Eating grapes can extend your life and reduce dementia risk: study

Worried about your health? There’s grape news for you!

A study published in the journal Foods has found that grapes can have numerous positive health impacts. Grapes can reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease and fatty liver disease — and can even add five years to your life.

The study was performed on female mice that were fed high-fat Western-pattern diets, with half of the mice receiving grape supplements. Scientists then compared the brain, liver and metabolic health of the two groups.

Antioxidants found in grapes can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by improving neuron function. The study also found that the grape supplements extended the lifespan of the mice.

The grape supplements were also found to boost metabolism and reduce the risk of fatty liver disease. Fatty liver disease is a growing health problem in the Western world due to poor dietary consumption. It can lead to cancer or liver failure and is often linked with Alzheimer’s disease.

Study co-author and dean of the College of Pharmaceuticals and Health Sciences at Western New England University Dr. John M. Pezzuto told the Sun that grapes can change the expression of genes and add “an entirely new dimension to the old saying ‘You are what you eat.’”

“If you change the level of antioxidant gene expression, as we observed with grapes added to the diet, the result is a catalytic response that can make a real difference,” Pezzuto said.

The California Table Grape Commission, a trade group, provided the grapes used in the study and also funded it in part.