The bark of the maritime pine tree (Pinus pinaster) contains naturally occurring and highly nutritional chemicals called oligomeric proanthocyanidins or OPC. The maritime pine is native to the western Mediterranean, spreading over Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and Morocco.Scientists have been able to make highly concentrated OPC preparations since 1950s after the first OPC-rich extract from the pine bark was documented in a French Patent. The quality of pine bark extract can be measured based on its OPC concentration. Oligopin® French maritime pine bark extract is distinguished from any other competing pine bark extracts in quality with the most highly concentrated OPC, and is free of health-harmful high polymeric proanthocyandines.Oligopin® French maritime pine bark extract is among our 3 native OPC ingredients from France that have special meaning in FrenchGlory ® isotonic OPC products. Oligopin® reflects some key aspects from France: 1) the highest quality; 2) the longest history of OPC; 3) the unique French culture.Technical Parameters for Oligopin® French Maritime Pine Bark Extract
TOTAL POLYPHENOL CONTENT > 96%
MONOMERS: 28%
DIMERS: > 15%
TRIMERS UP TO PENTAMERS: 50%
PROCYANIDIN CONTENT (GPC): > 67%
PROCYANIDIN CONTENT (PORTER): 70%
ANTIOXYDANT ACTIVITY ORAC VALUE (μMOL TEQ/G): 15000.
Comparison of Different Brands
There are several international versions of French maritime pine bark extract on the market, such as Swiss version of French OPC, Dutch version of French OPC, UK version of French OPC, Japanese version of French OPC, Chinese version of French OPC. Oligopin ® is a brand of French version of original French maritime pine bark extract of the highest quality, manufactured and certified in DRT Nutraceutics, a native French company!We took 3 cheap pine bark extracts of this kind and test them simply by adding water. We easily see insoluble materials precipitating out on the bottom of the mixture, while Oligopin® pine bark extract does not have any insoluble material. We filter out the insoluble materials to give a clear solution and the isolated solid. We let the clear solution stand at room temperature for a while, and we see more insoluble material forming on the bottom of the solution, which is again filtered off. The 3 insoluble materials from 3 rounds of filtration are individually extracted with ethanol. The ethanol solution is used for HPLC and LC-MS analyses, indicating that the 3 solids are nothing but high molecular weight tannins – polymeric proanthocyanidins. Polymeric proanthocyanidins as impurities (or junk) are larger molecules than OPC, cannot be absorbed by human body, and are potentially harmful. It is an abuse of your own body to take those pine bark extract products of low quality. Even a fairly good solubility of a pine bark extract does not necessarily means a high quality, as the tannins also have certain solubility in water. The data from analytical chemistry laboratory are a way to tell the existence of tannins / polymeric proanthocyanidins in addition to the solubility. What Should Consumers Do?
Consumers should only buy a pine bark extract product when its source of the ingredient is made from a credible company. Such a credible company is DRT Nutraceutics in France who makes Oligopin® pine bark extract.
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Oligopin® - the World's Best Pine Bark Extract From France for FrenchGlory® Isotonic OPC
