Grape Juice: The New Orange Juice?

No matter if you have cereal or oatmeal in the morning, orange juice is the common juice of choice. Why wouldn't it be, it is loaded with vitamin C, a vitamin that keeps us healthy, it taste wonderful and it has always been the recommended breakfast beverage. However a new study that was published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry is suggesting that we take that glass of morning orange juice and replace it with grape juice. In fact the study, which was conducted at the University of Glasgow, claims that grape juice may be the best juice to drink.

The antioxidant activity in fruit juices is believed to help ward off heart disease and other chronic diseases as well as help delay premature aging. In the study the juices were tested for the antioxidants that they contained. Oddly enough orange juice contained fewer polyphenols, strong antioxidants, than the other juices tested. Like grape juice both apple juice, which is good for a source of fiber, and cranberry juice, which promotes a healthy urinary tract functioning, contained a higher antioxidant activity than orange juice.

The professor who led the study, a professor of both human nutrition and plant biochemistry, Alan Crozier, told independent.co.uk "Purple grape juice made with Concord grapes contains the highest and broadest range of polyphenols as well as having the highest antioxidant capacity. Other high-ranking products include cloudy apple juice and cranberry juice drink."

An interesting fact in the study was that it was funded by the National Grape Co-operative, which happens to be a group of farmers in the United States operated by Welch's, a company quite popular and famous from their concord purple grape juice. In another study in France, which was also funded by Welch's Foods Inc., that was in Cardiovascular Research reported that Concord grape juice promotes cardiovascular health.

There is no doubt that fruit juices in general are recommended as healthy beverages. In one study, researchers followed almost 2,000 men and women for up to 10 years. From this study they concluded that drinking fruit juices three times a week lowered the risk for Alzheimer's disease by 76 percent. As opposed to drinking fruit juices less than once a week.

Professor Crozier was also quoted saying "Supplementing a healthy diet with a regular intake of a variety of fruit juices such as purple grape juice, grapefruit juice, cloudy apple juice and cranberry juice, will increase the consumer's intake of phenolic antioxidants."

So it is definitely a good idea to drink fruit juices, and according to this study it is a good idea to drink grape juice.