AIM Proancynol in Australia, green tea, pine bark, grape seed, antioxidant

AIM Proancynol ® In Australia - antioxidants

AIM Proancynol® - A decaffeinated blend of green tea, pine bark and grape seed extracts, this combination is a powerful antioxidant with free radical scavenging herbs.

Benefits

Protects and maintains the health of capillaries
Assists in the maintenance of peripheral circulation
Assists well-being

Free radicals and antioxidants

Free radicals are highly reactive forms of oxygen that damage cells throughout the body. Their effects can be seen everywhere--from wrinkled skin to several forms of cancer and heart disease. As your body creates energy at the cellular level, oxygen is metabolized, changing its structure. In this process, the oxygen molecule loses one electron, turning it into a free radical. Losing one electron makes the oxygen molecule highly reactive, sending it on a search for a new electron that it can steal.

Free radicals also occur as a necessary result of detoxifying rancid fats and chemicals, such as drugs, petrochemicals in smog, food additives, and preservatives.

When free radicals steal electrons from a molecule in a cell wall, a chain reaction is triggered that creates a new free radical.

Antioxidants are unique molecules that are able to neutralise free radicals before they do their damage. They stop the damage caused by free radicals by giving up an electron and returning the oxygen atom to its stable molecular configuration.

The antioxidant constituents in pine bark, grape seed, and green tea extracts are polyphenols- are more specifically, a combination of catechins and oligomers of proanthocyanidins, or OPCs.

Catechins

The catechins in green tea are four similar molecules: epicatechin (EC), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin gallate (ECG) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Each of these molecules is an increasingly potent anti-oxidant. EC cannot neutralise as many free radical as EGC, which in turn cannot neutralise as many free radicals as ECG, which cannot neutralise as many free radicals as EGCG.

Green tea contains about 15 to 30 percent of its weight as polyphenols. Abot half of the polyphenols are EGCG.

Green Tea is rich in other flavonoids as well. The study published in the British Medical journel "The Lancet" notes that tea contains the highest rate of flavonoids compared to fruits and vegetables. (Lancet 342, no. 8878 (1993)).

Evan the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has published articles on green tea. The March 1996 of the FDA Consumer states that "... recent studies do show some evidence that polyphenols - chemicals in tea with antioxidant and other biochemical properties...," The article goes on to say that "The Food and Drug Administration has not done any reviews of possible beneficial effects of tea." (FDA Consumer 30, no. 2 (1996)).

OPCs

When individual catechins join together, they become OPCs. Grape seed and pine bark are the traditional sources of OPCs, although they are present throughout the plant world.

OPCs are effective because, upon ingestion, they sacrifice themselves in order to neutralise free radicals within the body. OPCs also spare other antioxidants. Several substances, including vitamins C and E and the mineral selenium, may help decrease free radicals. But our bodies need these vitamins and minerals for other vital functions. Because OPCs are such effective antioxidants, they spare vitamins E and C from having to act as antioxidants, allowing these nutrients to perform their other functions in the body.

Proancynol: Combining all for a greater whole

AIM has combined green tea, pine bark, and grape seed extract to offer you a product. Proancynol consists of 15 percent pine bark extract, 15 percent grape seed extract, and 70 percent green tea extract. This ensures that Proancynol has the highest level of EGCG, while maintaining a balanced profile of Catechins plus OPCs. And of course to obtain the extracts, AIM uses only a water and alcohol extraction process; no harmful or toxic solvents are used.

How to use Proancynol

Adults, take to capsules per day.
Best taken on an empty stomach.
Shelf life is 3 years, sealed. Store in a cool, dry place below 30 C. Do not refrigerate.

Q&A

How many cups of green tea equals one 2-capsule serving of Proancynol?

One 2-capsule serving would take about 15 cups of green tea. This is dependent upon how long you seep the tea.

Are the grapes, pine bark, and tea used to make Proancynol organically grown?

No. There are not any pine trees in the world that are organically grown, and very few grapes that are, as well. In this instance, how the plants are grown does not affect the product received by the consumer. Because these are very pure extracts, nearing pharmaceutical grade, any impurities that were present in the grape seeds, pine bark, or green tea are not present in the finished product.

Are the grape seeds from red or white grapes?

The grape seeds used in Proancynol come from both red and white grapes. In terms of active ingredients, both sources are equally valuable. Although it is true that red grapes (not their seeds) contain more OPCs than green grapes, both types of seeds have the same OPC content.

Does the green tea contain caffeine?

Most green teas do contain caffeine. However, the green tea used in Proancynol is decaffeinated using a water-filtration decaffeination process.

Green tea and black tea

Green and black teas come from the same plant: Camellia sinensis. What makes the color, texture, fragrance, and antioxidant content different is the degree of processing. Green tea is the least processed. The leaves are chopped and rolled and then immediately steamed or heated. This keeps more of the important OPCs in place; up to as much as 30 percent of the tea leaves' weight.

Black tea is also chopped and rolled, but then the leaves are exposed to air for several hours. This causes the tea to oxidize, which gives it its black color and destroys many of the OPCs. However, black tea has its own antioxidants, known as theoflavins and thearubigins. These are just beginning to be studied.

Suggested Reading

Bland, Jeffrey. "Oxidants and antioxidants in clinical medicine: Past, present, and future potential."Journal of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine. Vol. 5, No. 3, 1995.

"Can green tea offset some of the effects of smoking?" (Adapted from Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, June 1995.) Nutrition Research Newsletter. July-August 1995.

Hoffman, Richard M., and Harinder S. Garewal. "Antioxidants and the prevention of coronary heart disease." Archives of Internal Medicine. Vol. 155, February 13, 1995.

Imai, K., and K. Nakachi. "Cross sectional study of effects of drinking green tea on cardiovascular and liver diseases." British Medical Journal. March 18, 1995.

Passwater, Richard A., Ph.D., and Chilthan Kandaswami, Ph.D. Pycnogenol: The Super Protector Nutrient. New Canaan, CT: Keats Publishing, Inc. 1994.

Schwitters, Bert (with Jack Masquelier). OPC in Practice. Rome: Alfa Omega. 1993.

AIM Proancynol In Australia - antioxidants !