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A grape is the non-climacteric
Climacteric (biology)

In current practice, climacteric is most often a synonym for female menopause. In Princeton University's online Wordnet database, climacteric is listed as: ...
 fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
 that grows on the perennial
Perennial plant

A perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants....
 and deciduous
Deciduous

Deciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe....
 woody vine
Vine

A vine is any plant of genus Grape or, by extension, any similar climbing or trailing plant. The word, derived from Latin vinea, referred to the grape-bearing variety....
s of the genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 Vitis
Vitis

Vitis is a genus of about 60 species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern hemisphere....
. Grapes can be eaten raw or used for making jam, juice
Grape juice

Grape juice is a juice obtained from crushing grapes. The juice is often fermentation and made into wine, brandy, or vinegar. In the wine industry grape juice which contains 7-23 percent of pulp, skins, stems and seeds, is often referred to as "must"....
, jelly, vinegar
Vinegar

Vinegar is an acidic liquid processed from the fermentation of ethanol in a process that yields its key ingredient, acetic acid . It also may come in a diluted form....
, wine
Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
, grape seed extract
Grape seed extract

Grape seed extracts are industrial derivatives from whole grape seeds. Typically, the commercial opportunity of extracting grape seed constituents has been for chemicals known as polyphenols, including oligomeric proanthocyanidins recognized as antioxidants....
s, raisins, and grape seed oil
Grape seed oil

Not to be confused with Rapeseed oil.Grape seed oil is a vegetable oil pressed from the seeds of various varieties of List of grape varieties, an abundant by-product of winemaking....
. Grapes are also used in some kinds of candy
Candy

Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added....
.

ent Egyptian hieroglyphics show the cultivation of grapes. Scholars believe that ancient Greeks
Greeks

The Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in Greek diaspora communities around the world....
, Phoenicians and Romans also grew grapes both for eating and wine production.






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Encyclopedia


A grape is the non-climacteric
Climacteric (biology)

In current practice, climacteric is most often a synonym for female menopause. In Princeton University's online Wordnet database, climacteric is listed as: ...
 fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
 that grows on the perennial
Perennial plant

A perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants....
 and deciduous
Deciduous

Deciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe....
 woody vine
Vine

A vine is any plant of genus Grape or, by extension, any similar climbing or trailing plant. The word, derived from Latin vinea, referred to the grape-bearing variety....
s of the genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 Vitis
Vitis

Vitis is a genus of about 60 species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern hemisphere....
. Grapes can be eaten raw or used for making jam, juice
Grape juice

Grape juice is a juice obtained from crushing grapes. The juice is often fermentation and made into wine, brandy, or vinegar. In the wine industry grape juice which contains 7-23 percent of pulp, skins, stems and seeds, is often referred to as "must"....
, jelly, vinegar
Vinegar

Vinegar is an acidic liquid processed from the fermentation of ethanol in a process that yields its key ingredient, acetic acid . It also may come in a diluted form....
, wine
Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
, grape seed extract
Grape seed extract

Grape seed extracts are industrial derivatives from whole grape seeds. Typically, the commercial opportunity of extracting grape seed constituents has been for chemicals known as polyphenols, including oligomeric proanthocyanidins recognized as antioxidants....
s, raisins, and grape seed oil
Grape seed oil

Not to be confused with Rapeseed oil.Grape seed oil is a vegetable oil pressed from the seeds of various varieties of List of grape varieties, an abundant by-product of winemaking....
. Grapes are also used in some kinds of candy
Candy

Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added....
.

History

Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics show the cultivation of grapes. Scholars believe that ancient Greeks
Greeks

The Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in Greek diaspora communities around the world....
, Phoenicians and Romans also grew grapes both for eating and wine production. Later, the growing of grapes spread to Europe, North Africa, and eventually to the United States. Native grapes in North America grew along streams, however, the first cultivated grapes in California were grown by Spanish Franciscan Friars, looking to make a sacramental wine for the California Missions. The first table grape vineyard in California is credited to an early settler by the name of William Wolfskill
William Wolfskill

William Wolfskill was a cowboy and agronomist from Los Angeles, California, who was highly influential in the development of California's agricultural industry in the 19th century....
 in the Los Angeles area. As more settlers came to California, more and more varieties of European grapes were introduced. Some for winemaking, others for raisins and some for eating fresh.

