L'Haim - Concord Grape Juice Helps Prevent Cancer Concord grape juice widely used by American Jews for making Kiddush on Shabbat has been found by researchers in Texas to be a powerful, heart-protective and anti-cancer antioxidant that compares favorably to synthetic supplements. Dawn O'Byrne, Ishwarlal Jialal, and others at the Southwest Medical Center in Houston published their research in Thursday's issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Flavonoids that are found in fruit, vegetables, chocolate, tea, wine, and grape juice reduce cellular oxidative stress and are associated with a reduced risk of heart disease and cancer. Concord grapes grow well in upstate New York and thus became synonymous with kosher grape juice and wine. They are a rich source of flavonoids. But until this new research, this type of grape juice not been compared to antioxidant supplements in terms of its efficacy in reducing "oxidative stress," which causes a breakdown in the body's tissues. In their article, the researchers compared the effects of Concord grape juice and antioxidant supplements in a group of healthy subjects, and found that it is a potent, long-lasting antioxidant that compares favorably to supplements in its action and perhaps has unique properties that supplements do not. "Personally, I'd prefer to get my antioxidants from wine than grape juice; it's more fun," Prof. Elliot Berry, an expert in nutrition at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, said. "But this finding is very interesting, and it means that antioxidants can be consumed without the dangers of overconsumption of alcohol." Grape juice has as much sugar as wine, but some people (including pregnant women) shouldn't consume alcohol. "It's interesting that these protective benefits come not only from the alcohol component in wine, which is known to be beneficial to the body," Berry said. The 32 participants, who were all healthy and averaged 28 years old, were assigned to receive 400 International Units of alpha-tocopherol (an antioxidant supplement), or 10 ml. daily of 100% Concord grape juice over a two-week period. Prior to and throughout the study, the subjects were on a flavonoid-restricted diet to ensure that the primary source of flavonoids in their diets was either from the juice or the supplements, and fasting blood samples were collected before, during, and after the study period. Both the juice and antioxidant supplements provided significant antioxidant protection to serum, plasma proteins, and low-density lipoproteins. A unique finding was that the juice has a previously unknown antioxidant capability of reducing the concentration of oxidized protein in the blood, which the supplements did not. The authors suggest that future studies should investigate the long-term antioxidant effects of the juice in combination with a well-defined diet. It could thus provide an everyday method for prevention of chronic disease in all age groups without alcohol. 11/02 The Jerusalem Post Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.