Blood samples were taken from 14 people with heart disease. After two weeks in which people drank 12 to 14 ounces of grape juice a day, researchers found delayed LDL oxidation. Purple grape juice is being studied because it has more flavonoid compounds than white grape juice. Flavonoids are antioxidants that protect cells from becoming damaged. Lead researcher Dr. John Folts says people may not get the same benefits from eating raisins or grapes as they do from drinking grape juice because the juice is processed with the seeds, which contain about one-third of the healthy properties.
Many grapes sold in grocery stores today are seedless.
The study was partially funded by Welch Foods, Inc., in Concord, Mass., which manufactures grape juice. The study was presented this week at the American College of Cardiology's annual meeting in New Orleans. It has always been a mystery of how their love of fine wine saves the French from some cancers has finally been solved. Resveratrol , a substance found in many grapes such as scuppernong, a muscadine variety, was recently shown to help prevent heart disease and certain types of cancer. Now Minnie Holmes-McNary of the University of North Carolina has found that it works by promoting programmed cell death, a process that goes wrong in cancer cells.