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Now that the days grow shorter in the Northern hemisphere, some of us already begin to feel the coming of what is usually called "winter blues", periods of mood changes, feeling depressed or "empty" and lacking energy.

The endothelium is the inner lining covering the walls of the entire cardiovascular system. Although it is no more than a very thin layer consisting of endothelial cells, the endothelium is, all by itself, a complete organ with a wide range of cardiovascular functions.

In 2024, an estimated 2.4 million women were diagnosed with breast cancer worldwide. Standard treatment includes surgery to remove the breast tumor, radiation therapy to reduce recurrence risk in the breast and surrounding tissues, and chemotherapy.

Evaluation of the benefits of MASQUELIER's® grape seed extract in farmers exposed to pesticides in southern Brazil, is the tile of a groundbreaking study that shows that this authentic botanical compound is capable of reducing genomic instabil

What is often forgotten in dealing with vascular health is that the lymphatic system forms an integral part of the entire vascular system and that endothelial cells form the inner lining of both the circulatory and the lymphatic vessels.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed malignancy with more than 1.9 million annual diagnoses worldwide and the second leading cause of cancer mortality, responsible for more than 900,000 deaths.

Rheumatoid arthritis involves a much broader spectrum of conditions than plain arthritis, but the terms rheumatism and arthritis are commonly used interchangeably by doctors and patients.

With advancing age, our bodily functions deteriorate. This process particularly affects vision, in part because of the influence of free radicals on the extremely delicate structures of the eye.

In the late 1940s, during the early days of his research in the field of botanical extracts, Jack Masquelier discovered how to isolate oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs) from the skins of peanuts.

When you take a food supplement containing Masquelier's OPCs, you're not just taking a tablet or capsule that contains a "botanical extract". Without a doubt, such a product contains OPCs as they were developed and qualified by the pioneering French scientist.

In 1968, the great American scientist Linus Pauling (1901‒1994) created a new word by joining the prefix "ortho", which means right, with "molecular", which means, "having to do with molecules".

The health benefits of the essential trace mineral zinc are numerous and undisputed.

When you take physical activity to heart, then let recovery be your partner. It is during the recovery phase that the body adapts to the stress imposed on it during periods of strenuous activity.

Settled nutritional science tells us that when our food lacks sufficient amounts of micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals, we invariably and inevitably develop serious and lifethreatening diseases, such as scurvy in case of a vitamin C deficiency.

If we are to believe articles recently published on the website of Nutraingredients, there's a "paradigm shift from healthy aging to healthspan" going on in the world of food supplements.

From 1990 until 2009, the year when he passed away, Prof. Jack Masquelier provided me firsthand knowledge based on decades of scientific investigations that he had performed or meticulously supervised. He also transfered to me stacks of original records.

Like vitamins and minerals, poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs ) such as linoleic acid and the Omega-3’s form an essential part of the human diet. Some of these PUFA's are of vegetable, others are of animal origin.

If your heart is really the unique “driver” of the blood that circulates through your arteries, capillaries and veins, how do we explain the phenomenon that blood flow has been observed in mice, rats, dogs, and chick after the heart stopped beating?

Sometimes, I come across a point of view or hypothesis that shakes “received wisdom”.

Without a doubt, antioxidants such as OPCs play a major role in reducing the risk of developing degenerative diseases.

Around the world, Governments are continuously busy regulating what “food business operators” are allowed, not allowed and what they must tell consumers about the content and effects of their products.

Excessive exposure to the sun, spending long hours under a baking sun at a summer holiday beach, does result in inflammation, collagen destruction, and acceleration of the skin’s aging process.

In the living organism, there are thousands of "cogwheels" that synchronize and align all the processes that help the organism to maintain its vitality and integrity.

"Though we enjoy many beneficial effects of solar radiation, (light and warmth), humans and animals alike are also very sensitive to the harmful effects of one component of the spectrum: ultraviolet light (UVL).

In her fascinating book The Rainbow and the Worm, the Chinese geneticist Dr.

