Ohio's Concord Grape Crop: Researchers Spot Anti-Breast Cancer Compound In The Color Purple

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- A new medical study suggests that Concord grapes, the most common variety of grapes grown in Ohio, contain natural compounds that may help protect against breast cancer. The research has just been published by the Journal of Medicinal Foods and says 100 percent grape juice was able to block a known carcinogen, benzo (a) pyrene, from connecting to the DNA of healthy human breast cells. The experiments were done in test tubes.

Scientists suspect that anthocyanins, the anti-oxidants that give grape juice its deep purple color, warrant further research. It could be good news for Ohio, which is positioning itself as a player in the bio-tech industry. Grapes grow well in the state, and the research may prove a way to harness Ohio's existing agricultural production base to its emerging medico-scientific economic development plans.

Keith Singletary, a University of Illinois scientist, headed the research team, which included Monica Giusti from Ohio State University's department of food science and technology. The team has been investigating the medicinal properties of grapes, which are believed to increase enzymes that metabolize and detoxify carcinogens. Another way of saying what the scientists are doing: They are digging into the relationship between diet and cancer.

Concord grapes are large and blue. They are the most common and hardiest variety of grapes on the 3,000 acres of vineyards now scattered across Ohio, mostly near Lake Erie and the Ohio River. Concords are harvested during September and early October, and Ohio has the nation's 8th largest grape crop, most of which goes to wine and juices. Concords are specifically used for non-fermented grape drinks. In wines, it can wind up as Vin Rose or Haut Sauterne.

Welch Foods Inc., the nation largest grape juice manufacturer, was touting the research as showing that grapes need more study as a possible breast-cancer preventive.

"This research is the latest to suggest that Concord grape juice may be of value in maintaining breast health by suppressing oxidative stress and inhibiting DNA damage to cells that can lead to the initiation of cancer, or in helping to slow the progression of breast cancer by slowing the multiplication of cancer cells. Dies in high natural antioxidants have been association with a reduced risk of some types of cancers. . . .

Other researchers have been investigating the medicinal properties of grape seeds, which also appear to offer healthy lifestyle benefits that are as yet not fully understood.

Ohio Ag Director Dailey's Good-Bye: 5 Pages of Self-Praise?

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- Republican Ohio Agriculture Director Fred L. Dailey has left the building -- or maybe the back 40. But not before his press office had to churn out a 5-page press release that buttered up the boss. Its appearance was timed for the end of GOP control of state executive agencies.

Issued on Sunday, January 7, the final day of the Bob Taft-era, Dailey's document is a list extolling his "legacy" for 16 years of government service. Some might see it as a bit of ego-stroking ordered up by the boss himself to praise himself as a man who toiled in the ag agency to make Ohio ''one of the best -- and safest -- places in the nation to work, live and farm."

Dailey's press release gave him credit for "establishing" the Farmland Preservation program. Actually, voters created the program by adopting Issue 1 in 2000, which was former Gov. Bob Taft's Clean Ohio initiative that set aside about $400 million. Some $25 million has been used for the Agricultural Easement Purchase Program (AEPP) which was administered by Dailey's agency. So far, about 26,000 acres have been protected.

The entire press release about Dailey is quite a read. It is the most recent piece of news put out by the department.

There doesn't seem to be anything similar in state government. A glance around some of the other executive agencies like the Transportation Department, where Gordon Proctor is moving on, discloses nothing akin to Dailey's lengthy legacy report. Dailey can probably recycle the press release as a resume when he looks for a new job. ''I am proud to have helped contribute to the betterment of our state,'' Dailey was quoted as saying about himself.

There seemed to be little about the two men who gave him his job -- former GOP governors George Voinovich and Taft. The Daily Bellwether could find only one sentence, and that began the list of Dailey's accomplishments "made with their support."