If you like grapes, there’s good news ahead.
John Pezzuto, professor and dean of the college of pharmacy and health sciences at Western New England University, details why grapes should be part of your diet.
Dr. John Pezzuto is professor and dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Western New England University in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Dr. Pezzuto previously served as Dean and Professor of Pharmacy of the Arnold and Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Long Island University, as Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and held deanships at the College of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Health Sciences at Purdue University; and the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, where he was the founding dean.
Pezzuto was the 2014 recipient of the Volwiler Research Award, the top research award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is an author of over 600 publications, including the first report describing the cancer preventive activity of resveratrol, a component of grapes and grape products such as red wine.
Pezzuto is an inventor/co-inventor of several patents, the editor of six books, a member of over 10 editorial boards of international journals, the former editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Pharmacognosy, the former editor-in-chief of Combinatorial Chemistry and High Throughput Screening , and the editor-in-chief of Pharmaceutical Biology.
He earned an A.B. in Chemistry from Rutgers University, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and a D.Sc. (h.c.) from Roskilde University, Denmark. Postdoctoral work was performed at MIT.
Potential Health Benefits of Long-Term Grape Consumption
We often read a lot about “superfoods” such as blueberries, kale and broccoli offering significant health benefits. Decades of research, my own and that of many others, reveals that grapes should also be high up on the list.
Grapes have been present in the human diet for a very long time—and have profoundly influenced human civilization over thousands of years.
Much of the attention grapes have received in the scientific community in recent decades has focused on the benefits of resveratrol, a natural polyphenol compound that is present in grapes, which has been widely recognized for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It is also notable that grapes contain more than 1,600 natural compounds known as phytochemicals that function together in complex ways, and have been shown to impact various aspects of health, from heart and kidney function to skin and eye health.
My work has explored how grapes regulate genes associated with inflammation, oxidative stress, and metabolism. Of particular interest to me is how long-term grape consumption in animal models has been shown to enhance antioxidant defenses, mitigate chronic inflammatory responses, and influence epigenetic markers such as DNA methylation and histone modifications, potentially contributing to healthier aging.
Most recently, I have focused specifically on the link between long-term grape consumption and improved muscle health in mice. This research revealed that consuming an amount of grapes equivalent to two human servings daily led to notable changes in muscle-related gene expression, and it highlights how something as basic as adding grapes to our daily diet might have the potential to enhance muscle health at the genetic level.
Given that 10-16 percent of older adults experience sarcopenia—age-related muscle loss—this discovery may present new nutritional strategies to support muscle health as people age.
It will be exciting to explore how quickly these changes can be observed in human trials.
Read More:
[WNE] – From the Dean’s Office
[WNE} – WNE Research Finds Grape Consumption Enhances Muscle Health
