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OPC Plus Health authorities today warn us of the damage caused to our bodies by free radicals. What are free radicals? How are they created? How do they damage our bodies? It's important to ask these questions. Hopefully, the answers will lead you to improve your health and protect your future well-being. The Problem - Free Radicals Free radicals are potentially toxic chemical units created in our bodies during exercise and the functioning of our organs. Stress and pollution increase the amount of free radicals in our systems and diminish the ability of our immune system to react to their physical threat. Free radicals have at least one unpaired electron, making them highly reactive. They can cause oxidative damage to tissue, attacking our bodies at a cellular level. As free radicals build up in our bodies, they lead to degenerative diseases and to an increased rate of aging. The Solution - Antioxidants Antioxidants neutralize free radicals, giving up electrons to make the 'radical' compound stable. Antioxidants include Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Beta Carotene and the bioflavonoids. The exciting news is the discovery of a potent antioxidant called Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins (OPC's). Royal Bodycare offers it to you under its trade name, OPC PlusTM. This amazing antioxidant is 20 times more powerful than Vitamin C and 50 times more powerful than Vitamin E. The History Behind OPC PlusTM The story of this amazing compound begins in Canada in the 1500's. French sailors were stalled for weeks in frozen waters with no fresh fruits or vegetables. They were dying of scurvy, but were saved by Indians who brewed a tea made from pine needles containing the Vitamin C and bioflavonoids that were missing in the sailors diet. Four hundred years later, Dr. Jacque Masquelier, working in Quebec under a Canadian grant, decided to analyze the pine needles and discovered this highly potent bioflavanoid. He patented the process for extraction, and gave the compound the generic name pycnogenol. Today the compound marketed by Royal Bodycare as OPC PlusTM, is the most potent form available. An extract of grape seed, it is protected under U.S. Patent 4,698,360. It is water-soluble and bioavailable. Why We Chose Grape Seed Extract Potency: Grape seed extracts continually yield a higher potency (92%-95%) of OPCs than pine bark extracts (80%-84%). The extracts used by RBC are made by the manufacturer selected by Professor Jacque Masquelier using his patented method. He named his compound pycnogenol, which is still the generic name in Europe. Purity: All OPCs processed under the patent described above require up to six steps of extraction. All solvents are removed by freeze-drying, leaving a pure extract. Our product is tested for quality in Dr. Masquelier's own laboratory. Quality: The grape seed OPC has achieved the status of phytopharmaceutical in France. The product marketed in the U.S. as Pycnogenol® has not. How Is OPC PlusTM Different from Pycnogenol? OPCs are water soluble. They are rapidly absorbed and transported throughout the body. Within one hour of ingestion, they can be detected in saliva. The official C-14 studies, which proved their rapid bioavailability, were performed on the grape seed extracts. Professor Masquelier isolated and discovered OPCs. He named them. He characterized them. He invented and patented the process of extraction, and he oversaw the human clinical trials that established their safety and efficacy. We prefer the original compound, the one used to gain approval in this country and the one manufactured under the control of the inventor. A great deal of misinformation has been published by others claiming that a pine bark extract is superior to OPC. This is not true. In order to give you the facts, we have gone to the original source - the scientist who discovered the compound, Professor Jacque Masquelier, and the European processors who produce it. Here is a brief summary of the most important facts: The most potent proanthocyanidins are produced from grape seed, 92% to 95% strength. The same compound extracted from pine bark is weaker at 82% to 85%. All proanthocyanidins produced under Professor Masquelier's patent use the same extraction processes with water plus solvents as described in the patent. OPC is pure and sufficiently free of any contaminates to meet the standards as a phytopharmaceutical in Europe. OPC is the extract used to obtain approval for safety and efficacy in the United States. "OPC from grape seed has an advantage over OPC from pine bark." -Professor Jacque Masquelier	Quantity in Basket: none Code: 1542 Normal Retail $54.60 Your Price: $40.95 Shipping Weight: 1.00 pounds   Quantity: