Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of winery wastes seeds of Vitis labrusca

There are many studies about the biological activities of Vitis vinifera grape seeds, which are rich in phenolic compounds, known by their several health beneficial effects. However, until now there is no data about biological activities of the seeds of V. labrusca, specie found in South and North America. Every year, the global wine production (around 260 million hL) generates about 19.5 million ton of wastes, which are usually discarded in the environment. The aim of this research was to evaluate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of aqueous extracts of seeds from wine wastes of Vitis labrusca (cv. 'Bordo' and 'Isabella'). Both extracts showed significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, which are positively correlated with total phenolic content, suggesting that these compounds might be the major contributors to the biological activity of these extracts. These results indicate that water extraction from winery wastes is an option to obtain phenolic compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities helping to maintain environmental balance.