by Dan-N on November 19, 2009
We sure like to put the word “super” in front of anything in this industry. Superfoods, SuperFruits, SuperSize …whoops - that one is for the fast food industry! Around this time of year you hear a lot of talk about what will be the top SuperFood of 2010. Of course, that question would be easier to answer if we could all agree on a definition for superfoods.
What is a SuperFood Anyway?
Here is how Wikipedia defines a SuperFood -
Superfood is a term sometimes used to describe food with high phytonutrient content that may confer health benefits as a result.
That clears it all up, right? No, such a broad definition of SuperFood would make almost any fruit, by definition a SuperFood. When every fruit can fall into a definition, that definition loses any significance. If every fruit is a superfood or superfruit, what makes one fruit more super than the next???
How Does the FDA Define SuperFoods and SuperFruits
They don’t! It is important to understand that there is no legal definition of SuperFoods or SuperFruits. There is no science to apply to a food and determine if it is a super food. As far as the FDA is concerned, all this talk about Superfoods is just marketing.
What About Acai, Muscadines, Resveratrol, Noni, etc. - I thought they were SuperFoods?
We do believe that Muscadine Grapes, Acai Berries and Resveratrol all have super nutritional profiles and some impressive health benefits. So, it seems fair to call these elite fruits SuperFoods - and almost everyone does. However, if you twist our arm and ask us what scientific formula we use to determine if a food makes it to SuperFood status - we have a one word answer - Oprah!
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by Dan-N on November 10, 2009
[Here is a secret - we love muscadine grapes! Not for the taste, but for the incredible health benefits. This post is another in our series - "Exploring the Muscadine Grapes - A Gift from Mother Nature". If you are new to Muscadines - you need to read our Muscadine Grapes Special Report]
If you have been following our articles on muscadines you know that we love the muscadine grapes. Our love affair is not exactly with the taste of muscadines but with its nutrients. Muscadines tend to have a very sweet flavor and they are much less subtle then traditional grapes.
Will Muscadine Wine ever be Mistaken for a Fine Wine?
With great apologies to all our friends in the south who do a terrific job growing muscadine grapes - no, Muscadine Wine will never be in the same category as the top fine wines. Don’t get us wrong, Muscadine Wines have come a long way over the past several years and their taste has greatly improved. It is just our opinion that muscadines just don’t make the world’s best wines. Maybe it is the ellagic acid, the tough skin or the extra chromosomes - but there is something that makes muscadine wine have a different taste than traditional red wine.
What Muscadines Lack in Taste They Makeup For in Nutrients
While Muscadine Wine may not compete on flavor, it absolutely wins on nutrition. Muscadine Wine will deliver more resveratrol and ellagic acid than any other wine in the world. As we have discussed in our previous articles on muscadines, the muscadine grape is like a gift from Mother Nature - packed full with incredible nutrients and health benefits.
Muscadine Wine a Good Way to Get Muscadines - But Not the Best
One of the very interesting aspects of the Muscadine grape is the different nutrients found in the muscadine skin, pulp and seeds. All parts of the muscadine grape have healthy nutrients, so the best approach is to find a way to take muscadine skins, pulp and seed. Since Musadine Wine does not use the muscadine seeds, it provides some nutrients, but not everything the muscadine has to offer.
Look for Whole Fruit Muscadine Supplements to Get Everything the Muscadine Has to Offer
We are starting to see some high quality Muscadine supplements that are made with the skin, pulp and seed. You also want to make sure the muscadines were not sprayed with any pesticides, as this will reduced their nutritional content. The Perfect ResGrape Resveratrol is a favorite of ours and a great way to make muscadines a part of your diet. If you still want your Muscadine Wine, try using some muscadine wine to wash down the Perfect ResGrape capsules!
Additional Resources:
Muscadine Grapes Prove Not All SuperFruits Come From Exotic Places
Special Report on Muscadine Grapes
Special Report on Resveratrol
More Information on Perfect ResGrape Resveratrol - Whole Food Muscadine Supplement
by Dan-N on November 6, 2009
At this point most people know that pesticides are bad. Most people understand that if pesticides get into the foods we eat, they can have very negative effects. What people don’t know is that pesticides are having a very negative impact on our food supply, even when they are not in the food we eat!
Hey, What Happened to All the Resveratrol in My Red Wine?
Resveratrol is an incredible popular nutrient found in red grapes and red wine. Click here if you want to read our full Special Report on Resveratrol - its health benefits, the science and the clinical studies. We go over it in detail in the report, but Resveratrol has strong anti-aging benefits and it is believed to at least partly explain the “French Paradox” - the French have a high fat diet and smoke, but they have very low rates of heat disease. The theory is the Resveratrol in the red wine they drink is what keeps them healthy.
