The health benefits of antioxidants are certainly common knowledge by now. What with the amount of focus and attention antioxidants are gaining from the scientific and the health communities, it certainly goes to show that everyone are certainly knowledgeable about this helpful substance.

The health benefits of antioxidants are certainly common knowledge by now. What with the amount of focus and attention antioxidants are gaining from the scientific and the health communities, it certainly goes to show that everyone are certainly knowledgeable about this helpful substance.

According to studies, there are many types of antioxidants, each of them varying in potency and each of them acting differently from the other. Some may work to combat cancer. Others may help increase fat metabolism. Still others may help reduce the risk of heart disease. But out of the many antioxidants that nature provides for us, which among them is the most powerful antioxidant?

In France, they have a euphemistic title for the most powerful antioxidant. The gift from the grape. And this statement has become the answer to the mystery of the French paradox. Just what is it in grapes that make them the source of the most powerful antioxidant? What substances do they contain? And why are the antioxidants contained considered the most powerful antioxidant?

The most powerful antioxidant can actually strengthen fragile and weakened blood vessels. And while it’s doing this, the most powerful antioxidant also reverses and prevents circulatory problems.

Various research studies have pointed to the fact that the most powerful antioxidant, grape seed extract, is 20 times more powerful than vitamin C and 50 times more powerful than vitamin E. In December 1996, a VERIS Research Summary suggested that 400 IU per day of vitamin E reduced heart attacks by 77%, how much more if it were the most powerful antioxidant? As a much stronger antioxidant than vitamin E, grape seed extract seems the most powerful antioxidant and a natural alternative for patients suffering from heart disease.

The active ingredients in grape seed extract are what make it the most powerful antioxidant. These ingredients help the body neutralize free radicals. In so doing, they prevent cellular damage caused by free radicals and repair any damages that might have already been incurred.

There are many active constituents in grape seed. These most powerful antioxidants are oligomeric procynanidins or OPC, which, according to nutrition journalist Jean Carper, are experts at treating vascular diseases because it actually increases the structural strength of weakened blood vessels.

The first OPC was isolated from the red skin of a peanut in 1947 by French chemist Dr. Jack Masquelier, professor emeritus of medicine at the University of Bordeaux. In subsequent years, OPC was also derived from red wine.