Statins stimulate atherosclerosis and heart failure: pharmacological mechanisms is the title of an article published in 2015 by a group of expert reviewers of clinical trials in the scientific journal Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacol

In 1965, professor Jack Masquelier listed a wide variety of vascular disorders that could result from a deficiency in OPCs, which, at the time, he referred to as “vitamin P factor.” He also explained why most people are most likely deficient in OPCs

While most people welcome and enjoy the warm days of summertime, people suffering from varicose veins tend to have a different opinion.

Your body consists for some 70% of what most people would simply call “water.” A large part of this “water” functions as streams that carry all the substances we need for the body’s health or that must be eliminated as waste materials.

In 2006, the renowned American biochemist Bruce Ames (1928), noted that “inadequate dietary intakes of vitamins and minerals are widespread.” Deficiencies in micronutrients cause damage to your DNA, which leads to chronic metabolic disruption, including the decay of the mitochondria, the units in

The Mediterranean Diet is known for supporting cardiovascular health and longevity. This diet isn’t particularly healthy because it consists of fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes and fish, the latter being the source of the Omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA.

Chronic inflammation can lead to obesity, early stage diabetes, cardiovascular problems and chronic pulmonary disease (COPD), which manifests itself in respiratory symptoms, shortness of breath and cough.

Several countries have halted the use of Oxford/AstraZenica’s COVID-19 “vaccine” because of very serious to lethal thrombotic incidents immediately following vaccination.

Even though SARS-COVID-2 and other “Corona” viruses may produce mild to severe respiratory diseases, it is a mistake to define the virus as the condition that it produces.

It’s Christmas 2020 and most of us are somehow ‒ mentally, psychologically, physically, economically or financially ‒suf

In the early 1980s, Dr. Masquelier discovered that OPCs are capable of mitigating “any illness generated by free radicals.” At the time, this was a breakthrough invention for which the French professor was even granted a U.S. Patent.

Most people, including most medical doctors, associate heart attacks with cholesterol, occlusion of the coronary arteries by plaque and an ensuing lack of oxygen that impairs the functioning of the heart muscle.

COVID-19 infection in Tokyo, Japan, produced a negligible fatality rate in spite of it being widely spread across the general population. This occurred without a lockdown and without dictatorial restrictive measures.

The mortality profile of COVID-19 runs practically parallel to that of natural mortality. In other words, as the risk of dying increases with age, so does the risk of dying with COVID-19. The two statistics overlap more or less.

Available evidence from randomized controlled trials shows that replacement of saturated fat with linoleic acid effectively lowers serum cholesterol but does not produce a lower risk of death from coronary heart disease.

With the “Corona” hysteria raging through the world and economies and fundamental freedoms collapsing under government imposed “lockdowns,” you may wonder what happened to the real killers, the degenerative diseases that we were so worried about until the beginning of this year

Anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Ibuprofen, are frequently used by athletes in order to prevent musculoskeletal pain and improve performance.

Five years ago, celebrating his Foundation’s partnership with the German “transformative vaccine” developer CureVac, Bill Gates said: “If we can teach the body to create its own natural defenses, we can revolutionize the way we treat and prevent disea

Diabetics should anyway pay much attention to protecting their microvascular system, but when viruses such as Covid go around, there’s extra reason to diminish the risk of vascular damage.

“Cardiovascular complications are rapidly emerging as a key threat in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in addition to respiratory disease.” With these words, the Swiss cardiologist Prof. Dr.

Health Authorities in Germany, France and Belgium claim that food supplements containing Red Rice extracts produce the same side effects as the cholesterol-lowering medicine Lovastatin® ! But, do they really ?

When you’re 70 years or older, don’t take Aspirin® if you’re trying to prevent atherosclerotic coronary heart disease, not even in low doses.

“It’s in your DNA,” is what people often say when they describe a seemingly immutable inherited characteristic of someone’s personality or biological performance. DNA is thought of as the cells’ miraculous little entity that controls health and disease.

You would probably think that there is a positive relationship between FAT and cardiovascular mortality. Fat is bad and must be avoided if we want to live a long and healthy life.

Most people in Europe are completely unaware of the fact that the health information on the food products they consume is censored, controlled and issued by the European Bureaucracy.

When you take vitamin C because you want to protect yourself against the cold of winter, you may not be doing enough to stay in good shape. Practically all the vitamin supplements contain the synthetic form of vitamin C.

