The cholesterol-lowering fruit that boosts your brain, heart and gut

From improving blood pressure to enhancing cognition, grapes have been shown to provide significant health benefits.

Humans have been eating grapes for more than 20,000 years, but it was much more recently, in the early 2000s, that scientists began probing their wide-reaching health benefits.

“The interest started with resveratrol – a compound found richly in red and black grapes – and the longevity and cardiovascular benefits,” says Dr Zhaoping Li, chief of the division of clinical nutrition at UCLA Health, who has studied the fruit herself. Since then, grapes, and the long list of nutrients they contain, have been linked to better brain, gut and even bone health.

As a result, Li always keeps her home stocked with bunches. “I’m in California; we grow lots of grapes in different colours that are always available and very affordable,” she says. “I usually have two different grapes at home, one green, one purple.”

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Grapes have been shown to lower cholesterol in Li’s research, published in the journal Nutrients. “We had healthy individuals eat a cup and a half of grapes every day for four weeks,” she says. Despite the extra daily snack, no one gained weight.

“But we did see an overall decrease in cholesterol,” she says. Both total cholesterol and “bad” LDL cholesterol were reduced by 6 per cent. “You would not expect giving people more calories, mostly from sugar, would improve their cholesterol profiles.”

The grapes seemed to inhibit the liver – the body’s main cholesterol creator – from making new cholesterol, while also preventing cholesterol absorption in the gut and reducing levels of especially harmful oxidised cholesterol, which is inflammatory, Li explains.

Protective compounds found in grapes, including catechins, proanthocyanidins and anthocyanins – which are collectively known as flavonoids – are thought to be responsible for the fruit’s cholesterol-lowering properties, Li says. They also contain fibre, which helps flush excess cholesterol from the body, she notes.

This is good news for heart health, as lower cholesterol levels reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Polyphenols, anti-inflammatory compounds found in fruit such as grapes, are also thought to bring extra benefits for heart health. They act as antioxidants in the body, meaning they deactivate harmful compounds called free radicals that circulate in our blood and damage our cells.

One large study by Ha