Concord grape juice supplementation reduces blood pressure in Korean hypertensive men: Double-blind, placebo controlled intervention trial

Issue title: The Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Food Factors (ICoFF 03)

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Park, Yoo Kyoung | Kim, Jung-Shin | Kang, Myung-Hee

Affiliations: Department of Medical Nutrition, Kyunghee University, 1 Hoekidong, Dongdaemoonku, Seoul 130-701, South Korea | Department of Food and Nutrition, Hannam University, 133 Ojeong-dong, Daedeok-gu, Daejeon, Korea

Note: [] Corresponding author. Tel: +82 42 629 7491; E-mail: mhkang@hannam.ac.kr

Abstract: Many of the flavonoids found in grapes and grape products such as juice or wine have been known to exert antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, platelet inhibitory and arterial relaxing effects either in vitro, in animal studies and in human trials. This study was designed to test the effect of Concord grape juice consumption on altering blood pressure in hypertensive patients. Forty subjects were given 5.5 ml/kg body weight/day of either Concord grape juice (CGJ) or a calorie-matched placebo drink every day for 8 weeks. Blood pressure (BP) was measured on weeks 0, 4 and 8. Compared to baseline, in the CGJ group systolic BP was reduced on average by 7.2 mm Hg (p = 0.005) and diastolic BP was reduced on average by 6.2 mm Hg (p = 0.001) at the end of 8 weeks. Comparable changes in the group getting the placebo product were -3.5 mm Hg (NS) and -3.2 mm Hg (p = 0.05) Consuming Concord grape juice, which is high in polyphenolic compounds, may favorably affect BP in hypertensive individuals.

Keywords: grape juice, double-blind, placebo-controlled, DNA damage, comet assay

Journal: BioFactors, vol. 22, no. 1-4, pp. 145-147, 2004