Friday, January 9, 2009

The Wonders of Grapes and Grape Seed Extract On Your Health

Are you a grape eater or a red wine drinker? Are you aware the health benefits of grapes onto your body? Well me not that fully aware. What i know of grapes is just a fruit full of vitamins C, E and good for the heart, that is why i like it. But recently, i heard from people out there talking about the great benefits not only from eating grapes but from the seeds extract itself. I was curious then and want to find out through available resources from internet and just in time am having a blog related to health. So, i wanted to share this all with you especially those who don't know yet.

Nutrients Contents

1 cup serving of grapes yields:

57 calories 6 grams of protein 16 grams of carbohydrates 2 mg of sodium
1 gram of dietary fiber and vitamins A and C.

Grape seeds, grape skin, and grape juice contain several types of:

polyphenols, including resveratrol, phenolic acids, anthocyanins, and flavonoids

Flavonoids is an amazing array of over 6,000 different substances found in virtually all plants, are responsible for many of the plant color, the stronger the color, the higher the concentration of flavonoids.

Health Benefits of Grapes Seeds
Grape Seeds are rich in chemicals called proanthocyanidins or procyanidolic oligomers that exhibit antioxidant properties. Antioxidants have the ability to neutralise harmful chemicals called free radicals, which can contribute to premature ageing and are involved in the development of many diseases, including arthritis, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and cancer.

Proanthocyanidins may also help atherosclerosis, gastric ulcer, large bowel cancer, cataracts and diabetes. thus, grape seed and its extract may benefit people with heart disease and cancer.

One clinical trial demonstrated that the antioxidant action of Grape Seed Extract is 20 times more powerful than the effect of vitamins E and 50 times greater that vitamins C; and beta-carotene.

Because of its polyphenol content, purple grape juice provides a far greater antioxidant effect than orange juice.

What Are Other Benefits You Can Get From Seed Extract?

Some people call these polyphenols “nature’s biological response modifiers” because of their ability to help the body fight viruses, allergens, and carcinogens. That means that among their many talents, they exhibit anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, anti-cancerous and anti-microbial activity.

Not bad for a “waste product”!

Procyanadin: The secret anti aging vitamin for a younger looking skin
One particular type of phenol found in grape seed is called procyanidin. It is thought to protect the body from premature ageing. Scientists think they do this by increasing vitamin C levels in the cells and scavenging for toxins so the organs can get rid of them.

Procyanidins also bond with collagen, the most abundant protein in the body and a key component of skin, gums, bones, teeth, hair and body tissues. The bonding promotes cell health and skin elasticity, making it seem more youthful, in a process that works almost like a natural face-lift. Procyanidins additionally help protect the body from sun damage, which can also cause premature ageing of the skin.

Great help inside your body
Aside from the benefits mentioned above, procyanidins can improve your vision, the flexibility of your joints, the health of your arteries and body tissues (such as the heart) and also strengthen capilliaries and veins to improve your circulatory system.

This is important because the health of your circulatory system affects the health of your heart. It seems that grape seed extract delays the oxidation of low density lipoproteins, the fats that are responsible for “bad cholesterol”.

The longer it takes for LDL to oxidize, the less likely it is to start clogging up your veins and arteries.

People who drink purple grape juice can show an increase in oxidation lag time of 27%. So, procyanidins present in grape seeds are known to exert anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritic and anti-allergic activities, to prevent skin aging, to scavenge oxygen free radicals and to inhibit the damaging effects of UV radiation from sunlight.

Since most of these processes are linked to cancer, it follows that grape seeds are probably strong anti-carcinogenic and/or anti-tumor-promoting agents.

Studies show they may have particular use against colorectal cancer, and scientists are devoting a fair amount of new research to grape seed because they’re pretty confident about its abilities.

The other "secret ingredient" of grape seed extract.
One other of the grape’s hidden health weapons is also worth a mention: it’s called resveratrol. This chemical is found primarily in the skin and seeds, particularly in muscadine grapes, and it confers a number of beneficial effects to the body.

They include all those mentioned above, but also an ability to help the brain and its processes work efficiently i.e. they have neuroprotective capabilities. In rats, this has life-prolonging effects, so it’s reasonable to assume it may do the same for other animals, humans included.

Whats the best way to get grape seed extract into your body?
With the help of modern technology, we now have high-quality grape seed extract in the form of supplements available for you in store.

Tips for consumption

1. Use scissors to separate small clusters of grapes from the stem instead of removing individual grapes. This will help keep the remaining grapes fresher by preventing the stem from drying out.

2. If you are drinking grape juice for health benefits, avoid products labeled as grape “drinks.” This is often an imitation high-sugar product with little real grape juice.

3. Research conducted at the in Austria suggests that as fruits fully ripen, almost to the point of spoilage, their antioxidant levels actually increase hence their health value.

4. Since grapes tend to spoil and ferment at room temperature, they should always be stored in the refrigerator.

5. Loosely wrap unwashed grapes in a paper towel and place them in a plastic bag. This way, they’ll keep fresh in the refrigerator for several days.


2 comments:

Bigapple18 said...
February 19, 2009 at 6:02 PM
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bigapple18 said...
February 19, 2009 at 6:11 PM

As you have already mentioned tips for consumption.I want to add some different points-
1.Grapes or grapes juice are not recommended for persons suffering from stomach ulcers, diabetes and obesity
2.If you have a cavity in a tooth than eating grapes or drinking grapes juice can cause more dental problems.
Grapes resveratrol ingredient plays vital role for controlling the aging process.So, i prefer grapes as well as Dermaxin cream for anti aging purpose.

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