Today in the United States, approximately 98 percent of commercially grown table grapes are from California. (California Table Grape Commission).

Description

Grapes grow in clusters of 6 to 300, and can be crimson, black, dark blue, yellow, green and pink. "White" grapes are actually green in color, and are evolutionarily derived from the red grape. Mutations in two regulatory genes of white grapes turn off production of anthocyanin
Anthocyanin

Anthocyanins are solubility vacuole pigments that may appear red, purple, or blue according to pH. They belong to a parent class of molecules called flavonoids synthesized via the phenylpropanoid pathway....
s which are responsible for the color of red grapes. Anthocyanins and other pigment
Pigment

A pigment is a material that changes the color of light it Reflection as the result of selective color absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which the material itself emits light....
 chemicals of the larger family of polyphenol
Polyphenol

Polyphenols are a group of chemical substances found in plants, characterized by the presence of more than one phenol unit or building block per molecule....
s in red grapes are responsible for the varying shades of purple in red wines.

Grapevines


Most grapes come from cultivars
List of grape varieties

This is a list of varieties of cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a Table grape, fresh or dried .The term "grape varieties" actually refers to cultivars rather than variety according to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, because they are propagated by cuttings and may have unstable reproductive prop...
 of Vitis vinifera
Vitis vinifera

For the town in Australia, see Vinifera, VictoriaVitis vinifera is a species of Vitis, native to the Mediterranean Basin, central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Spain north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran....
, the European grapevine native to the Mediterranean and Central Asia. Minor amounts of fruit and wine come from American and Asian species such as:

  • Vitis labrusca
    Vitis labrusca

    Vitis labrusca is a species of grape native to the eastern United States. It is the source of many grape cultivars, including Concord grapes....
    , the North American table and grape juice grapevines (including the concord cultivar), sometimes used for wine. Native to the Eastern United States
    Eastern United States

    The Eastern Half of The United States, the American East, or simply the East is traditionally defined as the states east of the Mississippi River....
     and Canada
    Canada

    Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
    .
  • Vitis riparia
    Vitis riparia

    Vitis riparia Michx, also commonly known as River Bank Grape or Frost Grape, is a native North America climbing or trailing vine, widely distributed from Quebec to Texas, and Montana to New England....
    , a wild vine of North America
    North America

    North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
    , sometimes used for winemaking and for jam. Native to the entire Eastern U.S. and north to Quebec
    Quebec

    Quebec , in French language, Qu?bec , is a Provinces and territories of Canada in the Central Canada and Eastern Canada regions of Canada....
    .
  • Vitis rotundifolia, the muscadine
    Muscadine

    Muscadines are a Vitis species native to the present-day southeastern United States that has been extensively cultivated since the 16th Century....
    s, used for jams and wine. Native to the Southeastern United States
    Southeastern United States

    The US Southeast is the eastern portion of the Southern United States, but the Census Bureau does not provide a standard definition of a "Southeast" region of the United States, and organizations that need to subdivide the US are free to define a "Southeast" region to fit their needs....
     from Delaware
    Delaware

    Delaware is a U.S. state located on the East Coast of the United States in the Mid-Atlantic States region of the United States. The state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, a British nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor, after whom Cape Henlopen was originally named....
     to the Gulf of Mexico
    Gulf of Mexico

    The Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an oceanic basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba....
    .
  • Vitis amurensis
    Vitis amurensis

    The amur grape , is a species of grape native to the Asian continent. Its name comes from the Amur Valley in Russia and China. It's very resistant to frost, but is not tolerant to drought....
    , the most important Asian species.


