Sunday, April 06, 2008
Research
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 without a 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 clinical efficacy of Pycnogenol in patients with diabetic microangiopathy" and that "the treatment may be also useful to prevent diabetic ulcerations by controlling the level of microangiopathy."