Pine Bark Extract May Aid
Diabetic Eyesight

DECEMBER 2009�Pycnogenol, an extract taken from bark of the French maritime pine, has helped people with diabetes see more clearly in a new study.

Italian researchers divided 46 diabetics into two groups. Members of one group received 150 mg of Pycnogenol, while those in the other group received a placebo. All the volunteers had early diabetic retinopathy, a condition in which capillaries leak blood into the retina, which causes swelling.

After two months, 75% of the Pycnogenol group reported clearer vision, going from 14/20 to 17/20; the placebo group showed no improvement. The researchers thought that Pycnogenol was able to dilate blood vessels within the eye, increasing blood flow. The study was reported in the Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics (11/16/09 online).

Roughly 45% of all Americans with diabetes suffer from some stage of diabetic retinopathy, according to the National Institutes of Health. The condition causes as many as 24,000 people to go blind each year.

https://www.energytimes.com/pages/news.html#pine

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"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." ~Immanual Kant~

NatMedTalk and Beyond

Far as I can tell, pine bark extract helps about most everything.

Although I do think this Maritime BS is just that. Any white pine bark will probably do. Its what Native Americans used for many diseases.

If anyone finds any good info on making pine bark extract please bring it to my attention.

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My wife takes Pycnogenol for high blood pressure, and I take it for its antiinflammatory properties as a passive Crohn's treatment.

It does have a lot of verified health benefits.

Dan

Hey, Dan, can you tell us a little more about pycogenol for blood pressure? Do you know what causes her elevated BP? How much supplement does she take. How much has it brought it down? Does she still need any BP drugs?
You got a study on this?

I have a difficult case of elevated BP I've been trying to help resolve for a friend. Her cause was infection to kidney over 30 years ago. We got her off of one of her two meds due to improvement but now we are stalled. This is not the usual cardiovascular cause

We have not used it long enough to determine if it is working or not.

Her high blood pressure is likely from lack of exercise and a stressful job. She is starting to exercise so I may not get a clear picture of how much the Pycnogenol is helping, if at all, because of the other factors involved.

She also has Lyme Disease and that certainly could affect the blood pressure among other things.

Dan