Ellagic acid… resveratrol… phytochemicals… phytonutrients… inhibition… viral… bacterial… these are all words that tend to swim together after a while when you read a lot of the articles that have been written about these intriguing and increasingly popular topics.
So I’m going to take my pen in hand and try my best to write something that even my kids can understand, and I hope they get excited!
First of all, what ARE some of these words and what DO they MEAN?
Resveratrol, OPCs, and ellagic acid are some of the most common forms of antioxidants found in plants, fruits, and berries.
ellagic acid is a “plant chemical” or nutrient found in various berries and fruits, such as pomegranates, walnuts, strawberries, raspberries, and recent studies have found that the muscat grape, which is a grape/berry grown in the SE parts of the United States , has more than TRIPLE the amount of ellagic acid than almost any other fruit or berry on the planet.
There is an independent laboratory company called Brunswick Laboratories that tests foods and supplements to see how high the ORAC scale is on them. ( ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) which in simple terms represents how high the level of antioxidants is in this food or supplement…or in terms of our history.”How well can this food/supplement fight the bad guys!“When they tasted the muscatel grapes, they said they had never tasted anything that rated this highly!
phyto is just another word for ‘plant’, so whenever you see the term ‘phytochemical’ or ‘phytonutrient’, it refers to a plant-based chemical or nutrient. I personally prefer to call it a nutrient since that is EXACTLY what it is. The chemistry sounds too scary.
Inhibition is my new favorite word nowadays. When I read or hear something that INHIBIT the growth of… gold INHIBIT the process of…it’s usually a good thing, as it seems like all the bad stuff in our body will automatically grow like crazy, unless we can find something to inhibit it, or ARREST he. “Inhibited the growth of cancer cells” is my new favorite phrase!
I learn best with ‘word pictures’, so let me try to give you one here…
free radicals… It’s a very common term used these days, as it’s the word used to describe all the bad guys who are constantly trying to disrupt our lives. They come in the form of chemicals and toxins, and they sneak in, totally uninvited and often inadvertently in ways we never imagined.
Here are just a few of the ways we let these guys in on a daily basis:
Stress…studies show that stress dramatically increases the chance of disease and illness in our bodies. Because? Because it opens the door for these little nasties to come in and wreak havoc.
skin care… did you know that our skin is our largest organ and that everything we put on our skin enters the bloodstream in 26 seconds? Yes, that includes all the antifreeze and engine degreaser we get on our skin every day.. Wait, you didn’t know that propylene glycol is the main ingredient in antifreeze and sodium laurel sulfate (SLS) is what they use as an engine degreaser.? Yes, our lovely fda has approved those exact ingredients for use in the skin care industry and if you check your labels you will see them on every bottle on the shelf. ( including Johnson&Johnson baby care products!) And then we wonder why our skin becomes flaccid and wrinkled when we reach our 40s and 50s… !
our food… forget about processed foods, everyone KNOWS they are not good for us, ( and they eat them anyway) but what about fresh fruits and vegetables? Yeah, full of bad guys, waiting for a free ride to their next assignment. Your body. Your free trip into our system is GMOs, insect repellent chemicals, water treatments, etc.
Atmosphere… we are so privileged to live on planet earth in a time when there has never been more technology and advancements. But it all comes with a huge unhealthy price tag. All of these are giving off radiation and chemicals at a level I don’t even understand. All we know is that they are there and we can’t get away from them!
These are all bad guys who pretty much have access to our bodies at all hours of the day.. Unless they are arrestedthey quickly steal and eat the good cells, multiply many times over… and start fueling inflammation, disease, aging and cancer.
So what do free radicals, ellagic acid, and these muscat grapes have to do with it all?
That’s where the exciting part comes in! I am rubbing my hands in the expectation that maybe only a couple of people will see this amazing phenomenon. that happens when we hold on to something good and life changing!
ANTIOXIDANTS is your new friend and warrior, ESPECIALLY when it comes to fighting the ‘bad boys free radicals‘! When we start taking ANY high antioxidant supplement, it’s almost like I can see the scene playing out inside…all the bad guys are stopping, as the ‘new’ big buck stands up, flexes his muscles and says, “Listen! I’m the new kid on the block now… party’s over!”
The new guy immediately goes to work restoring all the worn-out and broken cells in our bodies. And as long as he’s there, the bad guys can’t work. They are inhibited! Disrupted.
Did you know that by the ripe old age of 40, our antioxidant levels are at about 50% and decline rapidly from there; at the age of 60-70 years, it is reduced to approximately 5%? For some, the loss of antioxidants starts much earlier…and that’s why we’re seeing cancer attacks at a much younger age than ever before.
So let’s go back to ellagic acids and resveratrol and what they all do. inhibition again. oh I love that word! These are all part of the ‘superman’ team that is now in control of our internal parts.
Ellagic acid helps the body fight viral, fungal, and bacterial infections. INHIBITTING the bad guys from doing their job when they enter the body… if we have enough ellagic acid in our bodies, our chances of getting sick from any of the above are much lower.
resveratrol – ahhh, another word that has come to love me very much. If I still had babies they might be called Rezzy and Ellagic. (smile)
But seriously ladies, resveratrol is our ‘queen savior!‘…She’s seriously on our side! It’s about rebuilding all the aging cells, tightening up the loose places, giving us back the zipper that’s been stolen, cleaning out those blood vessels and varicose veins, and in simple words, it’s about helping us age gracefully. ! I love her to pieces!
(She was also my husband’s flavor, even though she is the QUEEN of anti-inflammation, is it any wonder we love her so much?!
Studies have shown that the highest form of natural resveratrol is found in the skin of Muscat grapes. That plus the fact that there are over a hundred MORE of these supermen and heroes included in this little grape/berry, waiting to be released into their destiny, which has been growing right under our noses since the beginning of time, is enough to make anyone excited.
Personally, I think when God made muscadines, he did it with a twinkle in his eye, knowing that some day FAR FAR down the road, when the world he made would be in a chemical and toxic disaster, he would bend over, pick the right one. person… drop a vision into his heart and let him change the world with this small and simple fruit. I am humbled and honored to be a part of that plan.
