Pycnogenol

Pycnogenol and: Benefits | Q & A | Dosage

What is it?

Pycnogenol is a natural plant product made from the bark of the European coastal pine, Pinus Maritima. It is the most powerful antioxidant today and acts as a protector against environmental toxins.

Research has demonstrated that Pycnogenol is 50 times more effective than vitamin E and 20 times more powerful than vitamin C. Studies show that Pycnogenol is rapidly absorbed and distributed throughout the body within twenty minutes. Pycnogenol also activates vitamin C and puts it to work before it leaves your body.

Pycnogenol has been used in France, Finland, Holland, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Korea, Argentina, and Switzerland, and has just recently been marketed in the United States.

How does it work?

Like Vitamins C and E, Pycnogenol (pronounced Pick-nah-geh-nol), is a trade name for proanthocyanidin, a special family of bioflavanoids, plus 40 other biologically beneficial components. It is a powerful antioxidant which neutralizes unstable or "radical" oxygen molecules that attack the body's cells.

When these "free radical" molecules go unchecked, they degrade the tissue-strengthening collagen within the body's joints, skin and organs. Free radicals reprogram DNA and are implicated in more than 60 diseases. In addition, aging, inflammation of the muscles, joints and other tissues, plus improper functioning of the circulatory system, nervous system (including brain cells) and immune system, often result from free radical damage.

Pycnogenol furnishes the human body with excellent antioxidant nutritional support for a variety of body repairs. It furnishes capillary resistance against fragility and rupture; consequently, Pycnogenol is useful to prevent diseased blood vessels associated with varicose veins, peripheral hemorrhage, diabetic retinopathy, and high blood pressure. Such capillary resistance adds up nearly three fold over the effects in those patients who normally are prescribed other types of nutrient flavonoids for repair of their damaged capillaries.

The physiology of capillary repair involves the collagenases (enzymes which break down proteins). These collagenases are released inside the body during tissue damage and subsequent inflammation. By supplementing the diet with Pycnogenol, one can effectively inhibit the release of unwanted collagenases, thus preventing decay of the fragile capillaries' vascular walls.

There have been over one thousand scientific studies documenting Pycnogenol's absorptive ability and bioavailability in the human body. When Pycnogenol is taken as a food supplement, and then measured in human metabolism by means of laboratory tests, results show the compound behaves like a cellular detoxifier. What is the reason such ready availability takes place? Because Pyncogenol gets quickly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract due to its excellent water solubility. The compound fixes rapidly to cell membranes in veins and capillaries and connective tissue (collagen) where it exerts a stabilizing effect on cellular membranes of all types. Outside and inside the membranes it counteracts destructive oxidization by free radicals from this unique solubility characteristic.

As if it were a sponge, the catechin ingredient mentioned earlier actually mops up free radical particles. It binds with them and then the newly formed molecules leave the body as waste products. Such neutralized waste particles gather in the kidneys and get urinated away. Thus, absorption of Pycnogenol is determined by detecting its metabolities in urine. Pycnogenol facilitates active transport of vitamin C by carrying it to the site of necessary action. Other bioflavonoids perform this function, too, but Pycnogenol does it better.

Antioxidants

Your body naturally protects itself against pollutants by forming antioxidants. The most common antioxidants are vitamins A, C, and E; beta carotene; and selenium. Unfortunately, the continual bombardment of stress, environmental pollution, and the popular practice of food industrialization and food conversion processes destroy antioxidants, allowing the body to be more susceptible to disease and ill health. Consequently, the body has an extremely difficult time producing enough antioxidants to combat the contaminants.

Benefits of Pycnogenol

Improves joint flexibility, and fights joint inflammation and pain from arthritis, low back and neck problems and sports injuries.

Dramatically relieves ADD/ADHD.

Improves skin smoothness and elasticity.

Reduces prostate inflammation and other inflammatory conditions.

Reduces diabetic retinopathy and neuropathy.

Improves circulation and enhances cell vitality.

Improves skin disorders such as eczema.

Improves and arrests varicose veins, and reduces the risk of phlebitis.

Reduces the effects of stress.

Reduces allergic reactions.

Strengthens capillaries, arteries, veins and blood vessel walls, including those that supply the heart. Thus, reduces swelling in the lower extremities.

A. I have numerous pregnant patients who are taking Pycnogenol and have not had one complaint of any abnormal reaction. The study covers 22 months at this writing.

Q. Can nursing mothers take Pycnogenol, and is it harmful to the nursing child?

A. Many children I am acquainted with have been breast fed by mothers taking Pycnogenol with no adverse side effects. One interesting case was a child that had contracted dermatitis all over her body. The mother started taking Pycnogenol, and through her breast milk the child received enough Pycnogenol that within two months the condition totally cleared up.

Q. Does Pycnogenol have an effect on aging spots--located on the hands, arms face and foreheads--of the elderly as well as middle-aged adults?

A. On many patients, the darkness and size of the aging spots (some call them liver spots) have diminished. In many cases these aging spots disappeared totally with continued use of the Pycnogenol skin cream externally, and taking Pycnogenol internally as well.

Q. Does Pycnogenol help any other visual problems besides Diabetic Retinopathy?

A. We have received reports of various eye conditions being improved, such as floaters, macular degeneration shrinking of cataracts, and reduction of poor vision as found when performing an eye chart examination.

Q. Has Pycnogenol helped inflammatory degenerative problems in areas such as the shoulders, elbows, knees, hips, and back?

