>>> The origin of « 36mg PAC »
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1600
The cranberry is used by Native Americans. At this time, it is known that the cranberry helped prevent urinary disorders, but there is not yet any scientific proof. The use is traditional and knowledge of its application is passed on from generation to generation. |
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1994
after various clinical studies, Avorn et al published the first clinical study demonstrating the positive effects of a daily consumption of 300 mL of cranberry juice. The results are significant: the bacteriuria fell by as much as 60%. |
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1998
Dr Foo and Dr Howell identify PACs as the active constituent of the cranberry. Discovery of the bacterial anti-adhesion mechanism. |
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1998-2002
Measurement of the concentration of PAC in a glass of cranberry juice by Ocean Spray (American cranberry producers' cooperative) and Dr. Amy Howell. 1 glass of 300 mL contains 36 mg PAC measured by the colorimetric method using DMAC reagent.
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2004
AFSSA recognizes the beneficial effect of the cranberry on the urinary tract at a dosage of "36 mg measured PAC" on the basis of the elements cited above. The effective dose of "36 mg PAC" as validated by AFSSA corresponds exclusively to a dose measured according to the DMAC measurement method.
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2004
urell® is the first product assayed at 36 mg PAC DMAC to be offered to French consumers. |
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2005
urell® is packaged in a hard capsule (36 mg PAC per capsule), a very practical format and greatly appreciated by our consumers. |
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2008
A proliferation of food supplements claiming "36 mg PAC" content but without indicating the method of measurement. Confusion is created on the part of certain manufacturers; some products are overvalued in PAC content.
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>>>What does the urell® product contain ?
A selection of cranberry products has been analyzed by an independent French laboratory using the DMAC method to assess their PAC content.
urell® is the only product actually providing the effective dose of 36 mg PAC as measured by the DMAC method.
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| Dosages réalisés par un laboratoire indépendant selon la méthode DMAC sur des produits disponibles dans les pharmacies françaises. Septembre/Décembre 2008 |
Other measurement methods are used for PAC quantification in the cranberry products but the results are not comparable to those of the DMAC measurement method.
« 36mg PAC » (as measured by the DMAC method) is not equivalent to 36 mg PAC (using other methods of measurement).
To give an example: the urell® product was analyzed in an independent French laboratory using the 4 most commonly used but differing methods of analysis. The differences in the results tell it all: for one capsule of urell®, the PAC content varies from 36.4 mg to 187.2 mg according to whether it is assayed by the "DMAC", "HPLC", "European Pharmacopeia - Hawthorn" or "Bate-Smith” methods.
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| Dosages réalisés par un laboratoire indépendant sur une gélule d'urell selon 4 méthodes d'analyses couramment utilisées pour doser les PAC |
When a product claims "36 mg PAC" and it is analyzed according to the "Bate-Smith" method, it actually contains only 7 mg PAC (as measured by the DMAC method), or 6 times less than urell®. But the analysis method is rarely indicated by the manufacturer, which is why one must be careful of the statement "36 mg PAC" without any other clarification.
Only the claim "36mg PAC measured by DMACmethod" guarantee the amount of 36 mg PAC corresponding to the dosage validated by the French Food Safety Agency (AFSSA).
The initial DMAC/PAC003 method with limited accessibility was replaced by a simplified BL-DMAC method which is available to all laboratories and scientists worldwide and yields the same statistical results as the previous methods DMAC/PAC 003.
- Ronald L Prior, Ellen Fa, Hongping, Amy Howell, Christian Nio, Mark J Payne and Jess Reed,
Multi-laboratory validation of a standard method for quantifying proanthocyanidins in cranberry powders, J Sci Food Agric 2010.
- For more details about BL-DMAC method, visit the website http://dmac-asso.org/
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