Grapes, Wines and By-products as Potential Sources of Antioxidants

Several grape varieties and red wines were found to contain large concentration of phenolic compounds which work as antioxidant in-vitro and in-vivo. Wastes from wine production contain antioxidants in large amounts, between 2-6% on dry material basis. Red wines but also white wines were found to prevent lipid peroxidation of turkey muscle tissues stored at 5oC. The antioxidant reaction of flavonoids found in red wines against lipid peroxidation were found to depend on the structure of the molecule. Red wine flavonoids containing an orthodihydroxy structure around the B ring were found highly active against LDL and membrane lipid peroxidation. The antioxidant activity of red wine polyphenols were also found to be dependent on the catalyzer used. In the presence of H2O2-activated myoglobin, the inhibition efficiency was malvidin 3-glucoside>catechin>malvidin>resveratol. However, in the presence of an iron redox cycle catalyzer, the order of effectiveness was resveratol>malvidin 3-glucoside = malvidin>catechin. Differences in protein binding were found to affect antioxidant activity in inhibiting LDL oxidation. A model protein such as BSA, was investigated on the antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds, grape extracts, and red wines in a lecithin-liposome model system. Ferulic acid followed by malvidin and rutin were the most efficient in inhibiting both lipid and protein oxidation. Catechin, a flavonal found in red-wines in relatively high concentration was found to inhibit myoglobin catalyzed linoleate membrane lipid peroxidation at a relatively very low concentration. This effect was studied by the determination of the by-products generated from linoleate during oxidation. The study showed that hydroperoxides are catalytically broken down, not to an alcohol but most probably to a non-radical adduct. The ability of wine-phenolics to reduce iron and from complexes with metals were also demonstrated. Low concentration of wine phenolics were found to inhibit lipoxygenase type II activity. An attempt to understand the bioavailability in humans of antocyanins from red wine showed that two antocyanins from red wine were found unchanged in human urine. Other antocyanins seems to undergo molecular modification. In hypercholesterolemic hamsters, aortic lipid deposition was significantly less in animals fed diets supplemented with either catechin or vitamin E. The rate of LDL accumulation in the carotid arteries was also significantly lower in the catechin and vitamin E animal groups. These results suggested a novel mechanism by which wine phenolics are associated with decreased risk of coronary heart diseases. This study proves in part our hypothesis that the "French Paradox" could be explained by the action of the antioxidant effects of phenolic compounds found at high concentration in red wines. The results of this study argue that it is in the interest of public health to increase the consumption of dietary plant falvonoids. Our results and these from others, show that the consumption of red wine or plant derived polyphenolics can change the antioxidant tone of animal and human plasma and its isolated components towards oxidative reactions. However, we need more research to better understand bioavailability and the mechanism of how polyphenolics affect health and disease.