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OPC, nature's most powerful anti-oxidant, is wonderfully abundant in the skins and seeds of grapes. Could this be the secret of the "French Paradox"? Part 1 hen you and your loved ones are gathered around the Christmas tree, when you're roasting chestnuts on an open fire and you sip from the red wine you have just gently whirled in your glass, you are surrounded by the good things in life. Amongst them you find even the very best thing in life. It is called "OPC". OPC, an abbreviation for the tongue-twisting "oligomeric proanthocyanidins", is nature's ultimate protector. It helps red wine mature and age. It protects plants against the harsh influences of sunshine, Bark and leaves are full of it. It protects the oils in seeds and nuts against rancidity. It has the astringent taste that so many people connect with a healthy heart. And what's more, when no longer needed in the living plant, OPC turns out to be the precursor of the inspiring red pigment of red wine and autumn leaves. Because OPC itself is colourless, it has always been a hidden and unobtrusive yet extremely influential factor behind many magnificent natural and biological phenomena. It had been overlooked by scientists of great stature, like, for instance, Nobel Prize-winner Albert Szent-Gydrgyi. This Hungarian scientist received the prize in 1937 for having dis- covered vitamin C. He also found that vitamin C worked better in the presence of a natur- al co-factor, Because Szent-Gyérgyi had isolated his first vitamin C from citrus fruits, he attributed the vitamin C boosting phenomenon to the pigments that are so very visible in citrus fruits: the yellow bioflavonoids. However, Szent-Gydérgyi failed to get consistent results with his bioflavonoids. JACK MASQUELIER Later, during the late '40s al the University of Bordeaux, Szent-Gyérgyi met a young and enthusiastic colleague who had graduated with a thesis about the red pigment, "antho- cyanin". This red pigment is very similar to bioflavonoids in structure, but very different in character. "But Mr Masquelier," Szent-Gydrgyi asked, “are you still interested in that? Don't you know that in the US no one believes in bioflavonoids any more?" Discussing the issues, neither scientist realised that the vitamin C booster that Szent- Gydrgyi had failed to find had already been discovered by Jack Masquelier. In 1947, while researching the red pigment, Masquelier also found its precursor, the OPC. Now, half a century later, it turns out that OPC is the truly active vitamin C booster, and the cause of many a paradox—especially the "French Paradox". THE FRENCH PARADOX On 12th May 1979, the renowned English medical journal, The Lancet, published a now famous article written by A. S. St Leger, et al., "Factors associated with cardiac mor- tality in developed countries with particular reference to the consumption of wine". Not knowing that he had been describing the beneficial effects of OPC, St Leger summarises his principal finding as "...a strong and specific negative association between ischaemic heart-disease deaths and alcohol consumption. This is shown to be wholly attributable to wine consumption.” ; He also found that the health statistics of the 18 countries he included in his study showed that health is "not strongly associated with health-service factors such as doctor and nurse density". In other words, wine does more for your cardiovascular health than your doctor. Those who didn't make a connection between cardiovascular health and wine as an abundant dietary source of OPC were baffled by the apparent but paradoxical compatibili- ty of a low incidence of coronary atherosclerosis and cardiovascular mortality with ©:1995 by Bert. Schwitters — The International Nutrition:Co., Inc. Vreelandseweg 69 1393 PD Nigtevecht | The Netherlands Phone +31 (0)2945 1690 Fax.+31 (0)2945 1939 NEXUS ¢ 37 DECEMBER 1995 - JANUARY 1996