by Roberrific

Created on: February 26, 2007   Last Updated: December 04, 2011

Drinking a glass of red wine twice a week is like having your cake and eating it too. Not only does red wine complement so many tasty meals, it also contains some really healthy antioxidants.

Polyphenols are antioxidant compounds found in the skin and seeds of grapes. When wine is made from these grapes, the alcohol produced by the fermentation process dissolves the polyphenols, making them more readily absorbed into every living human body's war on germs.

Red wine contains more polyphenols than white wine. That's because making white wine requires the removal of the grape skins after the grapes are crushed. The phenols in red wine include catechin, gallic acid and epicatechin.

Resveratrol is a type of polyphenol called a phytoalexin; it's a class of compounds produced as part of the grape plant's own defense against disease. It's produced inside the plant to help combat invading fungus, stress, injury, infection or ultraviolet irradiation. Red wine contains higher levels of reservatrol than almost any other food, but this antioxidant is also found in grapes, raspberries, peanuts and many other plants.

Proanthocyanidin is another antioxidant super hero it's a flavinoid that's found in the bright red skin of a grape, as well as red peppers and tomatoes etc

In 1969 Jack Masquelier was granted U.S. Patent No. 3,436,407 for pioneering the process by which the oligomeric proanthocyanidins could be extracted from raw plant materials in general, and pine bark in particular.

He wrote in the abstract rhe invention provides a method for preventing and fighting the harmful biological effects of free radicals in the organism of warm blooded animals and more especially human beings. He was French, and so I have little doubt that he enjoyed drinking red wine and I submit that he was probably sipping a glass when inspiration struck!

Dr. Masquelier's products have a proven scientific track record of over half a century. They have been validated in France by the Ministry of Health.

In conclusion, PROANTHOCYANIDINS or PROANTHOCYANINS are colorless polyphenols that are referred to as proanthocyanidins because the coloration towards red is their major trait of authentication from a chemical point of view.

For example, when tree leaves here in Canada naturally change from green to red in the fall, its because the frost transforms the colorless proanthocyanidins into colorful anthocyanidins. So they exist before they are PRO anthocyanidins get it?

PROCYANIDINS: some contemporary scientific literature refers to procyanidins as subclass of proanthocyanidins and characterized by compositions of catechin monomers that are linked to form dimers, oligomers and polymers.

Don't be confused - PROCYANIDINES or PROCYANIDOLS are just French names for proanthocyanidins.

OLIGOMERIC PROANTHOCYANIDINS or PROANTHOCYANIDOLIC OLIGOMERS are a naturally-occurring group of pairs and triples of the single molecule, "flavan-3-ol," which is found in most plants. ("Oligo" is Greek for "few," as opposed to "mono," the Greek word for "one" or "single.")

OPC or OPCs or PCO or PCOs: are short names for oligomeric proanthocyanidins or proanthocyanidolic oligomers.

For more information on how diet can combat disease, please read my article on free radicals and then How antioxidants help cure the common cold.

Eating the right food is the key to staying healthy, and drinking an occasional glass of red wine is like dancing a jig on the path to wellness.

Learn more about this author, Roberrific.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.