ah nutrition research every day there’s a new study out that says you should eat this or avoid that people get confused a patron of mine sent me this headline from the drudge report which millions of people around the world every day consult for useful news nuggets and so my patrons said you know i love grapes so could you look into this and see if there’s anything to it so that’s just what i did follow me down the rabbit hole in this video and i don’t think that you’ll be pleasantly unsurprised by the shocker at
the end so millions of people around the world saw this headline on drudge report which linked to this article which said the following now you’ll notice in both of these headlines the word can is used not might or maybe or perhaps so this implies that this will do the following thing and so you know who doesn’t love a bowl of grapes so if you just if you were busy like many of us and you just read these two headlines and didn’t bother to really dig into the research like i’m about to do you would come away with the
impression i should eat more grapes okay i love grapes i’m gonna go buy some today key word being buy some grapes so that news article links off to a press release from western new england university where they say the study finds astounding effects of dietary grapes so again sounds very good it doesn’t say we found a possible association it says astounding benefits people go buy some damn grapes well i had to look and look and i finally found a full text article of this actual study and we’re going to dig
(01:58) into that so i finally found the study and i got a full link uh down in the show notes to the full article which is very dense very convoluted very sciency takes a while for even someone who’s able to read nutrition research to really tease out what all they’re trying to talk about in this but even the title of the study itself eating grapes can counteract harmful effects of processed food while boosting metabolism too this sounds damning to people who say grapes are bad for you so i actually read the study and i’m going to pull out
some things that you might find interesting so just from reading these headlines you might think that they gave lots of uh people a bowl of grapes and now let’s talk about a bowl of grapes because i’ll bet you the size of my bowl versus your bowl is different bowl is not an official unit of measurement is it and so if you’re eating a tiny little single serving bowl versus the jethro bowl that i might be eating obviously the benefits and the the negative effects of eating a bowl of grapes are going to be different and so
i found out with uh some digging that this is actually a mouse study no humans were harmed in the making of this research and so you can imagine in your mind’s eye these little lab mice having their tiny little bowl of grapes but that’s not how it’s done first of all let’s talk about the mice so what they used was an inbred strain of cloned mice so even though they used several hundred mice in the study these are all genetically exactly the same cloned mice so really this is just a study about
what happened in one mouse not hundreds of mice so first of all it’s not a study in humans it’s studying mice and it’s also inbred genetically cloned mice so again right off the bat you’re like weAh, nutrition research. Every day there’s a new study out that says you should eat this or avoid that. People get confused. A patron of mine sent me this headline from the Drudge Report, which millions of people around the world consult every day for useful news nuggets. So my patron said, “You know, I love grapes, so could you look into this and see if there’s anything to it?” So that’s just what I did. Follow me down the rabbit hole in this article, and I don’t think that you’ll be pleasantly unsurprised by the shocker at the end.
Millions of people around the world saw this headline on the Drudge Report, which linked to an article that said the following. Now you’ll notice in both of these headlines the word “can” is used, not “might,” “maybe,” or “perhaps.” This implies that this will do the following thing, and who doesn’t love a bowl of grapes? So, if you were busy like many of us and just read these two headlines without really digging into the research like I’m about to do, you would come away with the impression, “I should eat more grapes. Okay, I love grapes, I’m gonna go buy some today.” The key word being “buy some grapes.”
That news article links to a press release from Western New England University where they say the study finds astounding effects of dietary grapes. Again, this sounds very good. It doesn’t say, “We found a possible association,” it says, “astounding benefits.” People go buy some damn grapes. Well, I had to look and look, and I finally found the full text of this actual study, and we’re going to dig into that.
So I finally found the study and got a full link down in the show notes to the full article, which is very dense, very convoluted, very “sciency.” It takes a while for even someone who can read nutrition research to really tease out what all they’re trying to talk about in this. But even the title of the study itself, “Eating Grapes Can Counteract Harmful Effects of Processed Food While Boosting Metabolism Too,” sounds damning to people who say grapes are bad for you. So I actually read the study, and I’m going to pull out some things that you might find interesting.
Just from reading these headlines, you might think that they gave lots of people a bowl of grapes. Now, let’s talk about a bowl of grapes because I’ll bet you the size of my bowl versus your bowl is different. A bowl is not an official unit of measurement, is it? So if you’re eating a tiny little single-serving bowl versus the Jethro bowl that I might be eating, obviously the benefits and the negative effects of eating a bowl of grapes are going to be different.
