Pycnogenol is a natural super-antioxidant

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Study Shows Pycnogenol(r) Alleviates Pregnancy Pain
June,15,2007

Kohama T, Inoue M. Pycnogenol(r) alleviates pain associated with pregnancy. Phytother Res. 2006;20:232-234.

Pycnogenol(r) (Horphag Research Ltd; Geneva, Switzerland), a standardized extract from the French maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) bark, has anti-inflammatory activity and spasmolytic activity (relieves or prevents spasms) in the uterus of animals. In a previous study the authors reported that Pycnogenol significantly alleviates abdominal and lower back pain in women with menstrual cramps. Considering that most pregnant women experience pregnancy-related pain, such as lower back pain and inguinal pain, the authors evaluated Pycnogenol in pregnant women.

Pregnant women in their third trimester (n=140) with lower back pain, hip joint pain, pelvic pain, pain due to varices (abnormally enlarged or twisted blood vessel or lymphatic vessel), or calf cramps participated in this study conduced in Ishikawa Pref., Japan. Eighty women were treated with Pycnogenol 30 mg, taken at breakfast, for 6 weeks. Sixty women were untreated controls. Physicians interviewed the patients and scored their level of pain before treatment, after 2 weeks of treatment, and after 36 gestational weeks. The authors do not state whether the study was blinded to the physicians.

For all symptoms (lower back pain, hip joint pain, inguinal pain, pain due to varices, or calf cramps), there was a significant improvement from baseline in pregnancy-related pain after 2 weeks of treatment with Pycnogenol (P<0.01). In some patients who were not responsive to wet compresses or the analgesic drug Loxonin (Lead Chemical Co, Japan), Pycnogenol decreased pain scores but in some cases the improvement was not statistically significant. These patients may have needed a higher dose of Pycnogenol. There were no adverse side effects. The authors advise that Pycnogenol should not be used in the first trimester of pregnancy.

The authors conclude that Pycnogenol is a safe and effective method of alleviating pregnancy-associated pain during the third trimester. The authors did not discuss the possibility that there could have been a substantial placebo effect: the Pycnogenol-treated patients may have felt better because they believed the treatment would help. The study would be much more convincing if there had been a placebo-treated control, rather than an untreated control group. In addition, the study does not appear to have been randomized or blinded, two conditions requisite of a rigorous study.

—Heather S. Oliff, PhD
 

Protection from Inflammation, Immunosuppression and Carcinogenesis Induced by UV Radiation in Mice by Topical Pycnogenol^®

Suzann Sime and Vivienne E. Reeve

Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Pycnogenol® Augments Macrophage Phagocytosis and Cytokine Secretion

Vandana Shah, Erben Bayeta and Benjamin H.S. Lau Pakistan Journal of Nutrition 1 (5): 196-201, 2002

We previously reported that Pycnogenol^®, procyanidins extracted from the bark of French maritime pine (Pinus maritima Aiton; the official botanical name is now Pinus pinaster Aiton) is a potent free radical scavenger. It has been shown to inhibit macrophage oxidative burst. Macrophages carry out their microbicidal and tumoricidal activities via oxygen-dependent and oxygen-independent mechanisms. The present study investigated the effects of Pycnogenol^® on oxygen-independent killing mechanisms of macrophages, with particular interest in phagocytosis and cytokine release. J774 cells, a murine macrophage cell line, were preincubated with Pycnogenol^® and then exposed to fluorescein-conjugated Escherichia coli particles for phagocytosis. Pycnogenol^® significantly enhanced the phagocytosis by J774 cells. Incubation with Pycnogenol^® resulted in a significant increase in cell size indicating macrophage activation. J774 cells were treated with Pycnogenol^® for 22 hr and the supernatants were tested for the release of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1beta). Pycnogenol^® significantly increased the secretion of both TNF-alpha and IL-1beta . These results suggest that Pycnogenol^® can enhance the macrophage function by increasing its ability to phagocytosis and secretion of TNF-alpha and IL-1beta . These two cytokines may provide costimulatory signals to enhance both the humoral and cellular immune responses to promote host defense.

06/01/2024
Daily Mail: Pine Tree Bark Pill Relieves Asthmatics

Maritime Pine Plus® is an Extract from the bark of a French tree can significantly reduce the symptoms of asthma.
 
Some Patients may be symptom-free after three months, and one 30-year-old man who began taking the twice-a-day supplement 14 months ago has not had to use an inhaler for a year.
 
By Roger Dobson
 
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By Susan Clark,
 
Read Susan Clarks answers to readers questions about Maritime Pine Plus®:
 
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By Elena Conis,
 
Maritime Pine Plus® is extracted from the bark of a coastal pine tree, grown in southern France, that is commonly harvested to make paper and lumber. The compound is a mixture of plant chemicals known as procyanidins, which are types of flavonoids. The procyanidins found in Maritime Pine Plus® also are abundant in grapes, apples, cocoa, peanuts, blueberries and cranberries.
 
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A pill made from a pine bark can provide a safe way to protect travelers from potentially fatal DVT.
 
By Martyn Halle
 
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Fertility from the Forest
An extract from the bark of a pine tree that grows along the coast of southwestern France may improve the health of sperm in men with fertility problems. The extract, called Pycnogenol, is one of the most potent antioxidants known.

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THE TIMES, THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 / PAGE 13
 
SO FAMOUS were the curative powers of the pine-laden atmosphere of French Atlantic coastline near Biarritz that every year the ageing, bronchitic King Edward VII, together with his friend Mrs Keppel, would migrate from the damp of England to holiday among the pine forests.
 
