Pycnogenol 100 x 30 Capsules

Pycnogenol® is a dietary supplement extracted from French maritime pine bark whose main ingredient is procyanidin. Procyanidin is a powerful antioxidant also found in food such as grapes, berries, pomegranates, red wine and various nuts.

Pycnogenol® has been studied in seven types of conditions: asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, chronic venous insufficiency, diabetes mellitus, erectile dysfunction, hypertension and osteoarthritis. However, according to the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews well‐designed, adequately powered randomised controlled trials of Pycnogenol® are needed.

Mechanistically, a 2017 study by Jessberger et al. found that 3 weeks of oral intake of Pycnogenol® downregulated the gene expression of various cartilage degradation markers in the patients' chondrocytes, the decrease of MMP3, MMP13 (Matrix metalloproteinases) and the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL1B were statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05). In earlier work, by Fan et al. it was shown that Pycnogenol® treatment was dose-dependently associated with significantly less release of nitric oxide (NO), TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β, and lower levels of intercellular adhesion molecule1 (ICAM-1) and perilipin 2 (PLIN2).

References

Jessberger S, Högger P, Genest F, Salter DM, Seefried L. Cellular pharmacodynamic effects of Pycnogenol® in patients with severe osteoarthritis: a randomized controlled pilot study. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2017 Dec 16;17(1):537. doi: 10.1186/s12906-017-2044-1. PubMed

Fan B, Dun SH, Gu JQ, Guo Y, Ikuyama S. Pycnogenol Attenuates the Release of Proinflammatory Cytokines and Expression of Perilipin 2 in Lipopolysaccharide-Stimulated Microglia in Part via Inhibition of NF-κB and AP-1 Activation. PLoS One. 2015 Sep 14;10(9):e0137837. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0137837. eCollection 2015. PubMed