Curbing obesity with muscadine grape seed oil

MUSCADINE grape (Vitis rotundifolia Michx.) is a grape variety native to the Southeastern part of the United States where conditions can be warm and humid. Having thick skin and large seeds, the grape is used to make juice and other beverages. But the exciting news about it is the oil from the grape seed.

From muscadine grape seed oil is derived an unsaturated form of Vitamin E called tocotrienol which is a source of mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids, said Marty Marshall, a professor of food science and human nutrition at the University of Florida in the United States. These characteristics make the grape seed oil a valuable addition to the edible oils market, he said.

The perceived benefits don’t stop there. Muscadine grape seed oil that is enriched with more tocotrienol from underutilized muscadine varieties could be developed to help fight obesity. The oil is found to reduce the formation of new fat cells.

“Thus, consuming foods made with muscadine grape seed oil could curtail weight gain by reducing obesity,” Mr Marshall said.

With this new finding, grape seed oil can join the ranks of red palm and rice bran oil as providing the benefits of tocotrienol.

But for now, scientists must find out how to help growers produce large quantities of it and how consumers can use the oil. Mr Marshall suggests salad dressings.

For the study, published online in the journal Food and Function, scientists took muscadine grapes grown near Tallahassee and, working in a UF/IFAS lab, extracted oil from the fruit’s seeds. They found the content of unsaturated fatty acids reached 85% to 90% of the total fatty acids.

Reducing waste as well

After beverage production, thousands of tons of the solid byproduct pomace is created every year. Most of the pomace usually goes to landfills as waste, but some manufacturers use the muscadine grape seeds for oil, Mr Marshall said.

“Our interest has been to find a value-added capability of these waste streams,” he said, adding that this may be another use for the grape “waste.”

(Image: Wikimedia Commons)