Grape juice 'boosts health'
Thursday, 15 Mar 2007 10:55
Red grape juice could boost heart health
Health In Focus
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Drinking a glass of purple grape juice each day could help to protect the body against heart disease and cancer, new research claims today.
A scientific analysis of fruit juices at the University of Glasgow found that juice from purple grapes contained the highest and broadest range of polyphenols - naturally-occurring chemicals with positive antioxidant properties.
Antioxidants are thought to protect the body from harmful free radicals linked to chronic diseases.
Other juices highlighted by the study as having high antioxidant levels include cranberry and cloudy apple juice. The levels were said to vary "markedly" between the juices studied.
"Not all fruit juices are the same," said Alan Crozier, professor of plant biochemistry and human nutrition, who conducted the study.
"Supplementing a healthy diet with a regular intake of a variety of fruit juices such as purple grape juice, grapefruit juice, cloudy apple juice and cranberry juice, will, without major dietary changes, increase, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the consumer's intake of phenolic antioxidants."
Published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, the study examined cloudy apple, pomegranate, cranberry, grapefruit, clear apple, pineapple, orange, tomato, red grape and white grape juice.
The Glasgow University findings follow the recent Kame project, which found a link between long-term fruit juice consumption and a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease.