We all know about the mythical “beer goggles” – where you drink too much and suddenly all types of people start to look attractive.  Well, beer may not give you super vision, but drinking a lot of wine could do the trick!

New Study Shows Resveratrol May Help Prevent Vision Loss

A new study done at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis says that resveratrol – a compound found in muscadine grapes, red grapes and resveratrol supplements – may prove useful in preventing the vision loss associated with diabetes and old age.

The study, which was conducted on mice, found that resveratrol may help prevent out of control blood vessel growth in the eye.  The extra blood vessel growth is angiogenesis, and if you can keep angiogenesis in check you can keep some of the most serious vision disorders in check.

What Causes Blindness and Vision Loss

Macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people over 50, is caused by out of control blood vessel growth.  The ability for resveratrol to stop this blood vessel growth could have major implications.  In addition, the study shows that resveratrol may also help with diabetic retinopathy, a disease that causes vision loss in about 20 percent of people with diabetes, and retinopathy of prematurity, a condition that strikes some premature babies.

“This could potentially be a preventive therapy in high-risk patients,” said Rajendra S. Apte, MD, PhD – researcher for the study.  Dr. Apte also cautions there is much more work to be done and this study was done with mice, not humans, but it is a promising start.

Read the Full Study on Resveratrol and Vision Loss

We can see the job listing now for the next SuperFruit…

Why The Industry Loves Fruits From Exotic Places

Here is an industry secret – they love anything from a place that very few people have ever been to! The more exotic and mysterious, the more powerful their fruits must be. Here are just some of the new SuperFruits that the industry is promoting for 2010 – Caja Fruit (Brazil), Marula Fruit (Southern Africa) UmBu fruit (Brazil) and the list goes on.

So why is it that SuperFruits can only grow in exotic lands? They don’t! The supplement industry likes to tell emotional stories, stories about a culture in a far away land that eat fruit and live to be 120 years old has a lot of appeal. The stories may not have a lot of truth or science, but they do sound nice.

So SuperFruits from Exotic Lands Are All Bogus?

Of course not. We think the Acai Berry from Brazil is a true superfruit. The Noni comes from a far away land and has many strong health benefits. So, yes, fruits that come from exotic lands can be wonderful superfruits. What we are saying is that many fruits that come from far away places are… well, just plain old fruits that come from far away places! You don’t become a SuperFruit just because you are not grown in the USA.

How Popular Would Muscadine Grapes Be If They Came from a Rainforest in Brazil?

The lovely muscadine grape may be the best example of the industry bias against local fruits. Muscadine Grapes grow in places like Georgia, Texas and North Carolina – no offense to our southern friends, but not the most exotic lands. However, on a nutritional level, it is hard to argue that the Muscadine Grape is NOT a SuperFruit:

• 40 Times the Antioxidants as Red Grapes
• 6 Times the Resveratrol as Red Grapes
• The Only Grape to Contain Ellagic Acid – an incredibly healthy antioxidant
• Published Studies by NIH on Muscadine Grapes

Clearly, from a pure nutrition and health stand point, the muscadine grape should be a Superfruit.

We Call for Equal Rights for Local SuperFruits

Let’s be fair to all fruits – regardless of where they come from. If a fruit from some tiny island off the coast of an even smaller island in the South Pacific has incredible health properties, we will be right there singing its praises. On the other hand, if a fruit that grows like a weed in New Jersey also has incredible health properties (we know – not very likely) – let’s be fair and call that a SuperFruit too!

When it comes to superfruits like Acai, muscadines and resveratrol – you often see claims about how these fruits can help with cardiovascular function or cholesterol levels. What is interesting is that very few sites actually get into the science of how these fruits can work their magic. Let’s dig a little deeper…

I Guess Scientific Names Sound Better than “Fruit Filling”

You know all that stuff that make up a fruits – we call it pulp, fruit filling or fruit stuff – but that is not very scientific and way too easy to pronounce. Here are some technical terms for all the good stuff in fruit…

• Plants and Fruits are made up of stuff! The broad term for the top level components in plants and fruits are Polyphenols. There are over 10,000 different Polyphenols in the plant kingdom.
• Because biologist love to classify things, there are groups that fall under Polyphenols. Flavonoids are a large group of components in the Polyphenol class. So, while there are thousands of different flavonoids, all flavonoids are part of the larger Polyphenol grouping.
• You like words you can’t pronounce? How about Proanthocyanidins (or oligomeric proanthocyanidins or OPC) or Anthocyanins? These are things that fall under the Flavonoid group. Isn’t biology fun?

We will stop there – not because the classifications end, but just because we realize your finger is probably just about to hit the close button on your browser!

Going to a party and want to impress everyone with your knowledge of Resveratrol? Try this one out on them –

Resveratrol is a phytoalexin. Phytoalexins are flavonoids. All flavonoids are Polyphenols. So, Resveratrol is a phytoalexin, flavonoid and polyphenol!

What Does Any of This Have to Do With How Fruits Help With Cholesterol?

Sorry, the boring biology lesson on terms that no one can pronounce is now over. What is important to take away from the above is that fruits, and especially superfruits like Muscadine and Acai, are packed with all these nutrients and antioxidants. Many of the polyphenols in Acai and Muscadine are powerful antioxidants. Resveratrol, anthocyanins, OPCs – all powerful antioxidants.

How Do Antioxidants Help With Cholesterol?

I am sure you have hear about the “good and bad” cholesterol. It is generally accepted that LDL Cholesterol is the bad cholesterol and HDL cholesterol is the good cholesterol. While on a simple level this is true, it is actually a little bit more complicated when it comes to when LDL Cholesterol starts causing real health issues.