Distribution and production

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization
Food and Agriculture Organization

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger....
 (FAO), 75,866 square kilometres of the world are dedicated to grapes. Approximately 71% of world grape production is used for wine, 27% as fresh fruit, and 2% as dried fruit
Dried fruit

Dried fruitis fruit that has been drying , either naturally or through use of a machine, such as a food dehydrator. Raisins, prunes, and Date palm are examples of popular dried fruits....
. A portion of grape production goes to producing grape juice to be reconstituted for fruits canned "with no added sugar" and "100% natural". The area dedicated to vineyards is increasing by about 2% per year.

The following table of top wine-producers shows the corresponding areas dedicated to grapes for wine making:
CountryArea Dedicated
Spain 11,750 kmē
France 8,640 kmē
Italy 8,270 kmē
Turkey 8,120 kmē
United States 4,150 kmē
Iran 2,860 kmē
Romania 2,480 kmē
Portugal 2,160 kmē
Argentina 2,080 kmē
Australia 1,642 kmē
Lebanon 1,122 kmē


Seedless grapes

Seedlessness is a highly desirable subjective quality in table grape selection, and seedless cultivars now make up the overwhelming majority of table grape plantings. Because grapevines are vegetatively propagated
Vegetative reproduction

Vegetative reproduction is a type of asexual reproduction for plants, and is also called vegetative propagation, vegetative multiplication, or vegetative cloning....
 by cuttings, the lack of seeds does not present a problem for reproduction. It is, however, an issue for breeders, who must either use a seeded variety as the female parent or rescue embryos early in development using tissue culture
Plant tissue culture

Plant tissue culture is a practice used to propagate plants under sterile conditions, often to produce clonings of a plant. Different techniques in plant tissue culture may offer certain advantages over traditional methods of propagation, including:...
 techniques.

There are several sources of the seedlessness trait, and essentially all commercial cultivators get it from one of three sources: Thompson Seedless, Russian Seedless, and Black Monukka, all being cultivars of Vitis vinifera
Vitis vinifera

For the town in Australia, see Vinifera, VictoriaVitis vinifera is a species of Vitis, native to the Mediterranean Basin, central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Spain north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran....
. There are currently more than a dozen varieties of seedless grapes. Several, such as Einset Seedless, Reliance and Venus, have been specifically cultivated for hardiness and quality in the relatively cold climates of north-eastern United States and southern Ontario
Ontario

Ontario is a Provinces and territories of Canada located in the Central Canada part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area....
.

An offset to the improved eating quality of seedlessness is the loss of potential health benefits provided by the enriched phytochemical
Phytochemical

Phytochemicals are plant-derived chemical compounds under scientific research for their potential health-promoting properties. Phytochemicals are non-essential nutrients, but still they have been scientifically confirmed as being important to human health....
 content of grape seeds (see Health claims, below).

Raisins, currants, and sultanas

Raisins 01
In most of Europe, dried grapes are universally referred to as 'raisins' or the local equivalent. In the UK, three different varieties are recognized, forcing the EU to use the term "Dried vine fruit
Dried vine fruit

Dried vine fruit may refer to:* Sultana * Raisin* Zante currant...
" in official documents.

A raisin
Raisin

Raisins are Dried fruit grapes. They are created in many regions of the world, such as the United States, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Republic of Macedonia, Mexico, Greece, Turkey, India, Iran, Pakistan, China, Afghanistan, Togo, and Jamaica, as well as South Africa and Southern Europe and Eastern Europe....
 is any dried grape. While raisin is a French loanword
Loanword

A loanword is a word directly taken into one language from another with little or no translation. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept whereby it is the Meaning or idiom that is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself....
, the word in French refers to the fresh fruit; grappe (from which the English grape is derived) refers to the bunch (as in une grappe de raisins).

