Juicy grapes: useful properties and contraindications

Grapes are a long-time companion of man. People drink fresh juice, dry berries and make wines from succulent sweet and sour berries. The doctors of Ancient Greece prescribed fresh grapes to accelerate the metabolism and treatment of the throat , useful properties and contraindications to the use of berries were well known to them.

Grape juice is one of the most valuable in its useful, flavoring and dietary characteristics. It is distinguished by a high content of biologically active substances and vitamins.

What is rich in grapes?

Useful properties and contraindications of grapes are due to its complex chemical composition.

First of all, we should note the juice. It contains up to 80% water saturated with acids, vitamins, mineral salts and sugars.

It is very refreshing and tonic. In addition, the juice is nutritious (the content of sugars can reach 30%). These substances, getting into the human body, turn into glucose and serve as an excellent source of carbon. Grape juice is a powerful antioxidant that protects against premature aging. He treats anemia and migraine, acts as a diaphoretic and diuretic, gently eliminates constipation.

Skin and bones: everything in business!

What is useful in grapes besides juice and tender flesh?

1. Grape skin. It has wax, enin, pectins, essential oil, tanning and coloring substances. Especially useful is the peel of red grape varieties: it contains phytoalexin resveratrol, which can protect against diseases associated with aging, and has anti-inflammatory and antitumor properties.

2. Grape seeds also can not be left without attention. And although the vine is cultivated for more than a thousand years, oil from the bones began to be received relatively recently. It is used not only for food: pharmacists use it for the manufacture of drugs that help maintain heart and vascular health, and antiallergenic drugs.

Bones contain proanthocyanidins, quercetin and catechins - the most powerful antioxidants, many times superior in their properties to vitamin E.

In vino veritas - the truth in wine!

Speaking about grapes, useful properties and contraindications to use, it is necessary to mention the French paradox, a term introduced in 1968. The French traditionally eat heavy and fatty foods, they drink, but they remain slim, and the percentage of heart diseases in them is one of the lowest in the world. Many people attribute this to a moderate use of good red wine, which contains flavonoids that strengthen the walls of blood vessels.

In addition to the well-known treatment of grapes - ampelotherapy, in its wine-growing areas its separate direction is used - enotherapy (treatment with natural wines). The main strength of such treatment is not degrees, but the grapes themselves.

Useful properties and contraindications for ampelotherapy are very close to each other. Here we must listen to the words uttered by Avicenna many centuries ago: "Wine is our friend, but in it lies cunning ... Drink in moderation - and the kingdom will last."

Possible harm

Is grapes useful for everyone, or are there certain contraindications to the use of these rich in useful substances of nature?

Abstain from its use should people with severe tuberculosis, diseases of the mucous membrane of the mouth, ulcer of the stomach and duodenal ulcer, a predilection for diarrhea. Do not eat grapes for diabetics and people who want to lose weight.