HEALTH & WELLNESS: Grapes may protect heart

New research on laboratory rats suggests that eating grapes could help to fight high blood pressure resulting from a salty diet and could also reduce other cardiovascular risks and heart muscle damage. The effect is thought to be due to the high level of flavonoids in grapes.

The study was led by researchers from the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center in Ann Arbor, and is published in the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences.

For the study, the researchers investigated the effect of dried grape powder when mixed in the diet of laboratory rats that had been bred to develop high blood pressure when fed on a salty diet.

“The inevitable downhill sequence to hypertension and heart failure was changed by the addition of grape powder to a high-salt diet,” said Dr. Steven Bolling.