A currant
Zante currant

The Zante currant or currant is a variety of small, sweet, seedless grape named after Corinth and the Ionian Islands island of Zakynthos and not to be confused with the ribes berry "currants" which are in a different family altogether....
 is a dried Zante
Zakynthos

Zakynthos , the third largest of the Ionian Islands, covers an area of and its coastline is roughly in length. The island is named after Zakynthos , the son of a legendary Arcadian chief Dardanus....
 grape, the name being a corruption of the French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 raisin de Corinthe (Corinth
Corinth

Corinth, or Korinth Corinth is now the capital of the Prefectures of Greece of Corinthia. The city is surrounded by the coastal townlets of Lechaio, Isthmia, Kechries, and the inland townlets of Examilia and the archaeological site....
 grape). Note also that currant has come to refer also to the blackcurrant
Blackcurrant

The Blackcurrant is a species of Ribes berry native to central and northern Europe and northern Asia. It is also known as French "cassis".It is a small shrub growing to 1?2 m tall....
 and redcurrant
Redcurrant

The Red currant is a member of the genus Ribes in the gooseberry family Grossulariaceae, native to parts of western Europe . It is a deciduous shrub normally growing to 1-1.5 m tall, occasionally 2 m, with five-lobed leaf arranged spirally on the stems....
, two berries unrelated to grapes.

A sultana
Sultana (grape)

The sultana is a type of white, seedless grape of Turkey, Greece or Iran origin. It is also the name given to the raisin made from it; such sultana raisins are often called simply sultanas or sultanis. These are typically larger than the Zante currants made from Zante grapes, but smaller than "normal" Raisin....
 was originally a raisin made from a specific type of grape of Turkish origin, but the word is now applied to raisins made from common grapes and chemically treated to resemble the traditional sultana.

Health claims


French Paradox

Comparing diets among western countries, researchers have discovered that although the French tend to eat higher levels of animal fat, surprisingly the incidence of heart disease
Heart disease

Heart disease is an umbrella term for a variety for different diseases affecting the heart. As of 2007, it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, killing one person every 34 seconds in the United States alone....
 remains low in France, a phenomenon named the French Paradox
French paradox

The French paradox is the observation that France suffer a relatively low incidence of coronary heart disease, despite having a diet relatively rich in saturated fats....
 and thought to occur from protective benefits of regularly consuming red wine. Apart from potential benefits of alcohol itself, including reduced platelet
Platelet

Platelets, or Thrombocyte, are small, irregularly shaped anuclear cells, 2-4?m in diameter, which are derived from fragmentation of precursor megakaryocytes....
 aggregation and vasodilation
Vasodilation

Vasodilation refers to the widening of blood vessels resulting from relaxation of smooth muscle cells within the vessel walls, particularly in the large arteries, smaller arterioles and large veins....
, polyphenol
Polyphenol

Polyphenols are a group of chemical substances found in plants, characterized by the presence of more than one phenol unit or building block per molecule....
s (e.g., resveratrol
Resveratrol

Resveratrol is a phytoalexin produced naturally by several plants when under attack by pathogens such as bacteria or fungi. Resveratrol has also been produced by chemical synthesis and is sold as a nutritional supplement derived primarily from Japanese knotweed....
) mainly in the grape skin provide other suspected health benefits, such as:
  • alteration of molecular mechanisms in blood vessels, reducing susceptibility to vascular damage
  • decreased activity of angiotensin
    Angiotensin

    Angiotensin causes blood vessels to constrict, and drives blood pressure up. It is part of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, which is a major target for drugs that lower blood pressure....
    , a systemic hormone causing blood vessel constriction that would elevate blood pressure
  • increased production of the vasodilator hormone, nitric oxide
    Nitric oxide

    Nitric oxide or nitrogen monoxide is a chemical compound with chemical formula NitrogenOxygen. This gas is an important signaling molecule in the body of mammals, including humans, and is an extremely important intermediate in the chemical industry....
     (endothelium-derived relaxing factor
    Endothelium-derived relaxing factor

    Endothelium-derived relaxing factor is produced and released by the endothelium that results in smooth muscle relaxation. The most well characterized is nitric oxide, and some older sources consider the two terms to be equivalent....
    )


Although adoption of wine consumption is not recommended by some health authorities, a significant volume of research indicates moderate consumption, such as one glass of red wine a day for women and two for men, may confer health benefits. Emerging evidence is that wine polyphenol
Polyphenol

Polyphenols are a group of chemical substances found in plants, characterized by the presence of more than one phenol unit or building block per molecule....
s like resveratrol
Resveratrol

Resveratrol is a phytoalexin produced naturally by several plants when under attack by pathogens such as bacteria or fungi. Resveratrol has also been produced by chemical synthesis and is sold as a nutritional supplement derived primarily from Japanese knotweed....
 provide physiological benefit whereas alcohol itself may have protective effects on the cardiovascular system.

