California Table Grape Commission and West New England University conducted a study that found eating grapes can prevent sunburns and skin cancer. The researchers found that eating two-and-a-quarter cups of grapes daily for approximately two weeks lowered skin damage due to ultraviolet rays. They concluded that the polyphenols in the grapes were the reason for this.

How researchers conducted the study

The researchers gathered participants for their study and split them into three groups. They tested their response to ultraviolet light before the onset of the study by monitoring the amount of visible skin reddening after 24 hours of exposure. The researchers also tested hair, urine, blood, and gut samples.

One group ate grapes for two weeks and later developed resistance to ultraviolet rays. Furthermore, 10% of these people still had resistance when they stopped eating grapes for four weeks. The team suggested that they had built up long-term resistance to sunburns due to grapes.

The team tested the participants’ urine to check for three particular metabolites. One of those metabolites was 2’-deoxyribise. This metabolite is among the strongest indicators of sun damage. Researchers found that the three metabolites were lower in the group that ate grapes for two weeks, indicating that they experienced less sun damage than those who hadn’t eaten grapes.

According to Professor John Pezzuto, a dean at West New England University, since the time of Hippocrates, there has been a belief that food should serve the purpose of medicine and nourishment. It has been over 2500 years, yet this statement still holds, as this study demonstrates. Grapes, which are a fruit, can be nourishment and also for issues like sunburns.

This study is not the first to show how grapes could prevent sunburns. However, it builds on information that others have provided. 

Eating grapes ultimately prevents skin cancer

The results are also beneficial to the prevention of skin cancer, as UV radiation is its most common cause. The American Cancer Society reports that approximately 5.4 million cases of squamous and basal cells skin carcinomas emerge every year in the U.S. Additionally, doctors have found 100,000 cases of melanoma, which describes a more dangerous and rare type of skin cancer.