A. We have received numerous reports from our patients indicating that taking Pycnogenol has decreased pain and inflammation in all the above-mentioned areas, and ranges of motions without pain have dramatically increased.

Q. Will use of Pycnogenol help to eliminate the need of insulin in diabetics?

A. Having worked and talked with many diabetics, I have not found one patient that was able to eliminate insulin totally, although the number of units of insulin in many cases have been dramatically reduced. Dr. Passwater and others have indicated in their research that 95 percent of diabetic cases could be improved by taking Chromium Picolinate which I as well would heartily recommend for diabetics. In many cases, Type 2 diabetics have responded to Pycnogenol and have had normal blood-sugar readings after taking Pycnogenol for a substantial period of time.

A. Pycnogenol has not been shown to work as a blood thinning agent. Many individuals have experienced reduction of high cholesterol levels using Pycnogenol. This has not been accomplished by thinning of the blood. Pycnogenol has been demonstrated to build and increase the strength of individual cells, cell walls, and to strengthen the vascular cell walls. Vascular system strength has increased significantly in such conditions as varicose veins, phlebitis, and hemorrhoids. Pycnogenol also strengthens the entire cardiovascular system and arteries in the brain, and strengthens the gums. Pycnogenol will increase vascular circulation but has not been shown to thin the blood or cause bleeding.

A. Pycnogenol is an acid ash outside the body but becomes alkaline as it is digested in the stomach. For this reason, if a person is already too alkaline, taking Pycnogenol could increase the stomach's alkalinity and cause discomfort. When confronted with this type of condition, I recommend a tablespoon of brown vinegar (apple cider) in one-half cup of water when taking Pycnogenol; then the acetic acid in the vinegar counters the increased alkalinity of the stomach when taking your Pycnogenol.

Q. Can Pycnogenol be used in treating muscle and joint inflammatory conditions?

A. One of Pycnogenol's outstanding features is that it acts as an anti-inflammatory agent without the side effects demonstrated by many of the over-the-counter anti-inflammatory formulas.

Q. Is taking Pycnogenol while continuing to smoke or use other drug prescriptions contra-indicated?

A. Since most drugs are not antioxidants and do not fight free radical damage to the body, Pycnogenol is definitely indicated with other prescription drugs, as drugs increase free radicals in the body. Pycnogenol is considered a powerful antioxidant and will help fight these free radicals. It is perfectly safe, as Pycnogenol is classified as a food supplement. Let me ask you this question: "Is a smoker better off taking a powerful antioxidant, such as Pycnogenol, that will help fight free-radical damage that smoking may have contributed to one's body or should he not take Pycnogenol at all while continuing to smoke? Should he start taking Pycnogenol only after he has been diagnosed with a serious problem?" The answer is obvious.

Q. Can taking Pycnogenol with a suggested 20 milligram per 20 pounds of body weight be too strong for a person to take?

A. Dr. Masquelier, in his abstract to receive his United States patent, recommended between 1 1/2 to 3 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. This is where the 2 milligrams for every kilogram of body weight came from. It represents 2.2 milligrams per kilogram, and a typical Pycnogenol tablet is 20 milligrams. So for every 10 kilograms of body weight (being 22 pounds) one 20 milligram Pycnogenol tablet was used. This is how I came up with the 20/20 rule from Dr. Masquelier's patent application. I have increased Pycnogenol dose up to 30 milligrams per 20 pounds of body weight on many of my patients who have acute conditions, and they have an increased response. I would further state that nowhere in Dr. Masquelier's work and findings does he recommend building to a saturation dose for five or six days and then backing off to a maintenance dose. I would conclude from reading his research papers that people should stay on a saturation dose of Pycnogenol as long as they take it.

A. There are some people who have been tested by allergy specialists who have been shown to be allergic to anything related to pine. I personally have found that many of these types of patients can take a lesser dose without allergic reactions. Try starting by taking one dose per day for four days and then increasing your dosage by another dose for another four days. Continue this process until you find the threshold of allergic reaction, and then back off one dose.

Pycnogenol can be used safely and effectively in conjunction with other antioxidants such as vitamin C, E, and A (betacarotene) plus the minerals zinc, selenium, and manganese with the addition of CoEnzyme Q10. In combination this way, Pycnogenol acts to sharply reduce the effects of free radical damage associated with acute and chronic inflammations, senility in aging, improper function of the circulatory system, nervous disorders of most types, and immune system suppression.

Being very potent as an antioxidant, Pycnogenol works most effectively for a person when taken daily to prevent the onset of free radical-induced disorders and their symptoms. Another noted professor of cell biology at the Finnish University of Hyvaskyla, Antti Holevi Arstila, M.D., states that Pycnogenol taken as a food supplement is useful for the treatment of cancer, arthritis, cataracts, macular degeneration, asthma, Parkinson's disease, and other degenerative diseases.

A Pycnogenol dose of 30 mg. is considered a maintenance daily dosage per 75 bounds of weight. In order to saturate the tissues when self-treatment is administered, the dosage changes to one dose for each twenty pounds of body weight, taken daily for the first three days. Thereafter tissue saturation should be followed with the maintenance doses daily.

In summary, Pycnogenol, although a food supplement, has definite therapeutic qualities for the normalization of cellular tissues. The following are effects on body and mind one could hope to achieve by supplementing:

All of these beneficial effects are proven by laboratory and clinical investigations in animals and humans which have been published as over 1000 scientific studies in the medical literature.