Grape Seed Extract Fights Aging

In a conversation with my massage therapist, she revealed that she thinks she is coming down with a cold and has increased her intake of “Grape seed Extract.” She keeps my book within arm’s length, and then I remembered that I had written a whole chapter on grape seed extract. It is truly amazing how much we forget as we get older. And so I picked up my own copy of my book, “Make Eating A Lifestyle Change” and found a chapter devoted to the history and the wonderful properties of this ancient access to the “fountain of youth.”
The chapter in my book is entitled, “FIVE WAYS PCO FIGHTS AGING.” I had predicted the rise in the use of creams using PCO in anti-aging cosmetics. Europeans already buy these creams to reverse the aging process.
The Antioxidant armor in PCO helps two other antioxidant nutrients, vitamins C and E, block free radicals. Free radicals are the culprits in some 60 diseases - that doctors don’t pin on germs, including: heart disease, cataracts, arthritis, allergies, diabetes, liver disease and perhaps cancer.
PYCNOGENOL, now known as PCO for short was first researched back in the 50s. They can boost circulation, knock out free radicals, protect you from heart disease, and give you younger-looking skin. It is part of a family of semi-essential nutrients called bioflavonoid. Pine bark and grape seed extract belong to a small group originally known as pycnogenols and are also known as proanthocyanidins or procyanidolic oligomers---PCO for short.
You won’t find pine bark and grape seeds in the produce section of your local grocery but maybe you should. These plant products pack a potent punch against aging and disease.
In December 1534, French explorer Jacques Cartier and his crew traveled up the St. Lawrence River in Canada and became trapped by ice. With only salted meat and biscuits to eat, they soon began to experience symptoms of scurvy --- a severe vitamin C deficiency. Nearly a quarter of the men died and more than half were seriously affected by this debilitating illness before a Quebec Indian told them about a tea made from tree bark.
The debilitated crew rapidly recovered after drinking the tea and using poultices made from it. Why? The bark contained vitamin C plus PCO, which helps the nutrient work faster and better.
Some 400 years later a French researcher, Jacques Masquelier, read Cartier’s account and started studying pine bark. He discovered that the maritime pine, or Bordeaux pine, in southern France was a rich source of this substance. In 1951, Masquelier patented a method of extracting PCO from pine bark. The term pycnogenol is now a registered trademark of a Swiss company that sells PCO supplements. It specifically refers to pine bark extract from maritime pine from Quebec and southern coastal France. You can find PCO in foods like apples, onions, tea, and blueberries, as well as in grape seeds. In fact, PCO from grape seeds, or grape seed extract is cheaper and even more potent than that from pine bark. Plus, most research on PCO has been done on grape seed extract.
Regardless of the source, PCO may prove a mighty ally in battling conditions common to aging including hardening of the arteries, stroke, disease, varicose veins, and diabetic circulation problems. As a bonus, PCO may keep you looking younger because it acts as an antioxidant to protect your skin from the sun and other environmental assaults. And it helps rebuild your skin, too.
PCO acts on its own, as well, to disarm free radicals. In laboratory experiments, Japanese researchers found the nutrient was 20 times more powerful than vitamin C at trapping free radicals. In fact, some researchers believe the PCO found in grapes should get credit for the way wine seems to protect you from heart disease. And so the parts of the puzzle begin to fit as you connect the benefits of wine to the French people in spite of the rich foods and high sugar content and fats. PCO may be at the root of that advantage.
PCO strengthens collagen, the basic building block of our skin, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage, as well as a major part of the “intercellular cement” that fills the space between every cell in your body. Strong collagen is especially important for blood vessels---and critical in the tiniest of blood vessels called capillaries.
Capillaries carry oxygen and nutrients to the cells and take away waste. Without them, cells would starve or drown in their own waste. Only one cell thick, capillaries are reinforced with collagen and depend on it to keep them strong enough to do their work. PCO not only supports vitamin C, needed to make collagen, but it also sticks to collagen, making it even stronger. Think of it as steel reinforcement for your circulatory system. This is important because if a capillary develops a hole, it’s a prime target for a free radical attack. Leaky capillaries also means that cells don’t get the nourishment to be healthy.
By strengthening weak vessels, PCO helps prevent bruising, and improves circulation in the legs to prevent swelling, pain and varicose veins. Reinforcing artery walls also helps prevent injuries to the walls that may cause hardening of the arteries. Once arteries are damaged, they tend to collect fat and cholesterol deposits, which narrow the passage, making it more difficult for blood to get through.
PCO also seems to stop blood from getting sticky and clotting---another way it can help you ward off heart attack or stroke. Finally, the blood-vessel-building power of PCO can help prevent the type of stroke caused when arteries burst or leak. This condition was suffered by one of our 83-year-olds and seems to have ended his enjoyment of a lifestyle of tennis and physical work-outs.
Younger-looking skin. As you age, your skin becomes thinner. The layer under the surface loses fat, causing the outer layer to sag. The skin fibers, once elastic, lose the ability to bounce back. In short, you get wrinkles. Skin counts on collagen for strength, elasticity and smoothness. It is not coincidence that many of our leading men and women are looking younger and as evidenced by their pictures---they have aged little in looks in a decade.
PCO not only halts free radical damage but binds to the collagen to prevent deterioration by enzymes. Plus, it can even return collagen fibers to their youthful, undamaged state. It’s like a cosmetic you put in, instead of on. The free-radical fighter can also protect your skin from further damage---from ultra-violet radiation of the sun. One laboratory study in Finland showed that 35 percent more skin cells survived sunlight exposure when protected by PCO.
Europeans can already buy “anti-aging” creams containing PCO. Look for a burst of PCO skin care products over here once the American cosmetic industry discovers the benefits of this bioflavonoid. Many companies are already touting products with antioxidants, but PCO’s chemical structure makes it penetrate your skin more easily. This may make PCO products more effective than those containing vitamins C and E.
Keeps swelling down. PCO may be helpful in inflammatory diseases such a arthritis, lupus, colitis, and hepatitis, but no one knows this for sure because researchers haven’t studied PCO’s effect on these illnesses.
Many people believe it helps reduce swelling caused by allergies---especially hay fever. PCO cuts down on the amount of histamine you make. That’s the stuff responsible for your swelling nasal passages and watery eyes. In Finland, PCO is a very popular allergy remedy.
I use an aspirin regimen to treat my rheumatoid arthritis.

In the fifth century B.C., Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, used willow bark to create a pain relieving medicine. The ingredient in willow bark that made it such a powerful pain reliever, salicylate, is the same active ingredient in modern aspirin. In 1983, doctors knew of the benefits of this ingredient in preventing heart attacks, helping to protect you from mind-robbing diseases like Alzheimer’s. For example, one study found that amongst pairs of elderly twins, those taking anti-inflammatory drugs, like aspirin or ibuprofen, on a regular basis, were 10 times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s. Since Alzheimer’s is very likely to run in families, that’s pretty impressive.
Researchers think that regular use of anti-inflammatories may delay the disease by reducing the inflammation in the brain that could cause brain cell damage. Aspirin may also help because it keeps your blood flowing steadily to your brain.
Much of what we have known for centuries was wiped out by the greed of selling expensive “magic pills” and a bed-side manner that convinced patients that they didn’t have to know why - just fill the prescription.