Discover BOOMBITES™ Red Berry Grapes: A Superfruit with Big Health Potential
Eating a rainbow of foods is a proven way to ensure your diet is bursting with an array of vitamins and minerals including health-enhancing antioxidants. And that’s just got a lot easier with the arrival of a delicious new superfruit – the Red Berry Grapes.
The new Red Berry Grapes called BOOMBITES™, combine the delicious taste that you would expect from the world’s best table grapes with a deep red pulp on the inside. Their distinctive colour comes from high levels of antioxidants known as anthocyanins[1] — the powerhouse polyphenols that account for the superfood status of Goji berries, blueberries and cranberries. In fact, the new Red Berry Grapes have comparable antioxidant levels to blueberries, well known for their superfruit status.[2]
FACT: Anthocyanins give fruits their distinctive dark red, black and purple colours and have been linked with potentially health-enhancing mechanisms including reduced inflammation, helping to protect against cell damage and good gut health.[3],[4]
Superfruit benefits
BOOMBITES™ Red Berry Grapes also contain polyphenols and resveratrol. These are naturally occurring compounds found in various plants, most notably in the skin of grapes, blueberries, raspberries, and peanuts. It’s a stilbenoid, a type of natural phenol that is produced by plants as a defence mechanism against pathogens or injury. Resveratrol is known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties[5] and has been associated with the “French paradox”. This is the observation that despite a diet rich in saturated fats France has lower rates of heart disease than many comparable countries.[6] And resveratrol is thought to account for various health and wellness benefits.[7] Testing by researchers at the University of Murcia,[8] found that BOOMBITES™ Red Berry Grapes had three times more resveratrol than blueberries when tested[9] and comparable levels of antioxidants.[10]
Sweet spot
Emerging new research confirms that the new Red Berry Grapes not only deliver much higher levels of antioxidant polyphenols than traditional grape varieties, but also their natural sugars are absorbed more slowly.[11] And it’s their impact on blood sugar levels that has generated even more excitement around the superfruit credentials of the Red Berry Grape.
Evolving research from the technology center AINIA in Valencia, Spain, suggests that despite having similar amounts of fructose, the new Red Berry Grape varieties showed significantly lower glucose uptakes than standard varieties. This is thanks to the Red Berry Grape being rich in polyphenols, as well as having fibre, and together this unique food matrix[12],[13] seem to have a role in slowing glucose absorption compared to other fruits.
GP, Dr Nisa Aslam and a member of the Red Berry Grape Advisory Board says, “In simple terms, this means that while new Red Berry Grapes are sweet to the taste, the combination of phenols they contain alters the way these sugars are transported and absorbed in the gut.
“This has major implications for weight control, insulin response and dietary advice around fruit consumption, because we know that many consumers restrict intakes of these fruits rich in antioxidants because of concerns about the amount of sugar in fruit.”
Dr Nisa Aslam adds, “Glucose metabolism is also closely linked to the cardiovascular system and some experts believe it should be recognised as an independent risk factor for heart diseases and circulatory system. More research is needed in this area of science.”[14]
Consumer appetite
New real-world research[15] commissioned by the Red Berry Grape Advisory Board suggests there is a keen consumer appetite for foods that will help them to control blood sugars. This research found that 60% of adults have tried to cut back on the sugar in their diet and another 10% recognise that they should.
This underlines the strong awareness of the impact of sugar on health with 93% of adults recognising the importance of managing blood sugars, with 64% judging this “very important”.
Almost seven in ten (68%) of those polled have considered monitoring the glycemic index (GI) of the foods they eat so they can gauge how rapidly sugars are released into their bloodstream, with men most likely to consider ranking the GI of their foods; 71% compared to 64% of women.
Public Health Nutritionist and a member of the Red Berry Grape Advisory Board, Dr Emma Derbyshire says, “With 5.8 million people in the UK living with diabetes[16] and 64% of adults estimated to be overweight or obese[17] blood sugar control is not only a hot topic, it’s also a personal and public health priority. Increasing consumption of foods which help regulate blood sugars and maintain a healthy weight can help to reduce these risks.”
Rainbow returns
Anthocyanins are one of the many polyphenols which give fruit and vegetables their distinctive colours and flavours and healthy intakes are known to reduce the risk of many life-limiting health issues including heart health challenges and diabetes.[18] Anthocyanins appear to drive multiple health-enhancing mechanisms including lowering cholesterol[19]and improved blood-sugar control.[20],[21]
Population studies show that a diet rich in polyphenols can potentially help to reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease by 46% and this is driven by multiple mechanisms including reduced oxidative stress and inflammation and improvements in blood cholesterol, clotting and endothelial function, a term used to describe how well blood vessels relax, contract, and maintain healthy circulation.[22],[23]
An observational study in 3,420 older adults at high risk of cardiovascular disease — which also put them in the danger zone for diabetes — showed a 28% reduction in new-onset diabetes among those with the highest intakes of polyphenols.[24]
Other studies have shown that polyphenols moderate insulin resistance via several mechanisms and also work synergistically with diabetes medicines to increase their efficacy.[25] And an evidence review published earlier this year in Advances in Nutrition[26] concluded, “Consuming dietary polyphenol-rich soft fruits with, or shortly after a carbohydrate-rich meal, can lower blood glucose concentrations by acting on carbohydrate metabolising enzymes and glucose transporters.”
Other research confirms that increased intakes of fruit and vegetables could potentially reduce the risk of coronary heart health issues, stroke, diabetes, asthma, and vision problems.[27]
Last word
Dietitian and a member of the Red Berry Grape Advisory Board, Nichola Ludlam-Raine says, “We all know that eating plenty of fruit and vegetables is one of the cornerstones of good health, and the age-old plea from mums to ‘eat your greens’ shows that we have always instinctively known that colour is importance when it comes to eating healthily.
“But as we learn more and more about the plant compounds and science behind the benefits of eating a colourful array of fruit and vegetables there is even more reason to ensure you eat a rainbow, including plenty of purple and red fruits, every day.”
TASTE THE REDVOLUTION
For shoppers to get a taste of the anthocyanin-rich Red Berry Grapes – grape on the outside, red berry on the inside – look out for the BOOMBITES™ Red Berry Grapes at Marks & Spencer & Ocado nationwide for a very limited time only. www.boombites.com
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