About 30 years ago a bottle of red wine had about 30mg of Resveratrol. Today that same bottle has only about 3mg! Why is the Resveratrol content of Red Wine decreasing? Pesticides.
Pesticides Are Making Grapes Lazy!
The antioxidants in red grapes - the resveratrol and the other polyphenols are produced by grapes to fight off infection, bugs and harsh conditions. Well, guess what happens when you start to use Pesticides to fight off the bugs and infection? You guessed it - the grapes decrease the amount of resveratrol and other polyphenols that they produce.
Resveratrol Levels Dropping in Red Grapes and Muscadine Grapes
The problem with pesticides is not just the toxic chemicals getting into our food, the problem is they are changing the actual nutritional content of the food we eat. Red grapes and Muscadine Grapes that have been sprayed with pesticides produce much less resveratrol - there is no need for resveratrol if the pesticides are doing all the work.
Our Advice - Don’t Buy Any Resveratrol Supplements Unless You Know the Grapes Were Not Treated with Pesticides
When shopping for a trans-resveratrol supplement, you want to make sure the grapes used in the supplement were not treated with pesticides. Products such as the Perfect ResGrape Resveratrol have spec sheets to show that NO pesticides were used - this is EXACTLY what you want to see before buying any Resveratrol supplements.
by Dan-N on September 9, 2009
Think if you have seen one grape you have seen them all? You must have never seen the muscadine grape! Muscadine Grapes grown in not so exotic places like - Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama. These are not the type of places we normally find SuperFruits - but the research does not lie, Muscadines are super!
What Makes Muscadine Grapes Different?
Muscadine grapes are larger and stronger than traditional grapes - but the difference is not just skin deep (terrible pun intended). Muscadines actually have an extra pair of chromosomes. Normal grapes have 19 pairs of chromosomes, while Muscadine grapes have 20 chromosomes. It is believe that this extra set of chromosomes is what allows Muscadine grapes to produce phytochemicals that are not found in any other grape.
Ellagic Acid - the Secret Sauce in the Muscadine Grape
It is believed that the extra pair of chromosomes in the muscadine grapes is the reason that muscadines contain ellagic acid. Ellagic acid is not found in any other grape, so this is one of the reasons the muscadine grape is considered a super grape.
Why is Ellagic Acid so important? There are numerous studies underway investigating the role ellagic acid can play in cancer prevention. Ellagic acid may aide in chemoprevention. Chemoprevention is a term that means to chemically prevent cancer from occurring, growing or metastasizing. There is great interest in chemoprevention (not to be confused with chemotherapy) because it may be the best way to fight cancer, stop it from growing before it reaches a level that causes problems.
The NIH, Muscadine Grapes and Prostate Cancer
While many superfruits and supplements have sound logic behind them, they often do not have sound science to backup their claims. Muscadine grapes have incredible science to backup their claims…
“Although MSKE [muscadine grape skin extract] has significant inhibitory effects on the prostate cancer cell lines, it did not alter the growth variables of normal human primary prostate cells. This strongly suggests that the effects of MSKE may be specific for transformed cells, even at early stages, and that MSKE may be potentially very useful as a chemopreventive agent. Muscadine grape products, including grape juice (given 4 mL/kg twice daily for 14 days) and grape wine (given isocalorically at 240 mL/day) have been used in human studies without reported toxicities, further suggesting that MSKE may be relatively safe in clinical trials. Therefore, MSKE may be useful as a chemopreventive or therapeutic agent. Ongoing in vivo studies of MSKE will further address the potential effects of MSKE in preventing or inhibiting prostate cancer growth.“
National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Health Study
It is clear that the Muscadine grape has very strong science behind it.
What else can Muscadine Help With?
Muscadine is much more than just a great source of Ellagic acid. Muscadine grapes have 6 times the resveratrol as red grapes. In addition, muscadines have more antioxidants than red grapes and they are packed with phytonutrients. We will do a whole separate post on the health benefits of the muscadine grape - but in short it can help increase energy, regulate blood sugar, reduce free radicals, help the body build and repair, and increase mental clarity.
How Come Muscadine Grapes Are Not More Popular?
It is a sad secret of this industry, companies love selling fruits from far away places with mythical stories. Supplement companies want to tell you a small tribe lives in some remote rain forest and eats Super Berry X and they all live to be 130 years old.
Muscadine does not have the “sex” appeal of coming from an exotic land. What Muscadine does have is more science and clinical data than 99% of the superfruits being pushed on consumers. We will continue to explore the Muscadine grape and let you know what we find out.
Additional Resources:
Muscadine Wines - Can they StandUp to Traditional Wines?
Special Report on Muscadine Grapes
Special Report on Resveratrol
More Information on Perfect ResGrape Resveratrol - Whole Food Muscadine Supplement
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