- The gist of this article
As you probably know, European Union schemes of geographical indications and traditional specialties exist to protect the names of quality agricultural products and foodstuffs. Thus you can be sure that products described as Parma Ham or Champagne come from a strictly designated area, and are produced in line with strict product-specific regulations and production methods.
Consumers need and deserve such trusted confirmation of origin because there will always be products and ingredients claiming to be something they are not. Professor Jack Masquelier discovered this for himself when it was claimed or implied that numerous products containing ‘grape seed extracts’ offered the same benefits as Masquelier’s own OPCs.
Grape expectations
After identifying and extracting OPCs from Maritime Pine bark, Jack Masquelier discovered another meaningful source of OPCs. Namely, the seeds of Vitis Vinifera grapes. These seeds remain after the pressing of the grapes during the production of white wines. Following Masquelier’s leads, generations of scientists, medical doctors and nutritionists were able to demonstrate that the OPCs extracted from these seeds, in accordance with the methods that Masquelier had developed and patented, delivered proven benefits in terms of your vascular system.
Eventually, unidentified generic grape seed extracts became associated with the numerous product-specific health benefits exclusively obtained with Masquelier’s OPCs. Suddenly consumers were (and still are) faced with countless dietary supplements containing ‘grape seed extract,’ often misleadingly designated as ‘OPC’.
However, there is a lot more to grape seeds than OPCs, and therefore a huge difference between ‘grape seed extracts’ and Masquelier’s OPCs extracted from grape seeds. In fact, the term ‘grape seed extract’ is so broad and so vague as to be meaningless, and many of these extracts lack credible evidence of any health benefit.
In short, what is certain is that the OPCs identified and extracted by Jack Masquelier contain the phytonutrients that are of proven benefit to vascular integrity.
Traceability & Authentication = Certainty
Moreover, in most cases, ‘grape seed extracts’ are sold without any reference to their method of production, or to a quality standard. This is because, in many cases, no quality standards or detailed analysis has been applied! And if the producers of these products don’t know what is in them, how can you know?
Furthermore, every single batch of Masquelier’s OPCs is subject to a long and rigorous process of traceability and authentication, including state-of-the-art techniques such as ‘DNA barcoding’, ‘Nuclear Magnetic Resonance’ and ‘Principle Component Analysis’. Only then will those OPCs which, like genuine Champagne come from the Champagne region, be released to the worldwide market of nutritional supplements.
So, continue to enjoy the ‘real thing’ in terms of all the wonderful and protected foods such as wines, cheeses, hams, sausages, seafood and beers. And make sure your vascular system carries all their valuable nutrients to your vital organs, by searching for the real thing in terms of supplements that contain Masquelier’s OPCs.
