Recommended dose:

Adults: Take 1 – 2 DRcaps daily with meals, or as directed by a health care practitioner.

Recommended use or purpose:

• Source of anti-oxidants for the maintenance of good health.
• Helps the body to metabolize fats and proteins
• Helps in the development and maintenance of bones, cartilage, teeth and gums.
• Helps in connective tissue formation

Cautions and warnings:

• Consult a health care practitioner prior to use:
  a) if you are pregnant or breastfeeding
  b) have a liver disorder or develop symptoms of liver trouble (such as abdominal pain, dark urine or jaundice)
  c) have an iron deficiency
• If seal around cap is broken or missing, do not use.

Grape Seed and Green Tea, extracts have gained prominence in the antioxidant supplement market for their powerful procyanidolic constituents. These compounds are typically diphenols (they have two hydroxyl groups per benzene ring), grouped together in clusters of two or more structural units called dimers, trimers, or polymers. They have stronger antioxidant activity than tocopherols, which have only one hydroxyl group.

Physiology: Grape Seed

Proanthocyanidins and catechins extracted from grape seeds have been shown in numerous studies to have beneficial effects, including: inhibition of enzymes that can damage the integrity and elasticity of capillaries, skin and other tissues. In inhibiting the harmful enzymes, the active ingredients in Grape Seed extract can help to keep the important collagen and elastin in various tissues from degrading. In particular, the capillaries are allowed to retain their flexibility (to let red blood cells through tight places) and integrity (so that blood does not inappropriately leak through the capillary wall).

Grape Seed extract has been used for: poor distribution of microcirculatory blood flow in the brain and heart, poor capillary elasticity and integrity and excessive platelet aggregation. It is also an effective cardiovascular protector and a formidable collagen cross linking regulator because of its unique affinity with both elastin and collagen proteins.

Physiology: Green Tea

Green Tea is the natural dried leaf of the tea plant. Black tea is oxidized green tea. Both have been used for thousands of years in Asia, as beverage and medicine. Green Tea extract with its high content of polyphenols, a class of bioflavonoids, makes it one of the most powerful natural antioxidants known.

The polyphenols in Green Tea are catechins, with multiple ring-like structures. Polyphenols are a form of bioflavonoids with several phenol groups. They control both taste and biological action. The dominant and most important catechin in green tea is (-) Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG), a potent antioxidant. The phenol groups capture pro-oxidants and free radicals. EGCG is over 200 times more powerful than Vitamin E in neutralizing the pro-oxidants and free radicals that attack lipids in the brain, in vivo. It is 20 times more potent than Vitamin E in reducing peroxides in lard by the Active Oxygen Method, in vitro.

Green Tea extract is used primarily for its free radical fighting capabilities. Its key ingredient, EGCG protects against digestive and respiratory infections. It helps block the cancer-promoting actions of carcinogens, ultraviolet light, and metastasis from an original sight in the skin, stomach, small intestine, liver or lung. EGCG suppressed angiotensin 1 converting enzyme, which causes essential hypertension. EGCG also reduces platelet aggregation about as much as aspirin or Ginkgo Biloba extract. Green Tea is very effective in inhibiting pathogenic bacteria that causes food poisoning, but increases levels of acidophilus (friendly bacteria). Green Tea also blocks the attachment of the bacteria associated with dental caries to the teeth.

Green Tea extract also contains 8% caffeine (16 mg per capsule) considered the most widely consumed psychoactive substance worldwide. Caffeine enters into the body and is distributed throughout the bloodstream through the lining of the stomach and small intestine, where eventually it ends up in the brain and acts as another compound, known as adenosine.

The adenosine molecule is responsible for signaling the body that it hasn’t had enough rest. Adenosine and caffeine are almost identical-looking molecules, so the brain can’t tell the difference and accepts the caffeine when available. It essentially blocks adenosine from binding with brain cells and telling them the body is tired. The caffeine roadblock causes stimulating effects as early as 15 minutes and continues to cause increased heart rate and blood pressure until it wears off about six hours later. It only takes 30 milligrams of caffeine (the amount in two Grape Seed/Green Tea capsules) to cause a buzz.

