Grape Seed Extract OPC Antioxidant for Longer and Healthier Life
Author: J Snyder
Background: The most significant progress in life sciences has been the establishment of the role of free radicals in diseases and premature ageing. The scientific achievements provided us highly valuable ways to combat the free radical damages. Antioxidants are a special class of substances that scavenge free radicals in the human body to prevent their damages. With increasing awareness of antioxidant supplements, human beings are moving toward a new era of longer and healthier life in the near future.
Grape Seed extract - the most effective antioxidant contains OPC (oligomeric proanthocyanidin complex). Although human cultures of grape consumption have a history dated back at least to six thousand years ago, grape seeds were not traditionally believed valuable for nutrition. Modern sciences have allowed detailed investigations into the nutritional secrets hiding deeply inside the grapes. The grape seeds have been found to contain the richest sources of OPCs and other health-beneficial polyphenols. The discovery of highly nutritional antioxidants in grape seeds was the first made by French Professor Jacques Masquelier in 1970. Before that, Masquelier also made OPCs extracted from peanut skins in 1948, and produced OPC pine bark extract by 1950. Those breakthroughs in natural product chemistry in France have allowed large scale commercialization of OPC ingredients in the nutraceutical industry. OPC extracts have been very popular health-promoting and pharmaceutical products for at least 3 decades in France. The discovery of OPC grape seed extract also provided a clue, leading to French Paradox theory by early 1990s. French Paradox, an epidemiological theory is about moderate red wine consumption related to French heart health and longevity. Red wine is usually made by fermentation of whole grapes including seeds, and the nutritional components of grape seeds leak into the wine during fermentation. Therefore, red wine is recognized for containing rich nutrients of grape seed OPCs, as well as other phytochemicals and polyphenol
antioxidants such as anthocyanins and resveratrol. Alcohol-free red wine extract is made so that people who don't like alcohol can still benefit from the grape seed OPCs.
The OPC and related polyphenols have been demonstrated to have a variety of nutritional values. The noticeable health beneficial effects of grape seed and red wine extracts include inhibiting some degenerative diseases, such as cardiovascular and Alzheimer's diseases, certain types of cancers, reducing plasma oxidation stress and slowing ageing, help reduce and stabilize blood pressure.
Although grape seed extract OPC has diverse health benefits, the quality of raw extract ingredients is very critical. The OPC extraction from grape seeds demands advanced technologies to remove the harmful polymeric proanthocyanidins (PPC). PPC molecules cannot be absorbed by our bodies as strong metal chelators, and interfere with mineral absorptions in our bodies. Currently, there are only 2 French companies, who can completely remove the PPC from grape seed extract and retain the high content of OPC. The other manufacturers around the world have not achieved the same. And therefore, the majority of the OPC products on the market have the quality problems.
FrenchGlory ® isotonic OPC antioxidant products use 3 native OPC extract from France with the highest quality. FrenchGlory brand OPC antioxidant supplements are becoming very popular these days, as these products contain a combination of 3 nativ OPC extracts from
pine bark, grape seeds, and red wine grapes.
About the Author: Ph.D. in Chemistry, 1994, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario Canada.