Why do I always write about Masquelier’s OPCs and not about ‘OPC’ ? Because, in spite of what many pundits and well meaning experts tell you, without any specific qualification the term ‘OPC’ is meaningless and misleading.

Do cholesterol lowering statins really decrease overall coronary heart disease mortality ? Is the promise made by the pharmaceutical industry true ? Cardiovascular health is what the manufacturers of cholesterol-lowering drugs have been claiming since the 1990s.

“High cholesterol may protect against infections and atherosclerosis” is the title of a challenging article written by the Danish physician and medical researcher Uffe Ravnskov.

Your vascular system is a living, breathing, expanding and contracting organ, which is able to elastically absorb the changes in the volume of blood as it is pumped into it with each beat of the heart.

What we call “sunshine” or “solar radiation” is in fact the incoming flow of photons, tiny packs of condensed energy produced and emitted by the sun. Because of their high energy content, photons can easily destabilize the things they hit and turn what has been hit into a free radical.

Your vascular system is always on “cruise control.” It is constantly and relentlessly busy to keep the flow of blood steady and at a constant speed. To maintain that optimum movement of your blood and lymph, it operates a “cruise-control” system, similar to that in modern cars.

The pharmaceutical industry uses a special statistic sleight of hand to inflate the marginal and negligible absolute benefits of certain medicines. Example: Aspirin® in cases of Cardiovascular problems.

In the article about Cholesterol and OPCs, Dr Jack Masquelier explained that oxidation of LDL-cholesterol is the root cause of most forms of cardiovascular disease and, eventually, of heart attacks.

Millions of people around the world are using statins or plant-sterols to lower their cholesterol-level.

In the field of cardiovascular health the negative effects of aspirin® outweigh the positive ones.

OPCs are best known for supporting microvascular circulation and the integrity of the capillaries, thus optimizing the delivery of nutrients and oxygen to the tissues and the discharge and excretion of waste and CO2 via lungs en kidneys respectively.

Does Resveratrol have anything to do with the beneficial effects of red wine ? In a word: NO ! Absolutely not. If you want to enjoy the health benefits of resveratrol you must use dosages that cannot be obtained by drinking red wine.

Plants protect themselves against oxidation and free radicals by producing vast amounts of antioxidants, such as OPCs. These antioxidants are always located at strategic sites, where the defense against oxidation is most needed.

Not all extracts made from grape seeds are equal. It is erroneous, incorrect and misleading to equate uncharacterized and unidentified “grape seed extract” with Masquelier’s OPCs.

Since the term “OPCs” has become quite meaningless when it is used to describe the content of a food supplement containing an undefined grape seed extract, any statement concerning the benefits and possible side-effects of generic “OPCs” is unhelpful and without merit.

Seventy-one (71) healthy adults need to be vaccinated to prevent one (1) of them experiencing influenza. Twenty-nine (29) healthy adults need to be vaccinated to prevent one (1) of the experiencing an influenza-like-illness.

Is it OPC or OPCs ???

You know what’s OOM PAH PAH OPC ? That’s grape seed extract labelled as “OPC.” It has no genuine provenance other than the loud and wild promotion made for it. Don’t buy the promotion.

Every year, 17.5 million people die prematurely from cardiovascular disease (CVD), including heart disease and stroke. It is the world’s number one killer today and by 2030 this figure is expected to rise to 23 million. Could food supplements help to reduce these numbers …???

“Circulatory diseases are the world’s number 1 cause of disability and death. Together, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease lead to more than 20 million deaths each year and to more than 374 million years of life lost.”

A recent BBC article ran the headline “Probiotics labelled ‘quite useless” and reports that “A group of scientists in Israel claim foods that are packed with good bacteria … are almost useless.” Immediately, Nutraingredients’ editor Stephen Daniells countered with “

All developed countries operate public or private health insurance systems, or a combination thereof. It means that anyone who is sick, or subject to the slightest ache or pain (real or imaginary), has access a remarkable number of pills and treatments.

The way in which too much medicine is endangering our health is the subject of Too Many Pills, a newly published book written by James Le Fanu, an English doctor and writer.

