Therapeutic Pragmatism of Grape Fruit

Grapes ( Vitis vinifera ) have been heralded for their medicinal and nutrit ional value for thousands of years. Egyptians ate grapes at least 6,000 years ago, and several ancient Greek philosophers praised the heal ing power of grapes -- usually in the form of wine. Eur opean folk healers made an ointment from the sap of grapevines to treat skin and eye diseases. Grape le aves were used to stop bleeding, inflammation, and pain, such as the kind brought on by hemorrhoids. U nripe grapes were used to treat sore throats, and d ried grapes (raisins) were used for constipation and thi rst. Round, ripe, sweet grapes were used to treat a range of health problems including cancer, cholera, small pox, nausea, eye infections, and skin, kidney, and liver diseases. But grapes -- or the chemicals within the m, especially oligomeric proanthocyanidin complexes (OPCs) -- have been touted as powerful antioxidants . Some people believe they could help treat a numbe r of conditions, from heart disease to cancer to agin g skin, although scientific evidence is mostly lack ing for those conditions. Synthesized by many plants, resve ratrol apparently serves antifungal and other defen sive properties. Dietary resveratrol has been shown to m odulate the metabolism of lipids and to inhibit oxidation of low-density lipoproteins and aggregati on of platelets. Resveratrol is found in widely var ying amounts among grape varieties, primarily in their s kins and seeds which, in muscadine grapes, have abo ut 100x higher concentration than pulp. Fresh grape skin contains about 50 to 100 µgs of resveratrol per gram. Therapeutic applications and versatilities in grapes usage has been delineated in this manuscrip t.