The French Paradox was never about wine; it was about a polymer chain length

Grape seed OPCs (oligomeric proanthocyanidins) come in dimers, trimers, and higher polymers. Dimers and trimers are absorbed intact and have direct vascular effects (NO pathway). Higher polymers are fermented by gut bacteria into phenylvalerolactones with their own bioactivity. The entire grape seed market standardizes on "% total polyphenols" ignoring that the chain length determines whether the compound acts in the bloodstream or the gut.Publications of interest:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11813991/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11053514/https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9854439/