The general public is asking "Why this astounding interest in antioxidants which has come to the fore lately?" The answer to
this question must be sought in the answer to two other questions, namely, "What are antioxidants?" and "Why are they important to the ordinary citizen?" To answer these questions, we have to delve into the working
of our bodies and understand where antioxidants fit into the maintenance of human health.
In the course of digestion and metabolism of food, certain undesirable by-products are produced in our bodies. Many of these are toxic oxygen
molecules known as Free Radicals. Free Radicals are highly reactive, unstable compounds, which rapidly react with other compounds to regain chemical stability. This is a process which can be advantageous to the body when the target of
Free Radical attack is an unwanted bacterium or virus, but is detrimental to health when the target is the bodily tissue itself. The product of such Free Radical attack is often another Free Radical, which can continue the process creating a
chain reaction. If unchecked, this will cause massive cellular destruction and internal chaos, leading to fatty deposits in the arteries, and creating many diseases such as heart disease, cancer and other degenerative diseases.
Fortunately, certain elements within our food are capable of neutralizing Free Radicals thus stopping the chain reaction. These naturally occurring substances are called antioxidants and include, among other things, Vitamin C, Vitamin E and
procyanidins.
In recent times, the need for antioxidants in our food has increased due to a large increase in the amount of Free Radicals that we are exposed to from a variety of sources, such as:
Atmospheric pollution, e.g. exhaust gases from the burning of fossil fuels. Increased exposure to ultraviolet light due to ozone layer depletion. Tobacco smoke and recreational drugs. Modern food processing techniques, which produce nutrient deficient "junk" foods.
The list is being added to daily and has become frightening in its all pervasiveness.
In addition, as though this were not enough to cope with, the reservoir of
the naturally occurring antioxidants in our food chain is decreasing steadily in size due to, among other things:
Soil depletion. Destruction of our ecological reserves in the world's forests. Pollution of our oceans by industrial wastes. Deliberate abuse of our bodies by the ingestion of nutrition deficient "junk" foods. Recreational drugs. Tobacco smoke.
Thus our need for antioxidants increases daily and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Why not simply increase our intake of Vitamin C and
Vitamin E? This is an option which would work were it not for the fact that our burden of free radicals is approaching the point where these "natural" defenses will be overwhelmed. In fact, many scientists believe that we have already
passed that point. When Vitamin C neutralizes a free radical, it becomes oxidized and, in doing so, sacrifices itself to become an inert compound. Thus the other beneficial effects of Vitamin C in the body can no longer take place and a
virtual state of Vitamin C deficiency results. The fate of Vitamin E is similar. What is needed is an extraneous source of electron-donating compounds. Here enter the newer antioxidants discovered in the last fifty years by the work of the
French scientist, Jacques Masquelier. Masquelier was put on the track of antioxidants by a fortuitous reading of the journal of the explorer Jacques Cartier, in
which he described the curing of the crew of scurvy by the ingestion of an infusion of the bark of a local pine tree. Jacques Cartier and his crew had been marooned in the St. Lawrence River by the early arrival of winter in the fall of 1595.
By January, their supplies of food were running out and an outbreak of scurvy was killing the crew. An Indian told Cartier that an infusion made from the bark of the pine tree would be curative. Cartier tried it and recorded that his crew
rapidly recovered. Masquelier was intrigued by the rapidity of their recovery. He knew that pine bark contained Vitamin C, but he also knew that the amount of
Vitamin C which would be obtained by infusing it in boiling water was not sufficient to cure the crew of scurvy so rapidly. He reasoned that the infusion must contain some other curative agent besides Vitamin C and set out to discover what it
was. Building on research conducted previously, he showed that there were indeed curative substances in pine bark, which he identified as procyanidins, coining the term "pycnogenol" specifically for the procyanidins from pine bark. He
patented the extract process and marketed the product in Europe from the mid-1950's onwards. Because of the difficulty of growing and processing pine trees, particularly the length of time needed to grow them, and because the process resulted
in the death of the tree, Masquelier identified grape seeds as an alternate source of procyanidins. Most of his subsequent work was done on grape seed procyanidins.
Grape seeds have an advantage over pine bark in that they are not only
quicker growing, but also more readily abundant as a by-product of the local wine industry. Also, their harvest does not require the destruction of the plant. Hence the grape seed extraction industry. Although procyanidins are found in many
plants, none has been found with higher quantities of procyandins than grape seeds or as convenient as a source.
Scientists have discovered that the procyanidins found in grape seed extract are 20 times more efficient than Vitamin C
and 50 times more efficient than Vitamin E as Free Radical scavengers. They have also shown that procyanidins enhance the activity of Vitamin C as an antioxidant. Procyanidins are not limited to grape seeds but are found in approximately 80%
of woody plants and 20% of leguminous plants. However, none has been found with higher quantities than grape-seeds. Grape seeds are also convenient to harvest, since they are an abundant by-product of the wine industry.
by Dr. James Baker M.D.C.M., F.R.C.S.(C).
Omega Biotech Corporation |
