Grape powder 'reduces arthritis pain and inflammation'
Grape powder reduces pain and inflammation in a rat model of arthritis, according to researchers from John Hopkins University.
Scientists injected rats with chemicals to induce inflammatory arthritis. Some were then fed with grape powder (equivalent to about ten cups of grapes), while the rest were given sugar water.
For four days after the arthritis was induced, the researchers measured the rats' inflammation levels and responses to pain. The latter was calculated through sensitivity to stimulation.
Results showed that the rats fed with grape powder withstood the stimulation better than those who were given sugar water.
In addition, the scientists compared the grape powder treatment with meloxicam, a common non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.
They discovered that although meloxicam alone was not adequate to reduce pain, rats given the drug in combination with grape powder experienced less pain than those treated with either grape powder or meloxicam in isolation.
Dr Jasenka Borzan, a research associate in anesthesiology at John Hopkins University, said there were "two important messages here".
He explained: "[The first is] that consuming flavonoids through natural products like grapes can be beneficial to health in general and also specifically for reducing inflammatory pain, and [the second is] that consuming natural products like grapes may also be beneficial in reducing the amount of medication necessary to reduce inflammation."
A spokeswoman for the Arthritis Research Campaign said the effectiveness of the combination of grape powder and meloxicam was of interest, but needed further study. 
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