Benefit of Pycnogenol - Heart Disease, Stroke, Diabetes

The benefit of pycnogenol has been said to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and diabetic retinopathy (degenerative disease of the retina in your eyes).

Pycnogenol has also been shown to protect against inflammatory disorders, oxidative stress to your cells which can result in a myriad of chronic diseases and accelerate aging, and DNA damage caused by free radicals roaming throughout your body.

It's been found that the benefit of pycnogenol can also bolster your immune system as well as help to improve your memory

What is the benefit of pycnogenol? Well first of all, what is pycnogenol?

Pycnogenol is an extract taken from the bark of the French maritime pine which grows along the coast of uhmmmmm, France.

Other names for pycnogenol are pine bark extract, French Marine Pine Bark Extract, French Maritime Pine Bark Extract, Leucoanthocyanidins, OPC, Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins, PCO, Pine Bark, Pinus maritima, Pinus pinaster, Procyandiol Oligomers, Procyanodolic Oligomers, Pygenol

... just in case you needed to know all of that.

A benefit of pycnogenol has been found to have tremendous antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It is thought to be one of the most significant breakthroughs in the field of nutrition.

Ronald Watson, Ph.D., Professor, University of Arizona Medical School at Tucson had this to say about the benefit of pycnogenol: "Here's a completely natural substance with remarkable activity, producing effects within minutes. It may have important health implications for an aging population."

The remarkable benefit of pycnogenol is due to a compound called proanthocyanidins (OPCs or PCOs). Grape seed extract has similar chemical compounds as well.

OPCs act as powerful antioxidants which neutralize free radicals in your body. Free radicals are thought to be responsible for over 60 diseases (we cover free radicals and oxidative stress on our Vitamin E page).

As a matter of fact, pycnogenol's antioxidant properties are thought to be 60 times more powerful than Vitamin E and 20 times more powerful than Vitamin C.

Heart Attack and Stroke Risks are Reduced by the Benefit of Pycnogenol

Recently, it was found that benefit of pycnogenol is to significantly reduce plaque development in your arteries. Plaque, or what's called 'platelet aggregation', take place when the smallest of your blood cells become sticky and clump together.

These clumps of cells can clog arteries and keep blood from getting to parts of your brain which can cause a stroke. Clumps of cells can also clog the arteries to your heart resulting in a heart attack.

Dr Ronald Watson who we were introduced to a little earlier said this: "Pycnogenol serves as a natural shield, helping to prevent cell aggregation which would restrict the blood supply struggling to move through narrow arteries."

Pycnogenol is said to be 5 times more effective than aspirin in preventing platelet aggregation with none of the harmful side effects such as increased bleeding or stomach problems.

Benefit of Pycnogenol and Diabetic Retinopathy

We talked a bit about diabetes at our page on chromium picolinate. We talked a little about type 1 and type 2 diabetes and how type 2 diabetes or age-onset diabetes can a lot of times be brought on by a person's lifestyle and diet.

Diabetic retinopathy is a complication of diabetes and results in bleeding into the retina. It is the break down of small capillaries due to elevated blood glucose levels. Estimates are that 90% of folks with type 1 and 60% of folks with type 2 will develop diabetic retinopathy.

Dr Frank Schonlau, of the University of Munster in England said this: 'These sorts of levels are very disturbing when you think how devastating the loss of sight can be, You have to remember that once the damage is done to the back of the retina, which receives the messages that help us see, it cannot be reversed. So we need to find ways of preventing the damage in the first place and treatments that can slow or stop it.'

Now research has shown that this pine bark extract might slow or even stop this bleeding into the retina which can cause one's loss of sight. A trial that was published recently in the journal Phyototherapy Research, showed that over 50 % of those taking pycnogenol capsules experienced a slowing or even halting of their retinopathy.

Scientists have discovered that the benefit of pycnogenol, acting as a powerful antioxidant, can help seal and make stronger a person's fragile and leaky retina capillaries. It is found to form with the collagen and elastin in the walls of the blood cells and keep them from bursting.

As an added bonus for folks with type 2 diabetes, pycnogenol has been shown to lower blood sugar levels as well.

A benefit of pycnogenol has been shown to be helpful to folks with mild to moderate childhood asthma. Professor Benjamin Lau of Loma Linda University, California studied the effects of pycnogenol on 60 children between the ages of 6 and 18. All of the children in the study needed rescue inhalers to keep their attacks under control.

Half the children took pycnogenol for three months and half took a placebo.

At the end of the study, the children who were taking the pycnogenol on all four parameters tested : "ability to breathe, severity of symptoms, frequency of using rescue inhaler and the quantity of inflammatory molecules (leukotrienes) in the child's body." Over 50 % did not require the use of the inhalers at all.

Professor Lau said this: "It is anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, antiviral and contains powerful antioxidants, which fight all the causes of asthma."

A benefit of pycnogenol has also been found to help alleviate symptoms of PMS as well.

A team of Japanese researchers tested pycnogenol on thirty-nine women who were suffering from severe PMS. They found that the cramps and breast tenderness that these women were experiencing eased by up to 100 %.

A study which appeared in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine supported the findings of the Japanese researchers. It reported that the benefit of pycnogenol resulted in significant reductions in menstrual cramps, abdominal pain and tenderness.

Dr John Cormack had this to say concerning the findings: 'Pycnogenol looks very interesting and if further studies confirm the findings, it may well be of use to many women." 

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