Resveratrol

Grape phytochemical
Phytochemical

Phytochemicals are plant-derived chemical compounds under scientific research for their potential health-promoting properties. Phytochemicals are non-essential nutrients, but still they have been scientifically confirmed as being important to human health....
s such as resveratrol
Resveratrol

Resveratrol is a phytoalexin produced naturally by several plants when under attack by pathogens such as bacteria or fungi. Resveratrol has also been produced by chemical synthesis and is sold as a nutritional supplement derived primarily from Japanese knotweed....
, a polyphenol antioxidant
Polyphenol antioxidant

A polyphenol antioxidant is a type of antioxidant containing a polyphenolic substructure. In human health these compounds, numbering over 4000 distinct species, are thought to be instrumental in combating oxidative stress, a process associated with some neurodegenerative diseases and some cardiovascular diseases....
, have been positively linked to inhibiting cancer
Cancer

Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cell display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis . These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, do not invade or metastasize....
, heart disease
Heart disease

Heart disease is an umbrella term for a variety for different diseases affecting the heart. As of 2007, it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, killing one person every 34 seconds in the United States alone....
, degenerative nerve
Nerve

A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of Peripheral nervous system axons . A nerve provides a common pathway for the electrochemical nerve impulses that are transmitted along each of the axons....
 disease, viral
Viral

The term viral is used to describe anything related to virus.Viral may also mean:*See Virality,*Viral phenomenon, such as viral marketing and viral video....
 infections and mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease , also called Alzheimer disease, Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer Type or simply Alzheimer's, is the most common form of dementia....
.

Protection of the genome through antioxidant
Antioxidant

An antioxidant is a molecule capable of slowing or preventing the Redox of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent....
 actions may be a general function of resveratrol. In laboratory studies, resveratrol bears a significant transcriptional
Transcription (genetics)

Transcription is the synthesis of RNA under the direction of DNA. RNA synthesis, or transcription, is the process of transcribing DNA nucleotide sequence information into RNA sequence information....
 overlap with the beneficial effects of calorie restriction
Calorie restriction

Calorie restriction, or caloric restriction , is a dietary regime thought to improve health and slow the Senescence process by limiting dietary energy intake....
 in heart
Heart

The heart is a muscle organ in all vertebrates responsible for pumping blood through the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions, or a similar structure in annelids, mollusks, and arthropods....
, skeletal muscle
Skeletal muscle

They generally contract voluntarily , although they can contract involuntarily through Reflex action. The whole muscle is wrapped in a special type of connective tissue, epimysium....
 and brain
Brain

The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate, and most invertebrate, animals. Some primitive animals such as cnidarian and echinoderm have a decentralized nervous system without a brain, while sponges lack any nervous system at all....
. Both dietary interventions inhibit gene expression
Gene expression

Gene expression is the process by which inheritable information from a gene, such as the DNA sequence, is made into a functional gene product, such as protein or RNA....
 associated with heart and skeletal muscle aging, and prevent age-related heart failure.

Resveratrol is the subject of several human clinical trial
Clinical trial

In health care, clinical trials are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for new drugs or devices. These trials can only take place once satisfactory information has been gathered on the quality of the product and its non-clinical safety, and Institutional review board approval is granted in the country where the trial...
s, among which the most advanced is a one year dietary regimen in a Phase III study of elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease , also called Alzheimer disease, Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer Type or simply Alzheimer's, is the most common form of dementia....
.

