A report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry said chemicals in red wine grapes interfere with the ability of bacteria to contribute to tooth decay and also may hold clues for new ways to lessen the ability of bacteria to cause life-threatening, systemic infections, the University of Rochester Medical Center said Friday in a news release.

The findings are the result of collaboration between the center and the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station at Cornell University.

The study, which examined the make-up of polyphenols in red wine grape varietals and their ability to interfere with Streptococcus mutans bacteria, which produces acid and the building blocks of a dental biofilm called plaque.

"Overall, the phenolic extracts disrupt essential virulence traits for a widespread, destructive oral pathogen, but without killing it," said Olga I. Padilla-Zakour with the New York Agricultural Experiment Station of Cornell University.