14 DAY TRIAL // Red grapes and blueberries can work wonders for a person's immune system, a paper published in the journal Molecular Nutrition and Food Research this past September 17 argues.
Specifically, researchers say that, according to evidence at hand, these fruits contain chemical compounds that make the innate immune system each person has more effective at tackling potential health threats.
The two highly beneficial chemical compounds found in red grapes and blueberries are resveratrol and pterostilbene, respectively.
“Out of a study of hundreds of compounds, just these two popped right out,” researcher Adrian Gombart with the Oregon State University's College of Science wished to stress.
EurekAlert tells us that, after carrying out a series of laboratory-based experiments, scientists found that both resveratrol and pterostilbene interact with vitamin D.
This “collaboration” raises the expression of a gene, i.e. CAMP (cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide), that has been previously documented to be involved in immune function.
“Their synergy with vitamin D to increase CAMP gene expression was significant and intriguing. It's a pretty interesting interaction,” Adrian Gombart commented on his and his colleagues’ findings.
“It's a pretty interesting interaction,” the researcher went on to say.
The scientists explain that, since these experiments were carried out in laboratory and did not involve any human volunteers, it could happen that their findings do not entirely hold true in real life.
Thus, it is possible that people who regularly eat both red grapes and blueberries do not experience a major improvement in the effectiveness of their immune systems.
Still, the fact remains that these findings add support to the idea that certain foods do in fact boost the innate immune system in humans.
Researchers wish to carry out further investigations, and determine how and why said chemical compounds and vitamin D influence the behavior of the CAMP gene.
They say that, given the fact that various bacteria are growing resistant to antibiotics, it is important that the scientific community better understand how the immune system works and pin down new ways to up its effectiveness.