Oxidized LDL Cholesterol – The Really Bad Cholesterol

What is worse than having high levels of LDL Cholesterol? Having high levels of Oxidized LDL Cholesterol! Oxidized LDL Cholesterol is exactly what its name suggests, LDL cholesterol that has been attacked by free radicals and becomes oxidized. Numerous studies have found a strong correlation between high levels of oxidized LDL cholesterol and heart disease. In fact, the correlation between Oxidized LDL Cholesterol and heart disease is much stronger than the correlation between LDL cholesterol (not oxidized) and heart disease. Clearly, you want to do what you can to avoid Oxidized LDL Cholesterol.

How All Fruits (including Acai and Muscadine Grapes) Can Help

Nobody eats food that has Oxidized LDL Cholesterol. We eat foods with LDL Cholesterol and the oxidation happens inside our body due to free radicals. Fruits are high in antioxidants and superfruits like Acai and Muscadine Grapes are really high in antioxidants. It is the antioxidants in fruits that can help battle the free radicals and give you the best chance of keeping LDL cholesterol from oxidizing and becoming really bad cholesterol!

People often think of antioxidants helping with skin tone, the immune system or general energy levels and while this is all correct, they can really help on a much deeper level. Oxidation does not just lead to skin spots and other skin issues, oxidation works on a cellular level and can cause serious health issues. Eating a diet rich in antioxidants is one of the best ways to keep oxidation in check, keep LDL cholesterol from oxidizing and sure, it can help your skin look better to!

Our Standard Disclaimer – We Are Not Giving Medical Advice

Nothing we say here should be taken as medical advice. We are not making any health claims about what a fruit can do for you. Simply, we believe a healthy diet, rich in fruits, can provide benefits. If you have any specific medical questions you should consult with your doctor. High oxidized LDL Cholesterol levels and heart disease are very serious issues and you should work with your doctor to correct any issues you may have.

Quick post today – just wanted to answer a question we have been getting a lot since we started talking about muscadine grapes. A lot of readers have asked what we thought of using muscadine jelly to receive the health benefits of the muscadines .

We do think that getting more muscadines into your diet is always a good thing, so sure – using muscadine grape jelly in place of regular grape jelly is a fine idea. The only problem is that muscadine jam, muscadine jelly or muscadine wine does NOT use the muscadine seed. This is very significant from a health benefits standpoint since the muscadine seed contains many of the nutrients that make muscadines so healthy.

Why is the Muscadine Seed So Important?

Muscadine seeds contain resveratrol, fiber and other phytonutrients that are NOT found in large quantities in the muscadine skin or pulp. If you take a look at any recipe for muscadine jelly, you will see that they for the seeds to be removed and only the skin and pulp of the muscadines is used.

So Muscadine Jelly Will Not Make Me Superhuman?

Sorry, no. But we don’t want to sell muscadine jelly too short – it still has things like ellagic acid and other key nutrients that are found in the muscadine pulp. If you want to get the full health benefits of the muscadine grape, we recommend you use a quality muscadine supplement that uses the whole grape – skin, seed and pulp.

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!

Oprah Gets to Decide What is A SuperFood???

Yes – but don’t worry she has help. People like Barbara Walters, anyone from 60 Minutes, The Today Show, any doctor with a book to sell, a staff writer at People Magazine and the list goes on. Yes, in the end it is really mainstream media that ends up (often very unintentionally) pushing a food or fruit to Super Food status.

Acai was a popular fruit until Dr. Perricone went on Oprah and declared it the top superfood. Resveratrol was an interesting component of grapes until Dr. Oz started talking about it on Oprah and 60 Minutes did a piece – now it is a SuperFood. I wish I could tell you that foods became superfoods based on exhaustive clinical studies and research – but the fact is a lot more people watch Oprah than read things like the Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology.

Rhodiola Rosea – Proof That SuperFood Determination is Not Based Solely on Science

Rhodiola Rosea is an adatogen herb that has truly incredible health properties (click here to read our whole special report on Rhodiola Rosea). Once you read the 40 years of research on Rhodiola, it clearly has high nutrient content and strong health benefits. However, Rhodiola has not been a feature in the mainstream media – so it is generally not called a SuperFood. Note to Oprah if you are reading – do a story on Rhodiola! It really should be a SuperFood!

The Last Person Who You Should Trust When it Comes to SuperFood Status

Here is an industry secret – ask an ingredient supplier what is the top superfood and he will tell you the ingredient he has the most of in stock!

Take with a large grain of salt any superfood predictions made by an ingredient supplier. Ask someone who sells Maqui what the top superfood of 2010 will be and guess what? They will say Maqui! It is almost like asking the CEO of a pencil company which is better pens or pencils. Is it really news when she declares pencils?

We only bring this up because it seems that many of the media stories on SuperFoods tend to quote predictions from the companies that make the foods that want to be SuperFoods. When reading a news story, just be aware of the source.

SuperFoods, like beauty, are In The Eye of the Beholder

I may like Muscadine grapes, you like Acai – it really doesn’t matter. Trying to come up with exactly what makes something a better or more super superfood than the next one, really is pointless. So, while we don’t love the lose definition of SuperFoods, we do like the concept.

It is great if we all start thinking more about what we put into our bodies. Food should have nutrition and provide some health benefits. Let’s take baby steps first. To start, maybe we should worry less about getting one or two superfoods each day and try to make everything we eat at least “GoodFood”. A day filled with “GoodFood” is much better than eating 3 SuperSized Big Mac Meals and then trying to balance that out with the latest SuperFood of the day.

[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

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.

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