Grapes are one of the most popular, but many people neglect to eat what is perhaps their healthiest feature — the seeds. Grape seeds are rich in powerful antioxidants and natural plant compounds called oligomeric proanthocyanin complexes (OPCs).

OPCs are most well known for their antioxidant activity, which means at the very least, grape seed may help to destroy free radicals in your body, which in turn may help you avoid premature aging and certain chronic diseases.

However, OPCs also demonstrate a host of other beneficial activities in the body, which may explain why grape seed extract appears to help so many different health conditions while exerting its effects body-wide.

The more research that emerges on grape seeds, the more it becomes clear they have wide-reaching health benefits. Grape seeds have been shown to improve flexibility in joints, arteries and body tissues such as your heart, for instance.

Grape seed also helps improve blood circulation by strengthening capillaries, arteries and veins. Additional health benefits include those that follow.

If you enjoy snacking on grapes, there's no reason to spit out the seeds (and may be some benefit from eating them). However, to reach therapeutic quantities of grape seeds you'd need to eat a lot of grapes — and this is not recommended since grapes are one of the highest-fructose fruits.

Most grape-seed extract comes from ground-up seeds from grapes used to make red wine. In fact, grape seeds and their extract are considered a by-product of the wine and grape juice industries.

While you can purchase whole grape seeds to consume for health purposes, they're very bitter. This is actually a good