes may have altered the expression of genes connected to fatty liver, which may have helped mice live longer by reducing the negative consequences of a high-fat diet.

In mice given grape supplements, there was a slight enrichment in the expression of the adiponectin receptor gene. It is known that higher levels of adiponectin receptors increase glucose tolerance.

The enhanced glucose metabolism and hepatic insulin sensitivity caused by adiponectin receptor overexpression support grape consumption’s beneficial effects on longevity.

Study importance
Researchers discovered that consuming grapes helped mice live longer and reduced the incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease caused by a high-fat diet. In addition, grapes counteract the negative effects of a high-fat diet by changing gene expression patterns.

 

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