Tips for healthy eating: adding grapes to your diet

One of the oldest and most abundant of the world's fruit crops, grapes are cultivated on six of the seven continents. Most of the 60 million metric tons grown worldwide annually are fermented to produce wine. Here's what you need to know about the health benefits of  grapes before adding them to your diet.

Grapes are divided into two general categories: European, which encompasses most of the varieties used for table food and wine, and American, which have skins that slip off easily and are used mostly to make jams, jellies and juice.

• The European type is the more nutritious of the two, but neither ranks high on the nutritional scale when compared to other fruits.
• 250 grams (one cup) of European table grapes provides about 20 percent of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for vitamin C, about four times that found in the American varieties.
• Most types provide fair amounts of potassium and iron.

Low in calories, grapes are favoured for their sweet, juicy flavour. Another reason for eating grapes may be found in research on the disease-prevention role of bioflavonoids and other plant chemicals.

• Anthocyanins found in red and blue grapes have numerous health benefits including lowering heart disease and cancer risk.
• Grapes contain quercetin, a plant pigment that is thought to regulate the levels of blood cholesterol and also reduce the action of plate­lets, blood cells that are instrumental in forming clots. Some researchers theorize that it is quercetin that lowers the risk of heart attack among moderate wine drinkers.
• The skin of grapes contains resveratrol, a phytochemical that is linked to a reduction of heart disease as well as a lowered risk of ­cancer or stroke.
• Grapes also contain ellagic acid, thought to protect the lungs against ­environmental toxins.
• To reap the full benefit of grapes, it is best to select red or purple varieties, which seem to contain the highest concentration of health­ful compounds.

• Commercially grown grapes are usually sprayed with pesticides and are treated with sulphur dioxide to preserve their colour and extend shelf life; they should always be washed before being eaten.
• People with asthma should either avoid grapes or look for those that have not been treated with sulphur.
• Grapes naturally contain salicylates, compounds similar to the major ingredient in aspirin. Salicylates have an anti-clotting effect and may account for the benefits of wine with respect to heart disease.
• People who are allergic to aspirin may react to grapes.

Raisins are a highly concentrated source of nutrients and calories; 250 grams (one cup) contains a whopping 440 calories while providing three grams of iron, 1,090 milligrams of potassium, and six grams of fibre.

• It takes about two kilograms (1¼ to two pounds) of fresh grapes to produce 500 grams (one pound) of raisins.

Grapes are made into jams and spreads, used in cooking, and eaten raw as a snack food. Get the most out of grapes by incorporating the low-calorie fruit into your diet today!