This book offers a thorough review of the scientific research that links the consumption of grapes to better health. The book starts with a basic review of grape biology, including the key families of phytochemicals found in grapes, and where they are found. An overview of the rationale for and subsequent creation of a standardized grape powder for use in basic and clinical research provides insight and understanding regarding its widespread use in grape-specific research today. The remaining chapters each thoroughly examine a key area of health, demonstrating a significant scope of impact on well-being. The book examines the role of grapes in supporting heart health under multiple angles: general cardiovascular effects, as well as specific effects directly linked to atherosclerosis and hypertension. Other emerging and important areas of health are examined, ranging from grapes and cancer, where grape consumption has been shown to protect healthy colon tissue; grapes andinflammation, where grapes have been shown to block inflammatory activity in immune cells of fat tissue; to brain health, where a grape-enriched diet has been shown to protect against neuronal damage due to loss of oxygen in the brain, as well as against oxidative stress-related anxiety and resulting memory loss; to grapes and eye health where grape consumption has been shown to protect the retina from damage.
Dr. Pezzuto received his A.B. degree in chemistry from Rutgers University and Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He is currently Professor and Dean of the Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Long Island University and holds adjunct professorial positions at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Purdue University, and the University of Hawaii. He is an author of over 500 publications, co-inventor of several patents, the editor of four books, a member of over 10 editorial boards of international journals, and the editor-in-chief of Pharmaceutical Biology. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and recipient of the Volwiler Research Award by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. His current research interests are predominately in the areas of biology-driven natural product drug discovery and characterization, with primary emphasis in the fields of cancer chemotherapy and cancer chemoprevention. He directs a long-term project designed to investigate the effects of grape consumption on health.
