Grape seeds, antioxidants

Natural products have been noted for their potential health benefits from time immemorial and are the basis of Ayurveda, an ancient Indian medical practice (Bushkin and Bushkin, 2002). However, the potential benefits of several natural products reside in one or two active ingredients. For example green tea stands for polyphenols, soy for soy estrogens, broccoli for isothiocyanates and grape seed for polyphenols. The beauty of rice bran is that there are more than 100 antioxidants, several categories of bioactive phytonutrients, such as IP6, polyphenols, phytosterols, tocotrienols, y-oryzanol, B vitamins, minerals and trace minerals in addition to fat, protein, fiber, polysaccharides and other nutrients. These phytonutrients and antioxidants of rice bran are believed to act at the cellular level, and their synergestic function is responsible for the positive health benefits. 

Goni I and Serrano J. 2005. The intake of dietary fiber from grape seeds modifies the antioxidant status in rat cecum. J Sci Food Agric 85 1877-1881. 

Grape seed extract, which is another widely used plant extract similar to pycnogenol, contains procyanidins, which have a strong antioxidant activity. 

N10. Nuttall, S. L., Kendall, M. J., Bombardelli, E., and Morazzoni, P., An evaluation of the antioxidant activity of a standardized grape seed extract, Leucoselect. J. Clin. Pharm. Ther. 23,385-389 (1998). 

Therefore inorganic sunscreens commonly used in cosmetic industry should be carefully tested for their photoactivity and phototoxicity. Sunscreens based on titanium and zinc oxides should contain additional antioxidants, eg a-tocopherol or j5-carotene. Even more efficient protection against unwanted ROSs can be achieved by a smart titanium dioxide modification that would block its photocatalytic activity. Recently Lee et al. described a hydrophobic multicomponent polymer coating for nanocrystalline Ti02 containing natural antioxidants extracted from grape seeds... 

The pine bark and grape seeds contain the flavonoids oligomeric proan-thocyanidins (OPCs), which offer antioxidant protection against heart diseases and cancers. 

Antioxidant and disease prevention capacities of proanthocyanidins from cocoa, grape seed, cranberries, and Pycnogenols (French pine... 

Monagas, M., Hemandez-Ledesma, B., Garrido, I., Martm-Alvarez, P.J., Gomez-Cordoves, C., Bartolome, B. (2005). Quality assessment of commercial dietary antioxidant products from Vitis vinifera L. grape seeds. Nutr. Cancer, 53, 244-254. 

To get the natural antioxidant and artery-protecting benefits of just one 200 mg grape seed extract tablet or capsule, you would have to drink 4 ounces of red wine or 6 ounces of red grape juice or eat a serving of various fruits. To think that for centuries, grape seeds were discarded as waste during the production of wine ... 

Grape seeds are rich in polyphenols, especially flavanols (catechin, epicatechin) and gallic acid (Meyer et al., 1997). When grape extracts are prepared after crushing of the seeds, increased levels of phenols are obtained compared with extracts prepared with intact grape seeds. In particular, flavan-3-ol levels increased significantly. The antioxidant activity, as measured by the ability to inhibit LDL oxidation, also increased when the seeds were crushed prior to extraction. 

Jayaprakasha, G. K., Singh, R. P., and Sakariah, K. K. (2001). Antioxidant activity of grape seed (Vitis vinifera) extracts on peroxidation models in vitro. Food Chem. 73,285-290. 

Apocynin and spinach leaf antioxidant extract Grape seed proanthocyanidin extract... 

Bagchi, D. et al.. Protective effects of grape seed proanthocyanidins and selected antioxidants... 

Krohn, R.L. et al.. Differential effect of a novel grape seed proanthocyanidin extract on cultured human normal and malignant cells, in Natural Antioxidants and Anticarcinogens in Nutrition, Health and Disease, Kumpulainen, J.T. and Salonen, J.T., Eds., Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, U.K., 1999, p. 443. 

Bagchi, D., Ray, S.D., Bagchi, M., Preuss, H.G., and Stohs, S.J., Mechanistic pathways of antioxidant cytoprotection by a novel IH636 grape seed proanthocyanidin extract, Indian J. Exp. Biol, 40, 717,2002. 

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