Your health is very much influenced by your diet – eating healthy and exercising regularly seems to be the ticket to a long, happy and healthy life. It’s a wide-known fact that eating excess salt increases your blood pressure, which can later on lead to cardiovascular diseases. But is there something natural you can include in your diet that has the opposite effect?

According to recent studies, there is – grapes. Apparently, grapes contribute to lowering your blood pressure and help you avoid heart diseases. The study was so far conducted only on rats, at the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center. The rats that were fed a diet abundant in grapes had a lower heart pressure, and also a healthy heart function and stronger heart muscles.

The rats were split into two groups. The first group was fed a salty diet, combined with a mix of green, red and black grapes. The other group received the same mix and amount of grapes, but a less salty diet. The first group of rats had considerably increased risks of developing high blood pressure and, ultimately, heart diseases.

The rats were then given a medicine called hydrazine, which lowers blood pressure. It was concluded that the medicine did indeed lower the blood pressure in those rats that were previously fed a diet rich in salt, but it did more damage to their heart muscle, as opposed to the rats fed a copious amount of grapes.

Doctors advise people to reduce salt intake as much as possible. The rats developed high blood pressure after being weaned off the grapes, so it seems to be a temporary measure. Over time, the only difference between the groups was that the rats on the grape diet had lower systolic blood pressure. Although people react differently to salt, a diet rich in salt will have effects in the long run.