Synthesized by many plants, resveratrol apparently serves antifungal
Antifungal drug

An antifungal drug is medication used to treat fungi infections such as athlete's foot, ringworm, candidiasis , serious systemic infections such as cryptococcus meningitis, and others....
 and other defensive properties. Dietary resveratrol has been shown to modulate the metabolism of lipid
Lipid

Lipids are broadly defined as any fat-soluble , naturally-occurring molecule, such as fats, oils, waxes, cholesterol, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins , monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others....
s and to inhibit oxidation of low-density lipoproteins and aggregation of platelet
Platelet

Platelets, or Thrombocyte, are small, irregularly shaped anuclear cells, 2-4?m in diameter, which are derived from fragmentation of precursor megakaryocytes....
s.

Resveratrol is found in wide amounts among grape varieties, primarily in their skins and seeds which, in muscadine
Muscadine

Muscadines are a Vitis species native to the present-day southeastern United States that has been extensively cultivated since the 16th Century....
 grapes, have about one hundred times higher concentration than pulp. Fresh grape skin contains about 50 to 100 micrograms of resveratrol per gram.

Anthocyanins and other phenolics

Anthocyanins tend to be the main polyphenol
Polyphenol

Polyphenols are a group of chemical substances found in plants, characterized by the presence of more than one phenol unit or building block per molecule....
ics in red grapes whereas flavan-3-ols (e.g., catechins) are the more abundant phenolic in white varieties. Total phenolic content, an index of dietary antioxidant strength, is higher in red varieties due almost entirely to anthocyanin density in red grape skin compared to absence of anthocyanins in white grape skin. It is these anthocyanins that are attracting the efforts of scientists to define their properties for human health. Phenolic content of grape skin varies with cultivar
Cultivar

A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when Plant propagation it retains those characteristics....
, soil composition, climate, geographic origin, and cultivation practices or exposure to diseases, such as fungal infections.

Red wine
Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
 offers health benefits more so than white because many beneficial compounds are present in grape skin, and only red wine is fermented with skins. The amount of fermentation time a wine spends in contact with grape skins is an important determinant of its resveratrol content. Ordinary non-muscadine
Muscadine

Muscadines are a Vitis species native to the present-day southeastern United States that has been extensively cultivated since the 16th Century....
 red wine contains between 0.2 and 5.8 mg/L, depending on the grape variety, because it is fermented
Fermentation (food)

Fermentation in food processing typically refers to the conversion of sugar to alcohol using yeast under anaerobic conditions. A more general definition of fermentation is the chemical conversion of carbohydrates into alcohols or acids....
 with the skins, allowing the wine to absorb the resveratrol. By contrast, a white wine contains lower phenolic contents because it is fermented after removal of skins.

Wines produced from muscadine
Muscadine

Muscadines are a Vitis species native to the present-day southeastern United States that has been extensively cultivated since the 16th Century....
 grapes may contain more than 40 mg/L, an exceptional phenolic content. In muscadine skins, ellagic acid
Ellagic acid

Ellagic acid is a polyphenol antioxidant found in numerous fruits and vegetables including raspberry, strawberry, cranberry, walnuts, pecans, pomegranates and other plant foods....
, myricetin
Myricetin

Myricetin is a naturally occurring flavonol, a flavonoid found in many grapes, berries, fruits, vegetables, herbs, as well as other plants. Walnuts are a rich dietary source....
, quercetin
Quercetin

Quercetin is a plant-derived flavonoid, specifically a flavonol, used as a nutritional supplement.The American Cancer Society says that quercetin "has been promoted as being effective against a wide variety of diseases, including cancer....
, kaempferol
Kaempferol

Kaempferol is a natural flavonoid that has been isolated from tea, broccoli, Delphinium, Witch-hazel, grapefruit, and other plant sources. Kaempferol is a yellow crystalline solid with a melting point of 276-278 ?C....
, and trans-resveratrol are major phenolics. Contrary to previous results, ellagic acid and not resveratrol is the major phenolic in muscadine grapes.

