Red Grape Juice Improves Cardiovascular Complications

MADRID, Spain—According to a recent study published in the July issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (84, 1:252-62, 2006) (www.ajcn.org), concentrated red grape juice (RGJ) delivers antioxidant, hypolipidemic and antiinflammatory benefits in healthy patients as well as those under going hemodialysis—who commonly experience increased oxidative stress, dyslipidemia and inflammation.

In the study, 26 hemodialysis patients and 15 healthy subjects were administered 100mL/d RGJ for two weeks, while a control group of 12 dialysis patients did not receive RGJ. Blood was drawn at baseline, twice during the supplementation period and twice during a six-month follow-up. Researchers measured plasma lipids, apolipoproteins, oxidized LDL and antioxidant vitamins. In addition, they assessed polyphenol bioavailability in the healthy subjects receiving RGJ.

Results showed maximum plasma quercetin was achieved three hours after RGJ ingestion, indicating supplement-derived polyphenols are rapidly absorbed. Also, supplementation increased the antioxidant capacity of plasma without affecting concentrations of uric acid or ascorbic acid; reduced the concentration of oxidized LDL; and increased the concentration of cholesterol-standardized alpha-tocopherol. Further, RGJ significantly decreased LDL-cholesterol and apolipoprotein B-100 concentrations, while increasing the concentrations of HDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein A-I. In the hemodialysis patients, RGJ supplementation significantly reduced plasma monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, an inflammatory biomarker associated with cardiovascular disease risk.

The scientists concluded dietary supplementation with concentrated RGJ improves the lipoprotein profile, reduces plasma concentrations of inflammatory biomarkers and oxidized LDL, and may favor a reduction in cardiovascular disease risk.