NOW Foods - Pycnogenol Found Again to Help Diabetics

Pycnogenol Found Again to Help Diabetics

By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, October 3, 2006, abstracted from Improvement of Diabetic Microangiopathy With Pycnogenol: A Prospective, Controlled Study” in the August/September 2006 issue of Angiology

Blood vessel damage, also known as diabetic microangiopathy has been recognized for more than 20 years as the number 1 cause of death in diabetics. This condition causes death in 85% of diabetics, compared to only 5% due to blood sugar control problems.¹ Manifesting in the form of kidney damage, heart disease, blindness, and leg ulcers, finding ways to control diabetic microangiopathy and the $126 million annual cost diabetes² should be of prime importance for the both patients and healthcare providers.

Now a new study³ has found that a supplement previously found to help with leg ulcers⁴ and help maintain healthy blood sugar levels⁵ may now help maintain blood vessel health in diabetics.

In the study, 30 patients with an average age of 59 years having signs of diabetic microangiopathy and withouta history of diabetic ulcers were given either 150 mg of Pycnogenol (50 mg capsules, 3 times daily) or placebo for four weeks. Researchers measured blood flow in the patients as a measure of Pycnogenol’s effectiveness.

At the end of four weeks, the researchers observed “an improvement” in symptoms of microangiopathy, “a significant decrease” in blood vessel permeability (a sign of blood vessel damage) and “a significant improvement” in blood vessel health in the pycnogenol group compared to the control group.

For the researchers, “this study confirms the clinicalefficacy of Pycnogenol in patients with diabetic microangiopathy” and that “thetreatment may be also useful to prevent diabetic ulcerationsby controlling the level of microangiopathy.”

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Danville, CA. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at mailto:ChiroDocPSUalum@msn.com or visiting his web site www.CompleteChiropracticHealthcare.com

Reference:

¹ Diabetic microangiopathy. West J Med. 1974 Nov;121(5):404-1

² Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S. in 2002. Diabetes Care 26: 917-932

³ Cesarone MR. Improvement of Diabetic Microangiopathy With Pycnogenol®: A Prospective, Controlled Study. Angiology 2006; 57(4): 431-436

⁴ Hosoi M. Diabetic Ulcers: Microcirculatory Improvement and Faster Healing With Pycnogenol. Clin Appl Thromb Hemost 2006 12: 318-323

⁵ Liu, X., et al., Antidiabetic effect of Pycnogenol French maritime pine bark extract in patients with diabetes type II. Life Sci, 2004. 75(21): p. 2505-13