I can’t seem to get enough of fruits. Some of my favorite fruits are papaya, mango, oranges, and…grapes. Grapes are some of the most useful fruits mankind has cultivated. All parts of the grape fruit from the skin to the seed have some health benefits. Although other fruits are also good, grapes contain an unusually high proportion of antioxidant flavanols that have proven anti aging benefits. These flavanols usually belong to the class called proanthocyanidins.
Proanthocyanidins are one of the most powerful antioxidants known. Even though vitamin C and E are well known as good antioxidants in their own right, proanthocyanidins are 20-50 times more powerful!
Antioxidants are important to neutralize free radicals which are all around us, and free radicals are the ones that can destabilize our body cells and make them age even faster. They are also blamed for causing cancer and heart disease.
Could that be why people who drink a lot of red wine and eat a lot of grapes often look young and fit? Take for example, the wine growing counties in California, or the south of France, where grapes are a major crop. It seems the incidence of heart disease is much lower in these regions compared to elsewhere, despite the high fat diets of the people there.
