Grapes

Description

:About grapes

The grape-vine is probably the oldest and best known of the cultivated fruit plants grown in Iran. Over 40 different types of grapes are harvested across the country. Cultivars like Asgari, Keshmeshi, Shahroudi, and Khalili have shown a lot of potentials and have a high yield rate. Keshmeshi and Asgari are the most important Iranian grape seeds. Keshmeshi and Asgari are consumed as freshly harvested fresh herbs and raisins.

In 2017, 800,000 tons of grapes were cultivated in Iran which was 5% of the global production. Grape harvesting areas in Iran are Fars, Qazvin, Khorasan Razavi, Hamedan, West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, Zanjan, North Khorasan, Kurdistan, Central and Semnan provinces. Every October, grape harvest takes place in northeastern Iran.

Botanically, they are small, round berries growing in clusters on a perennial and deciduous woody vine of the genus, Vitis. Today, they widely cultivated under supervised orchards and vineyards all around the world.

In structure, each grape berry features semi-translucent flesh encased inside a smooth, thin skin. Some varieties contain edible seeds, while others are seedless. The color of the berry is because of the presence of polyphenolic pigments in them. Red or purple berries are rich in anthocyanins while white-green berries compose more of tannins, especially, catechin. Interestingly, these antioxidant compounds concentrated densely in the skin and seeds

Health benefits of grapes

• Grapes are rich in polyphenolic phytochemical compound resveratrol. Resveratrol is one of the powerful anti-oxidant which has been found to play a protective role against cancers of colon and prostate, coronary heart disease (CHD), degenerative nerve disease, Alzheimer’s disease and viral/ fungal infections.
• Resveratrol reduces stroke risk by altering the molecular mechanisms inside the blood vessels. It does so, firstly by reducing the susceptibility of the blood vessel through decreased activity of angiotensin (a systemic hormone causing blood vessel constriction that would otherwise elevate blood pressure) and secondly, through increased production of vasodilator substance, nitric oxide (a beneficial compound that causes relaxation of blood vessels).
• Anthocyanins are another class of polyphenolic antioxidants present abundantly in the red grapes. These phytochemicals have been found to have an anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, as well as anti-cancer activity.
• Catechins, a type of flavonoid tannin group of anti-oxidants, discovered in the white/green varieties have also shown to possess these health-protective functions.
• Also, the berries are very low in calories. 100 g fresh grapes just provide 69 calories but zero cholesterol levels.
• Grapes are a rich source of micronutrient minerals like copper, iron, and manganese. Copper and manganese are an essential cofactor of the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase. Iron is especially concentrated in raisins. Besides, 100 g of fresh grapes contain about 191 mg of health benefiting electrolyte, potassium.

They are also a good source of vitamin-C, vitamin-A, vitamin-K, carotenes, B-complex vitamins such as pyridoxine, riboflavin, and thiamin.