We live in a 24/7 economy in which increasing numbers of people working at night, or so-called ‘unsocial’ hours. In the UK, for instance, the number of retail workers working at night has doubled in recent years.

Many chronic disease conditions like obesity, early diabetes, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases are associated with oxidative stress and low grade chronic inflammation.

Although most commentators judge the behaviour of the participants in the current World Cup Football as “fair,” collisions and injuries can’t always be avoided. During the Belgium-U.K.

While 32 national soccer teams head for Russia, millions of fans head for the supermarket to stock up on beer, soft drinks and snacks. They then proceed to sit on the couch for a month, eating and drinking, as the tournament unfolds.

With Spring temperatures rising and Summer holidays coming, tea rapidly becomes ice-tea on a sunny terrace or sports field. Like red wine, tea is commonly associated with health for its flavanols content.

Fruit and vegetable smoothies are everywhere you look. Healthwise, they’re great, provided that they taste well and bring you rouphage and whatever vitamins and minerals that remain after the blending process.

De Facto Publications decided to release a series of short video clips presenting selected parts of the only filmed interview ever given by Dr. Jack Masquelier, the French scientist who succeeded in succesfully isolating OPCs.

In February 2018, Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis of the European Commission made a speech on the subject of healthy ageing at the sixth Conference of Partners on Active and Healthy Ageing. Yes, the sixth! And still they ask why Brexit happened…

This weekend, Quantas began operatinge its direct flights between London and Perth. Lasting 17 hours and covering over 9.000 miles (14,498 km), it is the first regular passenger service to directly link Australia and Europe.

Good news for moderate drinkers. A University of California study called the ‘90+ study’ tracked around 1,700 elderly people and discovered that those who drank one or two glasses of wine or beer each day had an 18% reduced risk of premature death compared to those who were teetotal.

Are you concerned that traffic emissions significantly increase the risk of ill health and cancer? So are VW, Mercedes, BMW and most other car-makers.

There is evidence to suggest that a daily dose of Masquelier’s OPCs could help to protect you against flu at a time when flu vaccinations are often ineffective.

“Personalized nutrition” is a new trend that involves the “personalizing” of your food on the basis of a careful assessment of your individual nutritional needs in terms of the quality of the chosen ingredients and their recommended quantities.

Air pollution – often caused by traffic – generates the free radicals that do so much to cause ill health and cancer. The good news is that Masqueliers OPCs are proven to eradicate free radicals and put you on the road to a longer and healthier life.

As you may know, there is evidence to suggest a link between the consumption of red wine and cardiovascular health. This link is known as the ‘French paradox’ in which there is a broadly positive relationship between wine-drinking regions and life span.

On 24 March 2018, Qantas will operate its first direct flight between London and Perth. Lasting 17 hours and covering over 9.000 miles (14,498 km), it will be the first regular passenger service to directly link Australia and Europe.

Do you eat the same lunch every day? A survey conducted in the UK in 2017 revealed that one in six people sit down (often at their desk) to the same sandwich or salad every day. And it’s not just lunch, because 58% of people said they had eaten identical meals on a regular basis for years.

Every day, millions of older people take blood-thinning pills such as Aspirin to help prevent heart attacks and strokes.

As you probably know, European Union schemes of geographical indications and traditional specialties exist to protect the names of quality agricultural products and foodstuffs.

Most of us know that vitamin D is essential to health, and only produced naturally when our skin is exposed to sunlight. Yet we have come to believe that by exposing our skin to the sun we run the risk of progressive skin damage (at best) or melanomas (at worst).

Many health and fitness experts suggest that we should all try to take 10,000 steps every day in order to stay healthy.

We’ll never know whether Jack Masquelier would have been an iOS man or an Android kind of guy. But we can be sure that he would have been concerned about the detrimental effects on our eyesight caused by looking at screens all day.

In the Oscar winning film The Revenant, the life of the main character is saved when an Indian wraps him in a poultice of bark stripped from a pine tree.

It’s that time of year again – Black Saturday – the weekend when half of France hits the road to go on vacation. At the same time, countless holidaymakers from northern Europe head home.

Most of us like to get a tan at this time of the year. But we all know that lying in the sun for long periods isn’t particularly good for us.