Concord grape juice increased HDL, lowered inflammatory marker linked to hea...( en that Concord grape juice has shown s...)

The double blind, placebo-controlled study looked at 20 subjects, with a mean age of 63 years, who had previously been diagnosed with coronary artery disease and were on standard medications, including aspirin. "Because the patients were already on aspirin therapy, we didn't see the significant platelet inhibition we typically get in subjects drinking the grape juice. This is not surprising, however, given aspirin's potent effect on platelets."

Freedman cautions that her study is preliminary and that more work needs to be done in this area. Nonetheless, she notes that consumption of purple grape juice may suppress inflammatory indices that have been recently linked to cardiovascular disease.

The study comes on the heels of the release of the new USDA proanthocyanidin database in which purple grape juice made from Concord grapes tested higher in total proanthocyanidins than any other beverage tested on a per serving basis, including red wine, tea, cranberry juice cocktail and apple juice. Proanthocyanidins, a subset of polyphenols, are natural plant compounds that function as antioxidants and that have been linked to good health in a variety of ways.

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16-Nov-2004