Disclaimer: Scientific studies are for informational and educational purpose only. French Glory Isotonic OPC products are nutritional supplements, not intended to diagnose, treat, care for or prevent any diseases


Obesity or body over-weight is a general problem in the modern society, and may lead to many health problems such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. A healthy life style in the long term is crucial to avoid obesity. There are a variety of natural products from plants may help in maintaining healthy body weight.

Scientists report that grape seed extract significantly reduced the calorie intake of healthy people by 4 percent over a 24-hour period. This indicates that grape seed extract may help body-weight management by reducing energy intake in overweight subjects.

At the molecular level, grape seed extract proanthocyanidins are reported to inhibit the fat-metabolizing enzymes pancreatic lipase and lipoprotein lipase. These activities are the fundamental evidence that grape seed extract may act to limit dietary fat absorption and the accumulation of fat in adipose tissue.

Grape seed extract was also found to be able to activate lousy insulin receptors in diabetic rat models and to relieve insulin resistance. This indicates that grape seed extract is beneficial to people of diabetes or pre-diabetes in management of their body weight gain.



Reference  #1:

Pajuelo D, Quesada H, Díaz S, et al. Chronic dietary supplementation of proanthocyanidins corrects the mitochondrial dysfunction of brown adipose tissue caused by diet-induced obesity in Wistar rats. Br J Nutr. 2012 Jan;107(2):170-8.
Nutrigenomics Group, Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Marcel lí Domingo, s/n. Campus Sescelades, 43007 Tarragona, Spain.

Research Summary:

Grape seed proanthocyanidin extract is evaluated for the effect on brown adipose tissue (BAT) mitochondrial function in a state of obesity induced by diet. A cafeteria diet (Cd) was used to feed Wistar male rats for 4 months. In the last 21 days, grape seed extract in doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg body weight was used to feed the rats. Several enzymatic activities are measured including those of citrate synthase, cytochrome c oxidase (COX) and ATPase in the brown adipose tissue. Real-time PCR is used to analyze gene expression of the enzymes. A special technique called high-resolution respirometry was used to evaluate the mitochondrial function of brown adipose tissue, using both pyruvate and carnitine-palmitoyl-CoA as substrates.

The cafeteria diet (Cd) suppress the gene expression of sirtuin 1, nuclear respiratory factor 1, isocitrate dehydrogenase 3γ and COX5α.  The cafeteria diet (Cd) decreases the levels of mitochondrial respiration both with pyruvate and canitine-palmitoyl-CoA. These attenuated parameters are the indications that diet-induced obesity causes mitochondrial dysfunction. Grape seed extract proanthocyanidins are found to improve these parameters in chronic supplementation. The administration of grape seed extract exhibited a protecting effect against weight gain for rats fed with the Cd. Therefore, chronic consumption of a moderate dose of grape seed extract can correct an energy imbalance in a situation of diet-induced obesity, thereby improving the mitochondrial function and thermogenic capacity of the brown adipose tissue BAT.

Reference # 2:
Pajuelo D, Fernández-Iglesias A, et al. Improvement of mitochondrial function in muscle of genetically obese rats after chronic supplementation with proanthocyanidins. J Agric Food Chem. 2011 Aug 10;59(15):8491-8.

Reference #3:
Ohyama K, Furuta C, et al. Catechin-rich grape seed extract supplementation attenuates diet-induced obesity in C57BL/6J mice. Ann Nutr Metab. 2011;58(3):250-8.

Reference #4:
Charradi K, Sebai H, et al. Grape seed extract alleviates high-fat diet-induced obesity and heart dysfunction by preventing cardiac siderosis. Cardiovasc Toxicol. 2011 Mar;11(1):28-37.


† The contents in this website have not been evaluated by the US Food & Drug Administration. Vitaflavan® grape seed extract and FrenchGlory® OPC antioxidants are nutritional supplements, not intended to diagnose, treat, care for or prevent any diseases.




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Health-Beneficial Effects of Grape Seed Extract for Obesity and Body Weight Management