Anthocyanin in grapes (and the wines made from them) has been found to have many health benefits like being anti-free radicals and anti-inflammatory agents.

A new Italian research study found that spraying grapes with a safe anti-bacterial agent called benzothiadiazole (BTH) could triple their nutraceutical content (main anthocyanins: delphinidin; cyaniding, petunidin, peonidin, and malvidin).

Such effect however, is not carried over into the wine made from the BTH-sprayed grapes.

The effect of the BTH on the anthocyanin concentration is proposed to be a response by the plant to the agent. Spraying the crop with BTH, said the researchers, triggers an inducible response from the plant to produce more anthocyanins, which help the plant's resistance to the chemical challenge.

The difference in results between the grapes and the wine, said the scientists, was due to changes in anthocyanin concentrations that occur as different compounds present in the wine react and change as the wine matures.

BTH is not associated with any toxicological risk for humans and is recognized by the European Commission as fulfilling the safety requirements for plant protection products and has no reported harmful effects on human or animal health.

The researchers therefore propose that grape plants (Vitis vinifera) be treated with the resistance activator BTH at preharvest, representing an interesting strategy to enrich the nutraceutical potential of grape

The research results were published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (Vol. 54, pp. 5344-5349).

Read more at Food Quality News.