Health Benefits of 100% Grape Juice made from Concord grapes
Treat yourself and your family to the natural antioxidant protection and great taste of Welch's 100% Grape Juice. It's never too early to start being good to your heart!
A growing, but still preliminary, body of research supports that 100% Grape Juice made from Concord grapes may provide a wide range of healthy benefits: from supporting a healthy cardiovascular system, to possibly slowing age-related cognitive, motor and other declines. Just as important is that it tastes great too – because one of the secrets to eating healthy is choosing foods and drinks that are good for you and taste good as well.
At the heart of the benefits
Many of the health benefits of Concord grape juice are attributed to natural antioxidant compounds called polyphenols and, in particular, a subgroup of polyphenols called flavonoids. Flavonoids are also found in tea, dark chocolate and red wine. Concord grape juice flavonoids function as potent antioxidants and in other ways to help protect our health.
The fact of the matter is, Concord grape juice is naturally abundant in polyphenols, which makes it an antioxidant powerhouse. Concord grape juice has more natural antioxidant power per ounce than many other juices - and more than twice that of orange juice!1
Similarities to Red Wine
Many of you may have heard of the French Paradox - a term given to describe the unexpected findings that the French have healthy hearts despite their high fat diets. Studies suggest that this finding may be due, at least in part, to the higher consumption of red wine in that country. It is widely thought that the grape flavonoids are providing much of the heart-health benefits. The deep red grapes used to make red wine and the deep purple Concord grapes that are used to make Welch's Grape Juice contain many of the same flavonoids and several studies have shown similar cardioprotective benefits from red wine and Concord grape juice.2,3
Here are some of the ways that drinking Welch's 100% Grape Juice, made from our own Concord grapes, may be good for you.
Cardiovascular Health
Much of the research done on Concord grape juice has focused on cardiovascular health – how drinking Concord grape juice may help promote a healthy heart and arteries. Since heart health is the number one priority for Americans, it's a great place to start.
Preliminary research suggests that 100% Grape Juice made from Concord grapes:
- Helps Control the Way Bad Cholesterol Can Cause Damage – Concord grape juice is naturally full of flavonoid antioxidants. One of the ways they may help is by slowing the oxidation of LDL cholesterol–the "bad" cholesterol–in the arteries.3,4,5 By doing so, this supports the body's natural system for promoting healthy, clear arteries so blood can flow to where it is needed.
- Encourages Flexible Arteries – The endothelium is the lining of the arteries, and a healthy endothelium means that arteries are able to expand and contract to accommodate the body's needs. Nitric oxide is an important substance produced by the endothelium for blood vessel flexibility. It contributes to healthy blood pressure. A recent study showed that Concord grape juice works in a similar fashion to red wine to stimulate the production of nitric oxide,5 thereby allowing greater flexibility in the arteries.
- Contributes to Healthy Blood Pressure – Because of its positive effect on endothelial function and arterial health, many researchers believe that drinking Concord grape juice contributes to healthy blood pressure. Two relatively small studies actually showed that drinking Concord grape juice lowered blood pressure in hypertensive participants, but this research is still preliminary and additional, larger studies are underway to further explore this hypothesis.6,7
Over ten years of scientific evidence supports that drinking Concord grape juice may assist with healthy cardiovascular function. The American Heart Association has certified Welch's 100% Grape Juice to be low in saturated fat and cholesterol for healthy people over age 2.
Protecting Memory and Brain Health
The declines in cognitive and motor function related to aging may also respond to drinking Concord grape juice. Most of the research in this area has been done in laboratories, not in humans, so more research certainly needs to be done. Nonetheless, the results to date are promising, and may grow in importance as the population ages.
- Study Suggests Drinking Concord Grape Juice May Improve Cognitive and Motor Skill Decline Associated with Aging – Consuming Concord grape juice significantly improved laboratory animals' performance in some of the tests designed to measure short-term memory, coordination, balance and strength. The study findings, published in the March 2006 journal Nutrition, suggest that Concord grape juice may be beneficial in reversing or preventing some of the effects of aging. Researchers cite a potent overall antioxidant effect of Concord grape juice as one possible reason for the positive results.8
- Consuming Fruit and Vegetable Juice May Slow the Onset of Alzheimer's Disease – One recent study saw a link between fruit and vegetable juice consumption and the slowed onset of Alzheimer's disease. Study participants who reported drinking juices at least 3 times weekly were 76% less likely to have developed Alzheimer's disease than those who drank juice less than once a week. In the same study, those people who used supplemental antioxidant vitamins C, E, and beta-carotene did not see similar results.9
- In a Recent Laboratory Animal Study, Red Wine Reduced the Build-up of Plaque in the Brain Associated with Alzheimer's Disease. In this study, laboratory animals that consumed red wine showed significantly less beta-amyloid plaque build-up than the animals not consuming the red wine.10 Beta-amyloid plaque in the brain is associated with Alzheimer's disease.
