NEW REASONS TO LOVE GRAPES
Who knew wine is made of crystals? I discovered that fact in researching for last week’s post, New Discoveries, New Scopes, and I came across this incredible photograph of one, taken by Fernan Federici, a biology researcher at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, using a special confocal microscope.
Grapes are the most studied fruit in the world, largely because of their wine-related value. But it’s not only the science of viticulture that makes it so. It is also because researchers continue to find more health benefits from eating, mostly red, grapes.
Photo: Courtesy of Life Plus: The Art of Growing Young.
The higher temperatures of climate change have affected our grape crops in a number of ways. One serious issue is that it’s getting harder to know when grapes are ready to pick. Different parts of the grape mature at different times -- the skin, the flesh, the seeds each at their own pace. Growers want to pick when phenol levels in their grapes are the highest because these are the biochemicals that make wine taste, look, and feel so good in your mouth.
Photo: Courtesy of Great NorthWest Wine.
New computer imaging techniques, pioneered by the University of Seville, in Spain, can help vineyard owners solve that conundrum and help to yield better wine, according to a recent study reported in the journal Analytica Chimica Acta.
Photo: Courtesy of Dr. Mclean Sheperd blog.
Researchers were able to take special photos of grape seeds and then compare them to a range of different seed colors, using custom software. Since the same chemicals that can be used to determine a grape’s age affect the color of the seeds, the researchers were able to successfully use the software to pick grapes at their peak phenol levels, and in turn, produce better wine.
Photo: Courtesy of Healthy Liquor.
While resveratrol, a compound found in grapes, has gotten a lot of attention in recent years because scientists began to find that it produces powerful health benefits, the more they continue to study, the more benefits they find.
Researchers at the University of Missouri recently found that resveratrol may be able to fight melanoma. The results of their study, published Journal of Surgical Research, showed that when cancer cells were treated with resveratrol, almost half of them died. The study also showed that resveratrol increased the effectiveness of radiation therapy, thereby killing 65% cancer cells.
Photo: Courtesy of The Molecular Universe. Resveratrol and Oxybenzone.
Several months prior, the same research team discovered that resveratrol can help defeat prostate cancer as well. In fact, in that study, the team found that when treated with resveratrol before radiation therapy, 97% percent of the prostate cancer cells died.
Photo: Courtesy of Nutra Ingredients USA.
Immune System:
Grapes don’t just work against specific conditions and diseases, they can help boost the overall immune system too. They especially help the innate immune system, which, among other things, helps protect the body against bacterial infections.
Photo: Courtesy of University of California Berkeley. Wellness.
Flavonoids, specifically stilbenoid compounds, in resveratrol, found in red grapes, and in a compound called pterostilbene, found in blueberries, synergistically work with vitamin D to increase cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CAMP) gene expression and boost innate immune system function, according to researchers at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.
The researchers published their findings last month in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research.
Photo: Courtesy of Desserts for Breakfast.
Metabolic Syndrome
Grapes can help prevent or reduce organ damage associated with metabolic syndrome, the cluster of disorders usually associated with obesity.
A research team from the University of Michigan Health System, led by E. Mitchell Seymour, Ph.D., found that rats subjected to a diet of red grapes for 90 days had a significant advantage.
Photo: Courtesy of Chariot on Fire.
The rats given grapes showed reduced fat in their kidneys, livers, and abdomens, as well as an increase in antioxidant production. Specifically, the reduction of fat in the liver and kidneys reduces metabolic damage to those organs.
Results of this study were announced at the Experimental Biology Conference in Boston, earlier this year.
Bone Health
Grapes can make your bones stronger.
We know that after age 30, bone density in humans starts to decline and there is increased incidence of osteoporosis as we age.
Researchers from Purdue University Department of Nutrition Science found that animals that ate grape-laden diets had improved calcium retention in their bones. In addition, consumption of grapes was found to increase the cortical thickness and strength the femur, or thigh bone.
The team, led by department head, Connie Weaver, presented their findings at the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research annual meeting in Baltimore just last week.
Photo: Courtesy of Saffluence.
So enjoy a bunch, raise a glass, and enjoy these beautiful fruits of the vine. You’ll be eating, drinking, and toasting to life!
Read about beautiful Grapes all this week, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact, including New Books on Grape Glory.
Get busy and enter the BN Competitions, Our theme this week is Beautiful Grapes. Send in your images and ideas. Deadline is 10.20.13.