Doctors, biochemists and biologists attending a recent international conference on Andros on oxidative stress in skin biology and medicine, arranged by the University of Athens, learnt that although the air around the pine forests may have been pleasant to breathe, any health advantages of the maritime pines - Pinus pinaster - may actually lie in their bark.
 
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"Grow young with Maritime Pine Plus®"
 
From fighting heart disease to slowing the damaging effects of the sun, this pine tree bark extract puts the bite on aging.
 
by marie moneysmith
 
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An Interview with Dr. Ronald Ross Watson By Richard A. Passwater, Ph. D.

Interviews Dr. Ronald Ross Watson on the antioxidant, Maritime Pine Plus®, which lowers the risk factor of strokes and heart disease by reducing inflammation on the heart's arteries. The antioxidant is also effective in lowering hypertension.
 
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by Steven Lamm, M.D.  
 
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June 20, 2024
Maritime Pine Plus® AWARDED PATENT FOR REDUCING PMS / MENSTRUAL PAIN

Geneva,  - Horphag Research announces today that Maritime Pine Plus® has been awarded a US patent for use of proanthocyanidins in the reduction of the pain and discomfort associated with menstruation (PMS).

Abdominal pain due to endometriosis was reduced in 80% of the patients and cramps disappeared in 77% of the women taking Maritime Pine Plus®, according to a study published in the European Bulletin of Drug Research and submitted as part of the patent application. Endometriosis is a common gynecological disorder with varied symptoms including chronic pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea and infertility.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office awarded Patent No. US 6,372,266 to Maritime Pine Plus® for the "unexpected" finding that it exhibits "unprecedented remarkable ameliorating or therapeutic effects on patients with dysmenorrhea and endometriosis," as it was described in the application.

"This patent opens the door to allow women to choose a more natural and effective approach to alleviating the discomfort with menstruation and associated conditions," says Victor Ferrari, Chief Operating Officer, Horphag Research. "This patent further increases the value of Maritime Pine Plus® as an addition to women's health formulas, multivitamins or as a stand alone product."

Maritime Pine Plus® is a natural complex of water-soluble bioflavonoids. When compared against 20 other antioxidants sources, Maritime Pine Plus® was shown to be the most powerful antioxidant among them. In addition, it increases the effect of vitamin antioxidants like C and E when they are taken together.

The antioxidants in Maritime Pine Plus® may counteract cramps by reducing inflammatory action. Recent studies have shown a clear improvement in terms of reduction of menstrual cramps and pain in 73% of women following administration of 30 mg Maritime Pine Plus® day for one month, in addition to those with endometriosis.

".The results of our study indicate that a Maritime Pine Plus® treatment seems to be useful in improving the menstrual and pelvic pain in women, " Dr. Takafumi Kohama, of Keiju Medical Center and the Kanazawa University School of Medicine said. "The mode of action, by which Maritime Pine Plus® reduces the clinical findings of endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain, is thought to be a combined action of its individual components."

TUCSON, AZ -December 5, 2001-- A new clinical study in the Journal of Medicinal Food entitled, "Maritime Pine Plus® in the Management of Asthma," indicates that taking the nutraceutical Maritime Pine Plus®, an herbal extract derived from the French maritime pine tree, can significantly improve asthma symptoms. In addition to the study conducted by Ronald Watson, Ph.D., College of Public Health and School of Medicine, University of Arizona in Tucson, there is a significant body of clinical evidence comprised over 30 years in some 70 studies that verify Pycnogenol's anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
 
This random, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study was comprised of 12 women and 10 men between the ages of 18 and 50 years, who had suffered from asthma for 1 to 16 years. Patients were randomly assigned to either the Maritime Pine Plus® group, receiving 1mg/lb/day (without exceeding 200 mg/day), or to the group receiving placebo for four weeks. Thereafter, subjects were crossed over to the alternate group.

The airway function of the patients was assessed using a well-established method called "forced expiration volume in 1 second" (FEV1), by means of an instrument called a spirometer. For accurate measurement, the subject fills his lungs and then exhales as fast as he can for exactly 1 second, while the spirometer measures the volume of exhaled air. The exhaled volume is expressed relative to the total lung volume, so the FEV1 value represents the percentage of a specific patient's lung volume he can exhale in a second. Understandably, the percentage is lower in asthma patients as their airways are constricted, and breathing is aggravated. Dr. Watson showed that the percentage of the total lung volume which the asthma patients could exhale within one second rose considerably after treatment with Maritime Pine Plus®, while placebo had no effect.
 
The improvement of airway function was paralleled by a reduction of mediators called leukotrienes in the blood. The leukotrienes cause the inflammatory condition and constriction of bronchi, processes which are largely responsible for the airway obstruction in asthma. Maritime Pine Plus® significantly reduced the leukotriene values, as compared to both baseline as well as placebo medication. Taking placebo tablets had no significant influence on leukotriene levels in the blood.
 
The severity of asthma symptoms was rated on a 4-point scale, ranging in steps from a mild intermittent form up to a severe persistent form. Before treatment and while receiving placebos the mean symptom score of all patients was considered as being a "severe persistent" form. After treatment with Maritime Pine Plus® the symptom severity score was significantly reduced to the "moderate persistent" form.
 
Dr. Watson concludes that Maritime Pine Plus® may be a valuable new nutraceutical in the management of asthma. Maritime Pine Plus® was well-tolerated, and only one patient experienced gastrointestinal discomfort. However, this occurred only during the first 3-4 days of the trial. And overall, the patients generally noted an improvement of their breathing ability when they received Maritime Pine Plus®.

12/05/2024
Journal of Medicinal Food: Maritime Pine Plus® in the Management of Asthma

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