Grape juice and blood pressure:
A double-blinded, placebo controlled study by Park et al. of 40 hypertensive adult Korean men with elevated blood pressure (BP), found that daily consumption of Concord grape juice (CGJ) for 8 weeks (5.5 mL/kg/d) resulted in lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure versus baseline. Participants were assigned to treatment with grape juice or placebo. At the end of the study, compared to baseline, those in the CGJ group experienced a mean systolic BP reduction of 7.2 mm Hg (p = 0.005) and mean diastolic BP reduction of 6.2 mm Hg (p = 0.001). Comparable changes in the group getting the placebo product were -3.5 mm Hg (NS) and -3.2 mm Hg (p = 0.05). The authors conclude that consuming Concord grape juice, which is high in polyphenolic compounds (antioxidants), might positively affect BP in hypertensive individuals. (76)