There's good news for wine enthusiasts who like chardonnay more than merlot. A study led by a University of Connecticut, New Haven (US), scientist of Indian origin, Dipak K. Das, and researchers at the University of Milan, reports that white wine may be as heart-healthy as red.

The pulp of grapes appears just as heart-healthy in laboratory experiments as the skin.

Past studies have shown that the cardio-protective compounds in grapes - polyphenolic antioxidants - reside in the skin and seeds.

Grape skins, which contain purple pigment, are crushed with the pulp to make red wines. But the skins are separated from the pulp to make most white wine, leading to the conventional belief that red wines and red grape juice are the most heart-healthy.

"Although further study is needed to identify the principle ingredients responsible for the cardio-protective abilities of the grape flesh, to the best of our knowledge, our study provides evidence for the first time that the flesh of grapes is equally cardio-protective with respect to the skins," the researchers report in the August 23 issue of the Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry.

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