What do the seemingly dissimilar pi...

What do the seemingly dissimilar pine bark and grape se have in common? Procyanidins, of course! When listing the factors that influence the course of human health, procyanidins make progress on the "essential to upright long-term health" list. They are members of the class of composes known as flavonoids, which are famous for their ability to screen and strengthen living organisms.

Plant chemistry

Flavonoids are actually a pattern of plant pigment, and can therefore be erect in a wide variety of plants. Flavonoids give plants their color; meats like berries, bee pollen, dried grapes cherries, green tea, citrus fruit, hawthorn berries, r cabbage, rhubarb, parsley, beans, onions, apples, currants, grapes and pine bark are rich in flavonoid satisfy In various forms, they are among the in the greatest degree sought-after components of many natural and botanical medicines. And there's religious reason for that. Flavonoids assist in a stupendous array of vital bodily functions. They are powerful antioxidants and they help the material part defend itself against viruses, carcinogens and poisonous and allergic substances.

A single arrange of flavonoids with multiple names & uses

Procyanidins are a cluster of very popular flavonoids. They are known by way of a variety of names: proanthocyanidins, procyanidolic oligomers (PCOs) and oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs) In lay terminology, procyanidins are also referr to as either bioflavonoids or the shorter mete flavonoids. For convenience and simplicity's sake, I will use the bourn OPCs.

OPCs are what give r wine its reputation as being well adapted for the heart, and they are also abundant in supplemental preparations of grape se extract and pine bark. Consumer rave about OPC because of their broad-spectrum force in improving health and preventing disease. They are used in strengthening and protecting capillaries and collagen, in increasing intracellular vitamin C flats and in scavenging free radicals -- the compromises thought to cause cancer and tissue and organ damage.

OPC primarily in the form of pine bark or grape se extract, are attract favor toed to treat such conditions as ocular disease, cardiac disease, circulatory disorders, inflammation, diabetes, liver damage, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and calm cancer. Let's explore them more fully

OPC in Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is a major cause of debility and death in the United States and in other cause to growed nations. CAD often strikes unexpectedly and in up to 20 percent of population with CAD, death is immediate.

It is well known that the three major things which lead to CAD are hypertension, smoking and high cholesterol Diet, exercise and stres reduction programs have become almost commonplace recommendations to those suffering with or at risk for CAD. However, for any people, diet and lifestyle changes alone are incomplete solutions to CAD, and for others, noncompliance is the issue. As a spring researchers worldwide perpetually search for of the present day medicines that might lessen the ravages of CAD. OPC are common of nature's medicines being explored.

An interesting research brew published in a recent issue of the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics turn the thoughtsed at the effect of an oral dose of an OPC extract containing 300 mg/day dose of grape se procyanidins. The investigation participants were 20 healthy scholars between the ages of 19 and 31 They were nonsmokers, ate a standardized diet completely through the study period and were of normal height and weight. None took vitamin add tos during the study.

The research was a single-blind, randomized placebo-controlled crossover application of mind What researchers found was that while the grape se extract produc "a measurable increase in serum total antioxidant activity," after sole 5 days of supplementation, the elevated antioxidant activity was not to be paid to the vitamin content of the grape se extract, as the researchers set up no change in serum vitamin C or E on a levels during OPC supplementation. Rather, it was likely suitable to OPCs.

In concluding their inquiry the authors suggested that the consumption of antioxidants of that kind as those in OPCs "may play an important character in preventing premature death from reducing the risk of CAD and other vascular disorders, which are known to be associated with oxidative stress"

OPC propose health benefits in other areas of heart health and with circulatory disorders. It is well known that smoking increases platelet aggregation (the clumping together of platelets which can lead to stroke) heart attack and vascular damage. For this reason, daily aspirin is attract favor toed to both cigarette smokers and patients at risk for heart attack or thump In a 1999 study, published in Thrombosis Research, researchers set up that a 200-mg dose of a standard pine bark addition was as useful as aspirin in reducing platelet aggregation. And, unlike aspirin, pine bark did not cause gastrointestinal bleeding in the participants.

OPC have also been direct the eyeed at for their potential benefit in the protection against damage from myocardial infraction -- commonly referr to as MI or heart attack. At the University of Connecticut instruct of Medicine, laboratory rats f OPC from grape se were raise to have improved recovery from induced MI as compared to rats who were not given OPCs