- The gist of this article
There is evidence to suggest that a daily dose of Masquelier’s OPCs could help to protect you against flu at a time when flu vaccinations are often ineffective.
A hard winter
As you probably know, many countries have experienced a flu epidemic this winter. So what’s gone wrong? Wasn’t the annual flu vaccination program supposed to spare us those days or weeks of feeling like hell once a year? The American news-service Bloomberg reports that “by the time this flu season is over, experts said, more than 50,000 Americans will be dead.”
The truth is that the flu vaccine may not be as effective as we hoped. There are numerous reasons for this. One is that the flu-shot manufacturers have to guess months in advance about which strains of the virus will make the rounds in the coming winter. Sometimes they get it right but sometimes they don’t, and millions are hit by an entirely different strain.
Moreover, the virus can mutate quickly so that by the time you are vaccinated it has evolved to override the vaccination. People catch the flu even if they are immunized. And flu-related illnesses can be deadly, claiming up to 600,000 people per year globally.
And this year there is evidence to suggest that complications arising from the way flu shots are made – in chicken eggs and including several strains of the virus – may be contributing to reduced effectiveness. In attempting to expedite the process, researchers reduce the potency of each strain in the jab, thereby reducing the immune response it triggers. Scientists are trying to shift away from egg-based vaccine production, but even the recently introduced nasal spray method is no longer recommended.
Another factor is that the vaccine does not promote such a strong immune response in older people or those with chronic illnesses. And, of course, the immune response wears off after 6 to 12 months, so an early vaccination might be completely ineffective by the time the dreaded bugs are going around.
Vitamin C plus Masquelier’s OPCs
Of course, it’s entirely up to you to decide whether you go with or without the vaccination. But how you can further enhance your anti-flu chances when you’ve been vaccinated, or if you simply don’t trust or want the vaccination?
The obvious solution is to significantly boost your vitamin C levels and that’s what many people do. Indeed, they often take tablets that deliver a much higher daily dosage of vitamin C than is necessary or recommended.
Recharge your batteries by recharging your vitamin C
However, vitamin C is a ‘busy’ compound with a huge workload and in the process of acting as an antioxidant, it loses its antioxidant property. In giving away electrons, for instance, to neutralize a free radical, vitamin C depletes itself of those electrons.
Thus vitamin C is quickly depleted unless it is recharged with energy in the form of electrons — so that it can once again perform its antioxidant function. And one of the better sources of electrons for vitamin C is Masquelier’s OPCs. Essentially, vitamin C and Masquelier’s OPCs are two cogwheels that interact so that OPCs, being rich in electrons they can spare, are vitamin C’s perfect donor.
Experimental proof
Professor Jack Masquelier demonstrated this when he kept guinea pigs alive and healthy by recharging a low ‒ suboptimal ‒ dosage of vitamin C with a dose of OPCs. Another group of guinea pigs that had received the same low dosage of vitamine C animals but no OPCs, did not survive.
A further example from history is that of Portuguese “intercontinental” sailors who escaped scurvy by recharging their practically exhausted levels of vitamin C with a daily ration of red wine, which contains good amounts of OPCs.
Thus taking officially recommended or even higher doses of vitamin C will not necessarily optimize your chances of avoiding the flu and staying healthy over the winter, mainly because vitamin C gets rapidly depleted during this period of the year. Instead, you need to recharge that vitamin C with Masquelier’s OPCs if it is to do its job properly.
For a more detailed explanation of the vitamin C/Masquelier’s OPCs recharging process read OPCs, Dr. Jack Masquelier’s Mark on Health, chapters 17 and 40.
