***MASQUELIER Original OPC products
compared with grape seed extract #13***

In figure 1, products 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 are generic "grape seed extracts" (GS) commonly used throughout the Natural Foods industry.

Products 5 and 7 are two samples of MASQUELIER Original Grape Seed OPC extracts.

Product 6 is MASQUELIER Original Pine Bark OPC.

"Grape seed extract" Nr 13 is a leading American brand of grape seed material.

Despite sample #13's overall significantly low scores, we feel that it is important to specifically discuss it because it is a grape seed extract that is being aggressively marketed as a branded "OPC" material and because it is a peculiar exception to the graph's pattern in figure 1.

THE ESA STUDY CONFIRMS THAT MASQUELIER ORIGINAL OPC PRODUCTS ARE THE RICHEST SOURCES OF OPC, HAVE THE MOST ACTIVE ELECTROCHEMICAL ACTIVITY PROFILE AND DO BEST WHEN IT COMES TO DE-ACTIVATING THE PEROXYL RADICAL.

In most products there is an interdependent relationship between the presence of OPC, ElectroChemical Activity (ECA) and Antioxidant Capacity (ACAP). When OPC is low, then ECA and ACAP are equally low.

Substances that have a high OPC content may be expected to have good ECA and ACAP. However, the reverse is not necessarily true. The fact that a material exhibits ACAP does not necessarily mean that the ACAP may automatically be attributed to OPC!

Grape seed extract #13 is an example of an inverse relationship between OPC on the one hand, and ECA and ACAP on the other.

With respect to OPC, sample #13 scores significantly lower than the MASQUELIER OPC products. In fact, by means of TLC no OPC could be detected in this material. Sample #13 also scores very low in electrochemical capacity.

On the basis of its very weak OPC scores one might conclude that sample #13 would have very little antioxidant properties. Yet, this grape seed extract scores somewhat higher than expected in terms of neutralizing the peroxyl radical (ACAP).

With regard to OPC content, the study demonstrates that sample #13 and several other grape seed extracts may not really fit the OPC product category.

figure 1