What Are Muscadine Grapes?

0
1479
What Are Muscadine Grapes?

One really craves for muscadine grapes which happens to be large, thick-skinned grapes.

The texture is softer than conventional grapes and they sort of melt in one’s mouth and are quite sweet.

Good and tough

They are bigger and rounder than other grapes available in the local grocery store and the skin is thicker.

Muscadines are native to North America. One can also find them all around the Southeast region of America, as far north as Kentucky and as far west as East Texas.

The tough skin protects them from a lot of fungal diseases.

Muscadines are rather easy to grow and one can make use of less pesticide use.

The hardiness of muscadines also implies that it can cost less to grow them than other grapes. It has a tough skin which has health benefits. Muscadines are rich in total phenolic compounds, ellagic acid, and catechins that can help ward off cancer.

Native to the southeastern United States, muscadine grapes (Vitis rotundifolia) have thick skins and seeds. Much of the nutrition is in the skin. The thicker the better. Muscadine grapes contain a lot of vitamins and minerals, to disease-fighting antioxidants.

Quiche

The protein and fat provided by muscadines are rather negligible, but the carbohydrate content — especially the fiber content — is indeed valuable. Carbohydrates are one’s body and brain’s main source of energy, and one needs to have adequate amounts each day to be able to breathe, digest, work, eat, exercise and sleep.

What Are Muscadine Grapes?Benefits of Fiber

Nearly 30 percent of the carbohydrates in muscadines do come from dietary fiber.

Fiber also adds bulk to stool and also improves the movement of waste through one’s digestive system. A diet with adequate fiber does improve digestive health and can be instrumental in preventing gastrointestinal conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, diverticular disease as well as anal fissures. It can prevent colon cancer.

Eating plenty of whole grains, vegetables, and fruits as well as muscadine grapes helps one get one’s daily fiber needs.

Vitamins and Minerals in Muscadines

Muscadine grapes contain a lot of vitamin and minerals. It contains Vitamin B and C and more than 100 percent of the riboflavin that adults require each day. Vitamin C supports one’s immune system health and helps in the healing process. Vitamin A is important for healthy eyesight and reproduction, and riboflavin helps in energy production as well as metabolism.

Muscadines do contribute minerals to one’s diet, which include calcium, magnesium, phosphorous and potassium. Calcium is good for strengthening of bones as well as teeth; magnesium, for protein synthesis; and phosphorous for bone mineralization as well as energy production. It provides potassium, a mineral which is necessary for sodium balance and nerve function.

Antioxidant Power of Muscadines

All grapes are a rich source of antioxidants — plant chemicals that can reduce oxidative stress, prevent cell damage, and fight free radicals that cause cancer and other diseases. Muscadines are an especially rich source of phenols. They are particularly rich in the polyphenolic compound resveratrol, which has been studied for its antioxidant benefits in numerous diseases, that includes cancer and heart disease.

Another group of polyphenols to as flavonoids have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects and also play a role in cellular enzyme function. They may also play a key role in antibiotics resistance as well as the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases.

Leave a Reply