Seed constituents

Since the 1980s, biochemical and medical studies have demonstrated significant antioxidant
Antioxidant

An antioxidant is a molecule capable of slowing or preventing the Redox of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent....
 properties of grape seed oligomeric proanthocyanidins. Together with tannins, polyphenols and polyunsaturated fatty acids, these seed constituents display inhibitory activities against several experimental disease models, including cancer
Cancer

Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cell display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis . These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, do not invade or metastasize....
, heart failure and other disorders of oxidative stress
Oxidative stress

Oxidative stress is caused by an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species and a biological system's ability to readily detoxify the reactive intermediates or easily repair the resulting damage....
.

Grape seed oil
Grape seed oil

Not to be confused with Rapeseed oil.Grape seed oil is a vegetable oil pressed from the seeds of various varieties of List of grape varieties, an abundant by-product of winemaking....
 from crushed seeds is used in cosmeceutical
Cosmeceutical

Cosmeceuticals are Cosmetics products that are claimed, primarily by those within the cosmetic industry, to have drug-like benefits. Examples of products typically labeled as cosmeceuticals include anti-aging creams and moisturizers....
s and skincare products for many perceived health benefits. Grape seed oil is notable for its high contents of tocopherol
Tocopherol

Tocopherol, a class of chemical compounds of which many have vitamin E activity, describes a series of organic compounds consisting of various methylated phenols....
s (vitamin E
Vitamin E

Vitamin E is the collective name for a set of 8 related a-, ?-, ?-, and d-tocopherols and the corresponding four tocotrienols, which are fat-soluble vitamins with antioxidant properties....
), phytosterol
Phytosterol

Phytosterols are a group of sterol, phytochemicals naturally occurring in plants. They are white powders with mild, characteristic odor, insoluble in water and soluble in alcohols....
s, and polyunsaturated fatty acid
Fatty acid

In chemistry, especially biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid often with a long unbranched aliphatic tail , which is either saturation or Unsaturated compound....
s such as linoleic acid
Linoleic acid

Linoleic acid is an unsaturated omega-6 fatty acid. It is a colorless liquid. In physiological literature, it is called 18:2. Chemically, linoleic acid is a carboxylic acid with an 18-carbon chain and two cis double bonds; the first double bond is located at the sixth carbon from the omega end....
, oleic acid
Oleic acid

Oleic acid is a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid fatty acid found in various animal and vegetable sources. It has the formula C18H34O2 ....
 and alpha-linolenic acid
Alpha-linolenic acid

a-Linolenic acid is an organic compound found in many common Vegetable fats and oils. IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry, it is named all-cis-9,12,15-octadecatrienoic acid....
.

Concord grape juice

Commercial juice products from Concord grape
Concord grape

Concord grapes are a cultivar derived from the grape species Vitis labrusca which are used as table grapes, wine grapes and juice grapes....
s have been applied in medical research studies, showing potential benefits against the onset stage of cancer
Cancer

Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cell display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis . These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, do not invade or metastasize....
, platelet
Platelet

Platelets, or Thrombocyte, are small, irregularly shaped anuclear cells, 2-4?m in diameter, which are derived from fragmentation of precursor megakaryocytes....
 aggregation and other risk factors of atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a syndrome affecting artery blood vessels. It is a chronic inflammatory response in the walls of arteries, in large part due to the accumulation of macrophage white blood cells and promoted by low density lipoproteins without adequate removal of fats and cholesterol from the macrophages by functional high density lipoprot...
, loss of physical performance and mental acuity during aging and hypertension
Hypertension

Hypertension, also referred to as high blood pressure, HTN or HPN, is a medical condition in which the blood pressure is chronically elevated....
 in humans.

Diagram


See also

  • List of grape varieties
    List of grape varieties

    This is a list of varieties of cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a Table grape, fresh or dried .The term "grape varieties" actually refers to cultivars rather than variety according to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, because they are propagated by cuttings and may have unstable reproductive prop...
  • Annual growth cycle of grapevines
    Annual growth cycle of grapevines

    The annual growth cycle of vitis vinifera is the process that takes place in the vineyard each year, beginning with bud break in the spring and culminating in Deciduous#Botany in autumn followed by winter dormancy....


Sources

  • [https://www.awbc.com.au/winefacts/data/free.asp?subcatid=102 Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation].
Footnotes

External links