A glass of red grape juice for better heart and head

For long nutritionists were baffled at the low rates of heart disease among the French. Successive studies found the answer in the red wine that the French favour. The benefits of red wine and also red grape juice hit both the head and the heart

High intensity exercise can speed up ageing. Such exercises bring on oxidative stress, where free radicals attack tissues. Research had found that grape juice and grape extracts are linked to improvements in oxidative stress markers after excessive exercise. In 2006 researchers from San Antonio Catholic University in Spain, showed that a drink containing black grape, raspberry and red currant concentrates reduced protein oxidation by 23 per cent following excessive exercise.

Oxidative stress has been linked to an increased risk of various diseases including cancer, Alzheimer's, and cardiovascular disease.

New study of red grape juice

A new study, said to be first report of its kind in humans, dietary supplement of red grape juice may reduce the activity of an enzyme linked to cardiovascular disease. The new research further found that red grape juice also increased HDL cholesterol levels.

The report of this research has been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition http://www.ajcn.org/

Earlier, an animal study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, found that a flavonoid found in grapes improve blood flow in the brain by 30%, thus greatly reducing the risk of stroke.