The slogan "Empower Your Health" is printed in bold on a brochure for NutraGrape, a nutraceutical made with muscadine seeds and sold as "nature's No. 1 source of anti-oxidants." On the cover, hand-in-hand, gamboling about a rocky beach, are a man and a woman, full of vim, vigor and, presumably, muscadines.

The marketing push came in the wake of recent research suggesting that muscadines are chock-full of resveratrol. Any fan of the TV show "60 Minutes" can tell you that resveratrol, found also in red wine, may be causal in the French paradox — the paradox being that, despite a relatively high-fat diet, the French, who famously knock back red wine like it's Coca-Cola, suffer less from heart disease than their across-the-pond counterparts.

Research is ongoing. Among the findings: a 2-ounce pour of muscadine juice can have at least twice the resveratrol as the same pour of red wine.

Steve Shephard, the winemaker at RayLen Vineyards in Mocksville, N.C., has taken the findings to heart. Although he stakes his reputation on cabernet franc blends and chardonnays, he has been known to start his morning with a protein shake, thick with pulverized muscadine seed powder.