Possible Caffeine Health Benefits

1. In Japan, researchers have shown that caffeine increases memory. Also, a newer study out of Johns Hopkins University showed that a 200-mg caffeine pill helped boost memory consolidation.
2. Caffeine helps keep you alert while driving during periods of sleep restriction. Here’s the research.
3. Caffeine may protect against Parkinson’s disease. Research shows that those who consume coffee are at less risk of developing Parkinson’s disease and it even reduces the risk of those genetically more likely to develop the condition. Here’s the study.
4. Caffeine helps ward off Alzheimer’s.
5. Caffeine may protect against Cataracts.
6. Caffeine may reduce fatty liver in those with non-alcohol related fatty liver disease. This study comes out of Duke University.
7. Caffeine is shown to reduce liver fibrosis risk in patients with hepatitis C. As little as 100 mg per day is believed to have protective benefits. Src.
8. Caffeine may prevent ringing in the ears (tinnitus) in women: A study recently published in The American Journal of Medicine followed a group of 65,085 nurses since 1991. The women who consumed the most caffeine had the lowest incidences of tinnitus reported. Src.
9. Caffeine Reduces Kidney Stone Risk. In a large 217,883-person study, those that consumed caffeine from any source had less kidney stone formation than those that did not consume caffeine. The researchers believe that this is because caffeine makes urine more dilute. Src.
10. Caffeine improves reaction time and logical reasoning during times when sleep isn’t possible or restricted. See the study here.
11. Caffeine helps those with asthma. A study published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine concluded that caffeine seems to open airways and help asthmatics breathe easier similarly to theophylline a drug currently used and one that’s a close cousin to caffeine. The study.
12. Caffeine reduces driver error: A recent study conducted by the Australian Department of Defence found that caffeine consumption improves driving performance and reduces driver error. Caffeinated gum was used in the study on soldiers that had been sleep-deprived for 50 hours.
13. Caffeine may prevent weight gain: Research out of Germany showed that weight loss study participants who drank 2-4 cups of caffeinated coffee a day were more likely to be successful at keeping the weight off than those who did not consume caffeine. The study.
14. Caffeine reduces chronic inflammation. Researchers from Stanford University found that caffeine blocks the expression of a gene responsible for low-grade chronic inflammation as we age. This inflammation eventually leads to high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, and heart disease. Caffeine seems to help reduce this age-related inflammation in those that are regular consumers of the drug.

GRAPE SEED & GREEN TEA

Proanthocyanidins and Catechins work in the following ways:

1. They help to neutralize dietary carcinogens such as nitrosamine and aflatoxin.
2. They interfere with the binding of cancer-causing agents to cellular DNA, thereby protecting cells against mutations that can eventually cause cancer.
3. They protect against free-radical DNA damage that causes some cancers.
4. They inhibit bacterial-induced DNA mutations that can also lead to certain cancers.
5. They work with enzymes and other antioxidants in the intestine, liver and lungs to prevent the activation of certain carcinogens before they damage DNA.
6. They protect against the effects of ionizing radiation and ultraviolet radiation.
7. They counteract the initiation and promotion of carcinogenesis.

VITAMIN C:

1. Vitamin C is involved in virtually every biochemical and biological reaction in the body.
2. Vitamin C is required for the synthesis of connective tissues such as chondroitin sulphate and collagen.
3. Vitamin C stimulates lymphocytes, heightening their ability to resist and overcome disease.
4. Vitamin C is necessary for wound healing and it aids in the formation of red blood cells.
5. Vitamin C is required to convert cholesterol to bile acids and to regulate blood fats.
6. Vitamin C helps calcium absorption and enhances absorption of dietary iron up to 400%.
7. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant which protects the B vitamins and vitamin E from oxidation.
8. Vitamin C helps protect fragile anti-oxidants from oxidative damage and protects against the stress of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy
9. Vitamin C enhances immune function, protecting all tissues in the body including the brain and spinal cord from damage by free radicals

Vitex’s Grape Seed/Green Tea with vitamin C formula is one of the most potent anti-oxidant formulas available. This combination provides a potent anti-oxidant defence against the cellular damaging effects of free radicals, which can lead to cancer, heart disease, arthritis and premature ageing.

DRcaps Improve Absorption

Vitex’s Grape Seed/Green Tea is provided in the new DRcaps: DRcaps enable the nutrients to pass through the stomach unchanged, and be absorbed in the small intestine. This offers substantial improvement in nutrient bioavailability. Traditionally, these potent antioxidants have been presented in traditional capsules or tablets which dissolve in the strong acid environment of the stomach. The stomach acids often denature the antioxidants, reducing their effect. DRcaps bypass the stomach and dissolve in the small intestine where the nutrients can be absorbed directly.

DRcaps have many advantages over the traditional enteric coating of tablets and capsules. This new technology eliminates the costly enteric coating process which requires the use of solvents and heat which can have destructive effect on the active ingredients in the formula.

DRcaps are resistant to moisture and provide a more precise and consistent dissolution rate compared to traditional capsules or tablets.

NOTE: For maximum benefit, take the SOURCE Optimum, SONA based vitamin/mineral/enzyme formula and VEGAN Omega 3-6-9 to provide the body with optimum levels of other essential nutrients necessary to help maintain long term good health.

Packaging: Packed in light & oxygen resistant recyclable PETE (Bisphenol A free) bottles.
Gluten Free: Contains no animal substance; artificial preservatives, colours, flavours, sweeteners, dairy, salt, yeast or wheat
DRcaps: Hypromellose polymer, gellan gum (designed to dissolve in the small intestine). Ingredient details can be read here.
DRCaps is a reg. trademark of Capsugel.