Grapes Rewire Skin Genes Against UV in 2 Weeks
SkimNews Take
Daily grape consumption’s rapid genetic impact on skin suggests that dietary interventions may offer a more fundamental and systemic approach to UV protection than topical applications.
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- Western New England University researchers published a study in ACS Nutrition Science showing that two weeks of daily grape consumption — equivalent to three servings — reshaped gene expression in participants' skin before and after low-dose UV exposure.
- The study found that grape consumption altered gene expression in all participants, though each person's pattern of response was unique; gene activity related to keratinization and cornification — the skin's protective barrier processes — increased across the board.
- Participants who ate grapes showed lower levels of malondialdehyde, a marker of oxidative stress, after UV exposure compared with baseline, suggesting grapes mitigated UV-driven skin damage at the cellular level.
- John Pezzuto, Professor and Dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Western New England University, said the team is "now certain that grapes act as a superfood and mediate a nutrigenomic response in humans," and predicted similar gene-expression effects likely occur in liver, muscle, kidney, and brain tissue.
- The research built on prior clinical trials that found grapes improved skin's UV resistance in roughly 30% to 50% of people; the new nutrigenomic approach suggests the benefits may be far more widespread.
- The study was a collaboration with Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, and was funded by the California Table Grape Commission.
Why it matters: Prior clinical trials pegged grapes' skin benefits to 30-50% of people; this nutragenomic study found gene-expression changes in every participant, broadening the scientific case for grapes as a functional food — though the research was funded by the California Table Grape Commission, the industry's trade body.
