New food trend ahead? Highlighting the nutritional benefits of grapevine leaves
Abstract
The wine industry produces an enormous amount of waste every year. A wider inclusion of disregarded by-products in the human diet or its use as a source of bioactive compounds is a good strategy for reducing waste. It will not only introduce an added value to a waste product but also come upon the European Union and United Nations’ demands towards more sustainable agricultural approaches and circular economy.
Grapevine leaves, the most abundant waste product in the wine industry, can be used as a source of bioactive compounds and are present in the diets of several Mediterranean countries. In this work, we have shown the high potential of grapevine leaves for nutrition and as a source of bioactive compounds, which can be used for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. We have selected seven different cultivars with high economic value and performed elemental, fatty acid (FA) and pigment profiling.
Total reflection X-ray fluorescence enabled the identification and quantification of 21 elements. Our results have shown that the ingestion of a small portion of grapevine leaves can provide World Health Organization’s daily recommended doses for several elements. We have also demonstrated that the most abundant FA in grapevine leaves are the health-promoting essential FAs: linoleic acid (omega-3) and linolenic acid (omega-6). Through pigment analysis, seventeen pigments were identified including chlorophylls, lutein, b-carotene and zeaxanthin, known for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Our results demonstrate that grapevine leaves have a high potential for human consumption as well as to be considered as sources of bioactive compounds and a thorough investigation on grapevine cultivars can reveal other applications besides wine.
Acknowledgements:
Work supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT-Portugal) through the Research Units BioISI (UID/MULTI/04046/2019), MARE (UIDB/04292/2020 and UIDP/04292/2020), ARNET – Aquatic Research Network Associated Laboratory (LA/P/0069/2020)) and PTDC/BIA-BQM/28539/2017 projects. FCT also funded the PhD grant (SFRH/BD/145298/2019) to GL and the research contracts (2022.07433.CEECIND) to MM and (2022.01746.CEECIND) to BD.
References:
1) Maia M. et al. (2021) More than Just Wine: The Nutritional Benefits of Grapevine Leaves. Foods 10, 2251. DOI 10.3390/foods10102251
DOI:
Issue: ICGWS 2023
Type: Poster
Authors
1Grapevine Pathogen Systems Lab., Biosystems and Integrative Sciences Institute, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
2Biosystems and Integrative Sciences Institute, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal;
3Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
4Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária I.P:, Polo de Inovação de Dois Portos, Quinta da Almoinha 2565-191Dois Portos, Portugal
5MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre & ARNET – Aquatic Research Network Associated Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, Campo Grande 1749-016 Lisbon, Portugal