Long-term Health
"Diets rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of some types of cancer and other chronic diseases," according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Research specifically with Concord grape juice in this area is extremely preliminary and confined to animal models to date.
- Preliminary Studies Show a Protective Effect – In a recent animal study, drinking Concord grape juice was found to suppress the growth of breast cancer cells in laboratory animals as well as reduce damage to their mammary glands' DNA during what is called the "initiation" stage of cancer development.11 The initiation stage typically occurs when cells' DNA is damaged from exposure to carcinogens or free radicals.
- A related 2003 study showed that Concord grape juice had a similar protective effect in the "promotion" stage— later phase of cancer development in which "initiated" cells are then stimulated to reproduce faster than surrounding normal cells.12 It is premature to draw conclusions about the protective effect in humans based on two preliminary laboratory animal studies. These laboratory studies do, however, add to the growing body of scientific research suggesting that Concord grape juice may be protective of health in a variety of ways, including heart health and cognitive function in the aging brain.
Fast Facts
On the go, or just want to share some of this good news with a friend? Here are some additional informational materials in an easy-to-print format:
Healthy Heart Brochure – an educational brochure on the health benefits of Concord grape juice.
Antioxidant Comparison Chart – an easy-to-print chart comparing the antioxidant power of various juices.
1 Independent testing of ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) performed by Brunswick Laboratories. Averages of testing shown, 2004-2006.
2 Stein JH, Keevil JG, Wiebe DA, Aeschlimann S and Folts JD. Purple grape juice improves endothelial function and reduces the susceptibility of LDL cholesterol to oxidation in patients with coronary artery disease. Circulation. 1999. 100(10):1050-1055.
3 Demrow HS, Slane PR and Folts JD. Administration of wine and grape juice inhibits in vivo platelet activity and thrombosis in stenosed canine coronary arteries. Circulation. 1995. 91(4):1182-1188.
4 O'Byrne DJ, Devaraj, S. Grundy, SM. Jialal, I. Comparison of the antioxidant effects of Concord grape juice
flavonoids and ?-tocopherol on markers of oxidative stress in healthy adults. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002. 76:1367-1374.
5 Vinson JA, Yang J, Proch J and Liang X. Grape juice, but not orange juice, has in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo antioxdant properties. Journal of Medicinal Food. 2000. 3(4):167-171,
6 Park YK, Kim J-S and Kang M-H. Concord grape juice supplementation reduces blood pressure in Korean hypertensive men: double-blind, placebo controlled intervention trial. Biofactors. 2004. 22(1-4):145-147.
7 Mark, et al. Concord grape juice reduces blood pressure in men with high systolic blood pressure. 2003. Presented at Experimental Biology 2003. April 11-15. San Diego, CA.
8 Shukitt-Hale B, Carey A, Simon L, Mark DA and Joseph JA. Effects of Concord grape juice on cognitive and motor deficits in aging. Nutrition. 2006. 22(3):295-302.
9 Dai Q, Borenstein AR, Wu Y, Jackson JC and Larson EB. Fruit and vegetable juices and Alzheimer's disease: the Kame Project. Am J Med. 2006. 119(9):751-759.
10 Wang J, Ho L, Zhao Z, Seror I, Humala N, Dickstein DL, Thiyagarajan M, Percival SS, Talcott ST and Pasinetti GM. Moderate consumption of Cabernet Sauvignon attenuates Aß neuropathology in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. FASEB J. 2006. 20(13):2313-2320.
11 Jung KJ, Wallig MA and Singletary KW. Purple grape juice inhibits 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced rat mammary tumorigenesis and in vivo DMBA-DNA adduct formation. Cancer Lett. 2006. 233(2):279-288.
12 Singletary KW, Stansbury MJ, Giusti M, Van Breemen RB, Wallig M and Rimando A. Inhibition of rat mammary tumorigenesis by concord grape juice constituents. J Agric Food Chem. 2003. 51(25):7280-7286.
|
