# Anthogenol ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Origin | Netherlands | | Headquarters | Loosdrecht | | Status | Active | | Website | https://masqueliers.com/ | Anthogenol is a range of oral supplements and one skincare cream built around oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs), plant compounds extracted from grape seeds. The trademark belongs to International Nutrition Company B.V. of Loosdrecht in the Netherlands, and the products are marketed by I.N.C. Agency B.V. from the same address [3]. The company behind them traces its roots to the French scientist Jack Masquelier, who is credited with first isolating OPCs in the late 1940s. The range sits in an unusual corner of the beauty market. Only one of its four products is a cosmetic; the others are capsules and drops taken by mouth, sold on the idea that good blood circulation supports the skin. No year for the launch of the Anthogenol name itself is documented. The brand remains active, with national websites and a network of distribution partners on several continents. ## Origin & founders The story of Anthogenol begins with its key ingredient rather than with the brand. According to the owner, scientists had known about OPCs for some years before Jack Masquelier extracted and isolated them for the first time [2]. He first worked with peanut skins, the company says, and later with the bark of the maritime pine and with specific grape seeds. The year of that breakthrough differs between the owner's own pages. Its page on OPC ingredients gives 1948 [2], while a 2023 company press release says Masquelier isolated OPCs from nature in 1947 [4]. The Australian distributor also gives 1948 and adds that Masquelier published his doctoral thesis on the isolation and chemical description of the compounds that same year [7]. The same distributor gives his full name as Jack Arthur Masquelier and his dates as 1922 to 2009. Masquelier went on to argue that not all OPCs behave alike. The owner describes how he came to see them as compounds of many sizes and compositions with different effects, and how he chose to include only the smallest kinds in his definition, on the grounds that the body absorbs these most readily. He named the compounds OPCs, short for oligomeric proanthocyanidins, a form of proanthocyanidin, which plants use for protection. Who created the Anthogenol brand, and when, is not documented. The Anthogenol range is presented as a continuation of Masquelier's work rather than as a separate founding. ## History & milestones Masquelier's research moved from the laboratory into medicine over the following two decades. According to the owner, doctors and medical authorities took an interest in his extracts, and in 1966 he was granted a patent for their use in supporting venous, vascular and capillary health [2]. The patents eventually expired. The company says that weaker versions of his extracts then appeared on the market. To protect the reputation of his original compositions, Masquelier granted the company that owns the MASQUELIER's® mark exclusive rights to use his name and signature as a trademark. The Australian distributor tells a similar version: fearing that lower-quality OPCs would undermine his reputation, he decided to brand his life's work with his own name. In 1969 Masquelier set up the company now called CEP to commercialize and authenticate his original ingredients [4]. According to the company, he later spent ten years working with Bert Schwitters, the father of its current owners, to make sure his methods were passed on intact. The owner says Masquelier spent the rest of his life refining his processes and developing new uses for his compounds. For many years the business operated as INC, or International Nutrition Company. On 17 February 2023 it announced that it would reinstate its original name, CEP, to honour its founder [4]. The press release described the change as a return to the company's core rather than a break with the INC name. It also set out a new direction: developing health products with a vascular focus that combine MASQUELIER's® OPCs with other functional ingredients, working with new and existing partners. ## Ownership Anthogenol is not a standalone company. It is one of several trademarks held by International Nutrition Company B.V., alongside MASQUELIER's®, Flavan® and Dermagenol®, and all four are described as products of I.N.C. Agency B.V. in Loosdrecht [3]. The Austrian Anthogenol website names the same agency as owner in its footer. The parent company describes itself as a third-generation family business. It employs a group of OPC specialists who research, develop, analyse and manufacture botanical health formulations, which partner companies then sell around the world. Pim Schwitters is named as its chief executive and a co-owner. The press release says the company has spent more than 50 years working with international business partners to bring products based on Masquelier's discoveries to market. No acquisitions of or by the Anthogenol business are documented. ## Philosophy & positioning The brand's positioning rests on a single idea: that the vascular system underpins health, and that appearance follows from it. The Austrian Anthogenol site states that it offers no superficial solutions, because health and beauty are more than a facade, and that it goes to the source with natural supplements. Good blood circulation, the site continues, benefits the legs, the eyes and the skin. The parent company frames its role as custodian of Masquelier's body of work. It says it follows the standards Masquelier himself established and reaches its results in the same way, and it states that only MASQUELIER's® products match his original formula. In the 2023 press release, CEP described the vascular system as central to human health and linked its approach