Biological and medicinal properties of grapes (Vitis vinifera) and their bioactive constituents

Grapes (), one of the world's largest fruit crops and most commonly consumed fruits in the world, are rich Vitis vinifera in antioxidants and phytochemicals.In recent years, active constituents found in the fruits, seeds, stems, skin and pomaces of grapes have been identified and some have been studied.Although most of the parts of the grapevine are useful, primarily, the grape is considered as a source of unique natural products not only for the development of valuable medicines against a number of diseases, but also for manufacturing various industrial products.Over the last few decades, apart from the chemistry of grape compounds, considerable progress has been made towards exploring the biological activities of various grape-derived constituents.Today, it is well established that in addition to serving as food, the grape is a major source of several phytochemicals.The main biologically active and well characterized constituent from the grape is resveratrol, which is known for various medicinal properties in human diseases.A number of phytochemicals including resveratrol, proanthocyanidins, etc, have demonstrated significant benefits in cancer chemoprevention.In this review, we summarize the existing knowledge on the antitumor and antioxidant activity of grape seeds polyphenols.Grape extracts are industrial derivatives from whole grape that have a great concentration of flavonoids, linoleic acid and polyphenols with known health benefits, due to its high antioxidant capacity.