I found out with some digging that this is actually a mouse study. No humans were harmed in the making of this research. So you can imagine in your mind’s eye these little lab mice having their tiny little bowl of grapes, but that’s not how it’s done. First of all, let’s talk about the mice. What they used was an inbred strain of cloned mice. So even though they used several hundred mice in the study, these are all genetically exactly the same cloned mice. So really, this is just a study about what happened in one mouse, not hundreds of mice.
So, first of all, it’s not a study in humans; it’s studying mice. And it’s also inbred genetically cloned mice. So, again, right off the bat, you’re like, “Well, okay, so is this applicable to humans?” Ah, my friend, that’s a very good question. Now let’s look at the grapes that were used. The grapes used in this study were actually a freeze-dried powder that had to be kept at minus 20 degrees Celsius both during transport and storage. This was lovingly provided by the California Table Grape Commission. Oh, there’s a hint. Wonder why they provided this freeze-dried minus 20 degrees Celsius grape powder to these inbred cloned mice for this study? Hmm.
So, down at the very bottom of this study, there’s the funding disclosure, and it reveals that this research was supported in part by the California Table Grape Commission. Now I’m sure that the Table Grape Commission gave money for this study to be performed because they wanted to help improve your health, right? Well, actually, the stated purpose of the California Table Grape Commission is to maintain and expand markets for fresh California grapes and to create new and larger interstate and foreign markets. Hmm, the plot thickens.
Now, when you actually start looking at the findings of this study in inbred cloned mice with freeze-dried grape extract powder, it had some effect on some genetic markers and some genetic up-regulation. They didn’t talk at all about the metabolic effects of what eating a bowl of grapes would do to a mouse, much less a human. They talked about very esoteric, obscure genetic findings.
Now let’s back up for a minute. Let’s think about the human nature of this. If you’re a young researcher, like one of the researchers that was on this project, and you got a big chunk of cash from the California Table Grape Commission to conduct a study on the potential health benefits of grapes, here’s what you’re thinking: “Okay, if I come back and find that eating a bowl of grapes in human beings is going to spike your blood sugar, spike your insulin, and cause glycation to all the cells and tissues in your arteries, it’s probably a net negative to a human being’s health, guess how many more funding grants I’m going to get from the California Table Grape Commission? None.”
And if I’m a young, hungry researcher who’s got bills to pay and would like to form a lasting relationship with the California Table Grape Association, then I’m going to dig down and do some kind of weird little research study that shows a potential benefit for eating lots of grapes. And then for the next 20 years of my career, I will get routine funding money from the California Table Grape Association. I’ll have a long and prestigious career, and I can publish lots of articles about the health benefits of grapes.
Yeah, so that’s how this game works. This study is paid for by the million-dollar grape-growing corporations that are basically squandering California’s limited water supply to grow table grapes and ship them all over the world to both intrastate and interstate and foreign markets because that’s how you make millions and millions of dollars. And they needed a study that said eating table grapes is just so damn healthy that you’re an idiot if you don’t eat table grapes. So that’s what the researchers found.
The reality of the situation is that table grapes are full of glucose, which spikes your blood sugar, spikes your insulin, and causes glycation, and fructose, which causes fatty liver and actually glycates more than glucose itself. So, in our busy life, we need to take time to think about the headlines we see. Do you really think Matt Drudge has time to dig down this rabbit hole like I did today? No, he doesn’t have time. Also, he doesn’t care. He wants lots of clicks on Drudge Report. And if he had put the headline as “A bowl of grapes might potentially increase your lifespan,” he would have gotten 70% fewer clicks. If Gut Health News wanted to just get a few paltry clicks, they would have used words like “might,” “maybe,” and “perhaps.” But they didn’t. They used the word “can,” implying that this is proven, that you eat grapes, and it causes you to be healthier and live longer. They want clicks because that’s how you sell advertisements on your website.
So, everybody has their own human nature angle in the story, including you, because you’re busy, you want to be healthy, you want to live a long time, and you trust Drudge Report or whatever news site you go to. When you see headlines like this, even sometimes subconsciously, you take away the message: “Eat more grapes, eat more grapes, eat more grapes.” Now, do you think that makes the California Table Grape Association Commission happy when you wind up with a subliminal little voice in your head saying, “Eat more grapes, eat more grapes, eat more grapes?” Sure, because then they make more millions of dollars selling the blood sugar-spiking, glycating table grapes that you don’t need to include in your diet at all.
