Concord Grapes by jeff-o-matic
Wine may get all the press for health benefits when it comes to grape beverages, but many juices have properties similar to wine. The logic is perfectly reasonable, given the primary source for wine is grape juice. For those searching for the health benefits of wine without the detriments of alcohol, the question is significant. The correlation, however, is not perfect.
The Big One: Resveratrol
Wine and Grapes by florriebassingbourn
It’s one of the darlings of the red wine-health connection, a compound which has possible anti-viral and anti-inflammatory effects. Likely, Resveratrol and red wine are linked at the hip in any discussion as a way to explain the French Paradox (confronting the Lipid Hypothesis is out of the question). Resveratrol does not appear out of the air in wine: it needs a source.
Resveratrol is found within the grapes themselves, particularly in the skin. Likely, the time in contact with the skin is the justification for red wine’s higher content of the compound. The content of both wines and grapes will vary, which is to be expected. If each wine and grape and identical amounts of compounds, they would be identical in every way, and so greatly impoverish human life.
If you are searching within the grape juice world, concord grape juice contains a large amount of Resveratrol. This grape rarely if ever makes it into a wine as it is a New World Grape which is grumpy when it comes to making wine. So if you are looking for a beverage to provide you with the highest amount of Resveratrol, think about some concord grape juice.
The Rest of the Anti-Oxidants
Red Wine by Digimist
When it comes to fruits and vegetables, anti-oxidants are the big guns of health giving compounds. Between wine and grape juice, there is no measurable difference. To be sure, the specific variety of grapes will make deviation inevitable, but nothing to be worried over. In short, if you truly wish to get the benefits of grapes through a drink, the choice is really yours as to whether you quaff wine or juice.
Grape juice may lack the refinement of a good bottle of wine, but it contains most, if not all, of the compounds cited to improve wine’s health image. It even comes with one less piece of baggage: the alcohol. Searching out those anti-oxidants is not the perfect reason to take up drinking, and most of the elements in wine can be found in other food and drink. If you still feel the need to find those wonderful soldiers for your health in your drinks, look to grape juice—concord, if you can find it—for them. There is nothing better than a great glass of wine, but in a pinch, the juice will help you squeak by.
Comments on this entry are closed.