to a growing consumer interest in holistic health and in supplements that combine several ingredients. That positioning places Anthogenol closer to the supplement aisle than to conventional skincare. Its beauty claims come mainly through the argument that nutrition taken by mouth supports the skin from within. ## Products & innovation The Anthogenol range consists of four products: Anthogenol® Kapseln (capsules), Anthogenol® FORTE, Anthogenol® Tropfen (drops) and Anthogenol® Crème [5]. The capsules, FORTE and drops are oral food supplements; the Crème is the range's only cosmetic. All four are built on MASQUELIER's® Original OPCs, an extract of grape seeds (*Vitis vinifera*) developed to Masquelier's specifications. The Austrian site describes the extract as a contribution to maintaining good circulation. The Australian distributor says its Anthogenol® Capsules also contain vitamin C and silicon dioxide, and that the capsules are intended to help maintain the skin, nails and hair [7]. Masquelier's early research explored how his OPCs worked together with other active ingredients such as vitamin C, according to CEP. The company's main technical claim concerns quality control. It says every batch of OPCs it extracts goes through a testing method it calls Complex Phytonutrient Authentication (CPA), and that only batches passing this test may be labelled MASQUELIER's® Original OPCs or MASQUELIER's® French Pine Bark Extract [2]. The owner presents these two ingredients as the only ones on the market matching Masquelier's specifications. The health claims made for the ingredient are the owner's own. According to the company, Masquelier and his co-workers showed over a number of trials that his OPC compositions had a positive effect on the smallest blood vessels. The owner also says the compounds are readily absorbed by the body and work without needing other nutrients alongside them. Its homepage states that MASQUELIER's® OPC ingredients have been studied for over 65 years and help support collagen, elastin and the vascular and immune systems [1]. These are statements about the ingredient, not about any specific Anthogenol product, and no independent assessment of them is documented. The Australian distributor cites French clinical studies from the 1980s on Endotelon®, another product based on Masquelier's OPCs, in support of its capsules [7]. No third-party certifications are documented for the range. ## Current status Anthogenol is active. The owner's websites and the national Anthogenol sites carry current copyright notices and live product listings. The most recent dated company announcement is the February 2023 press release on the return to the CEP name. The brand reaches consumers through independent partners rather than a single global retailer. The owner's contact page lists distributors for products containing MASQUELIER's® OPCs in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the United States, and dedicated Anthogenol websites exist for Australia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Greece [3]. In Australia the brand is handled by Phytologic, whose website frames the product as a daily antioxidant supplement. ## Timeline {#belagg-timeline} | Year | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | 1948 | Jack Masquelier extracts and isolates OPCs for the first time (the ingredient later used in Anthogenol) | https://masqueliers.com/masqueliers-opcs-ingredients | | 1966 | Professor Masquelier granted a patent for applying his extracts to venous, vascular and capillary health | https://masqueliers.com/masqueliers-opcs-ingredients | | 1969 | Professor Masquelier sets up CEP, the company that owns the Anthogenol trademark, to commercialize and authenticate his original ingredients. This is the company's founding year, not a documented Anthogenol launch year. | https://masqueliers.com/article/cep-brings-masqueliers-legacy-future-returning-its-core | | 2004 | MASQUELIER's® Original OPCs launched in Australia (Australian distributor's timeline; tier 4) | https://anthogenol.com.au/pages/our-story | | 2018 | Australian Anthogenol® packaging updated for new TGA regulation, using a more sustainable material (tier 4) | https://anthogenol.com.au/pages/our-story | | 2023 | International Nutrition Company (INC) announces it will reinstate its original name CEP (press release dated 17 February 2023) | https://masqueliers.com/article/cep-brings-masqueliers-legacy-future-returning-its-core | ## Signature products {#belagg-products} - **Anthogenol® Kapseln (capsules)** — Anthogenol® Kapseln — https://anthogenol.at/de/uber - **Anthogenol® FORTE** — Anthogenol® FORTE — https://anthogenol.at/de/uber - **Anthogenol® Tropfen (drops)** — Anthogenol® Tropfen — https://anthogenol.at/de/uber - **Anthogenol® Crème** — Anthogenol® Crème — https://anthogenol.at/de/uber ## Key ingredients {#belagg-ingredients} MASQUELIER's® Original OPCs (Vitis vinifera seed extract) · OPCs (oligomeric proanthocyanidins) Source: https://anthogenol.at/de/uber ## Proprietary technologies & patents {#belagg-tech} - Complex Phytonutrient Authentication (CPA) batch testing — https://masqueliers.com/masqueliers-opcs-ingredients - 1966 patent granted to Professor Jack Masquelier for the application of his OPC extracts in support of venous, vascular and capillary health (the site states his patents later expired) — https://masqueliers.com/masqueliers-opcs-ingredients ## Sources 1. (T1) https://masqueliers.com/ 2. (T1) https://masqueliers.com/masqueliers-opcs-ingredients 3. (T2) https://masqueliers.com/contact 4. (T2) https://masqueliers.com/article/cep-brings-masqueliers-legacy-future-returning-its-core 5. (T2) https://anthogenol.at/de/uber 7. (T4) https://anthogenol.com.au/blogs/news/how-anthogenol-was-born --- Glowpedia · · Published 2026-09-30 Please cite with a link to the article URL.