Grapes are not good for you. They are a weight-gaining, blood sugar-spiking, diabetes-causing snack. If you want to have a few grapes occasionally, that’s probably fine. But to think that you need to include daily grapes in your diet, the only people in the world that helps are the California Table Grape Association and all of their membership. It does not help your health. So, if you’re interested in increasing the profits for the California Table Grape Commission’s membership, then eat a big bowl of grapes every day. If, however, what you’re actually interested in is optimizing your own health and living a long, damn time, then you probably should avoid the daily bowl of grapes.
Hope this article helped. This is Dr. Barry. I’ll see you next time.ll okay so is this is that applicable to humans ah my friend that’s a very good question now let’s look at the grapes that were used so the grapes used in this study was actually a freeze-dried powder that had to be kept at minus 20 degrees celsius both during transport and during storage that was lovingly provided by the
california table grape commission oh there’s a hint wonder why they provided this freeze gra tried minus 20 degrees celsius grape powder to these uh inbred cloned mice for this study hmm so down at the very bottom of this study there’s the funding disclosure and it reveals that this research was supported in part by the california table grape commission now i’m sure that the table grape commission gave money for this study to be performed because they wanted to help improve your health right well actually
stated purpose of the california table grape commission is to maintain and expand markets for fresh california grapes and to create new and larger interstate interstate and foreign markets hmm the plot thickens now when you actually start looking at the findings of this study in inbred cloned mice with freeze-dried grape extract powder uh it had some effect on some genetic markers and some genetic up regulation they didn’t talk at all about the metabolic effects of what eating a bowl of grapes would do to
a mouse much less a human they talked about very esoteric obscure uh genetic findings now let’s let’s back up for a minute let’s think about the human nature of this if you’re a young researcher like one of the researchers that was on this project and you got a big chunk of cash from the california table grape commission to conduct a study on the potential health benefits of grapes here’s what you’re thinking okay if i come back and and i find that oh eating a bowl of grapes in human beings
is going to spike your blood sugar it’s going to spike your insulin it’s going to cause glycation to all the cells and tissues in your arteries it’s probably a net negative to a human being’s health guess how many more funding grants i’m going to get from the california table grape commission none and if i’m a young hungry researcher who’s got bills to pay and i would like to form a lasting relationship with the california table grape association then i’m going to dig down and i’m going to
do some kind of weird little research study that shows a potential benefit for eating lots of grapes and then for the next 20 years of my career i will get routine funding money from from the california table grape association i’ll have a long and prestigious career i can publish lots of articles about the health benefits of grapes yeah so that’s how this game works this study is paid for by the the million dollar grape growing corporations that have are basically squandering california’s limited water supply to
grow table grapes and ship them all over to the world to both intra-state and interstate and foreign markets because that’s how you make millions and millions of dollars and they needed a study that said eating table grapes is just so damn healthy that you’re an idiot if you don’t eat table grapes so that’s what the researchers found the reality of the situation is that table grapes are full of glucose which spikes your blood sugar spikes your insulin and causes glycation and fructose which causes fatty liver and also actually
glycates more than glucose itself so in our busy life we need to take time to think about the headlines we see do you really think matt drudge has time to dig down this rabbit hole like i did today no he doesn’t have time also he doesn’t care he wants lots of clicks on drudge report and if he had put the headline as a bowl of grapes might potentially increase your lifespan he would have gotten 70 fewer clicks if gut health news if they had wanted to just get a few paltry clicks then they would have used words like might and
maybe and perhaps but they didn’t they used the word can implying that this is proven that you eat grapes it causes you to be healthier and live longer they want clicks because that’s how you sell advertisements on your website so everybody has their own human nature angle in the story including you because you’re busy you want to be healthy you want to live a long time and you trust drug report or whatever news site you go to and when you see headlines like this even sometimes subconsciously your you
take away the message eat more grapes eat more grapes eat more grapes now do you think that makes the california table grape association commission happy when you wind up with a subliminal little voice in your head saying eat more grapes eat more grapes eat more grapes hey you should eat more grapes sure because then they make more millions of dollars selling the blood sugar spiking glycating table grapes that you don’t need to include in your diet at all grapes are not good for you they are a weight gaining blood sugar spiking
diabetes causing snack if you want to have a few grapes occasionally that’s probably fine but to think that you need to include daily grapes in your diet the only the only people in the world that helps is the california table grape association and all of their membership it does not help your health so if you’re interested in increasing the profits for the california table grapes commission’s membership then eat a big bowl of grapes every day if however what you’re actually interested in is
optimizing your own health and living a long damn time then you probably should avoid the daily bowl of grapes hope this video helped this is dr barry i’ll see you next time