An option for diabetic retinopathy you won't hear about

[HysteryDiagnosis]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12498513

Int Ophthalmol. 2001;24(3):161-71.
Pycnogenol for diabetic retinopathy. A review.
Schönlau F, Rohdewald P.
Source

Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster, Germany.
Abstract

Diabetic retinopathy represents a serious health threat to a rapidly growing number of patients with diabetes mellitus. The retinal microangiopathy is characterised by vascular lesions with exudate deposits and haemorrhages causing vision loss. Pycnogenol, a standardised extract of the bark of the French maritime pine (Pinus pinaster), is known to increase capillary resistance. Pycnogenol has been tested for treatment and prevention of retinopathy in five clinical trials with a total number of 1289 patients since the late 1960's.

All but one of these studies have been reported in French and German and, today, are of limited accessibility, giving the impetus for reviewing them in detail in this article. There were two open case studies and two double blind studies (one controlled against calcium dobesilate and another against placebo) and, finally, one multi-center field study with 1169 diabetics. All of these studies unequivocally showed that Pycnogenol retains progression of retinopathy and partly recovers visual acuity. Treatment efficacy of Pycnogenol was at least as good as that of calcium dobesilate.

Pycnogenol was shown to improve capillary resistance and reduce leakages into the retina. Tolerance was generally very good and side effects were rare, mostly referring to gastric discomfort. In conclusion, treatment with Pycnogenol had a favourable outcome in the majority of the patients with diabetic retinopathy.

PMID:
12498513

[napi21]

1. Is there any way to get this in the US?

My cousin has this & it's recently flared up more than normal. He's very afraid of soon being completely blind.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. First thing you have to do is run it by your doctor, that would include printing out

this paper as well as buying a book on Pycnogenol. It is simple maritime pine bark extract and it is (the real stuff) sold in better health food stores nationwide. You might want to do a little reading in the library at www.Pycnogenol.com before jumping to conclusions.

[thecrow]

3. Google is your friend....

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=hts&oq=&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADRA_enUS389US389&q=Pycnogenol

[Fridays Child]

4. Here's some basic information on pycnogenol (which is available at vitamin stores like GNC).

http://healthlibrary.epnet.com/GetContent.aspx?token=e0498803-7f62-4563-8d47-5fe33da65dd4&chunkiid=21765

[eShirl]

5. other names for the same thing

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/1019.html

Pycnogenol is the US registered trademark name for a product derived from the pine bark of a tree known as Pinus pinaster. The active ingredients in pycnogenol can also be extracted from other sources, including peanut skin, grape seed, and witch hazel bark.

-snip-

Other names

Condensed Tannins, French Marine Pine Bark Extract, French Maritime Pine Bark Extract, Leucoanthocyanidins, Maritime Bark Extract, Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins, OPCs, PCOs, Pine Bark, Pine Bark Extract, Pinus pinaster, Pinus maritime, Procyanidin Oligomers, Procyanodolic Oligomers, Pygenol.

[Alameda]

6. Great here's more from Wikipedia

Distribution in plants

Proanthocyanidins represent a group of condensed flavan-3-ols, such as procyanidins, prodelphinidins and propelargonidins, that can be found in many plants, most notably apples, maritime pine bark, cinnamon, cocoa, grape seed, grape skin (procyanidins and prodelphinidins),<2> and red wines of Vitis vinifera (the common grape). However, bilberry, cranberry, black currant, green tea, black tea, and other plants also contain these flavonoids. The berries of chokeberry, specifically black chokeberry, have the highest measured concentrations of proanthocyanidin found in any plant to date.<3><4> <5> Proanthocyanidins can also be isolated from Quercus petraea and Q. robur heartwood (wine barrel oaks).<6>

Apples contain on average per serving about eight times the amount of proanthocyanidin found in wine, with some of the highest amounts found in the Red Delicious and Granny Smith varieties.<7>

A patented extract of maritime pine bark called Pycnogenol bears 65-75 percent proanthocyanidins (procyanidins).<8> Thus a 100 mg serving would contain 65 to 75 mg of proanthocyanidins (procyanidins).

Proanthocyanidin glycosides can be isolated from cocoa liquor.<9>

The seed testas of field beans (Vicia faba) contain proanthocyanidins<10> that affect the digestibility in piglets<11> and could have an inhibitory activity on enzymes.<12>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proanthocyanidin