Pycnogenol® Saves Eye Sight
Retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in people under the age of 60 in industrialised countries (Williams, 1994).
Retinopathy is a degenerative process affecting the tiny and very fragile capillaries nourishing the retina of the eye. In retinopathy the capillary walls are damaged, as a result of high blood sugar levels (diabetic retinopathy), high blood pressure (hypertonic retinopathy), or atherosclerosis (atherosclerotic retinopathy). The capillaries leak fluid or blood causing irreversible damage to the retina.
Particularly for diabetics this condition represents a serious threat. After 20 years from the onset of diabetes, over 90% of the people with type 1 diabetes and more than 60% of people with type 2 diabetes will have diabetic retinopathy (Klain et al., 1984). Unfortunately, there are hardly any warning sides, the condition causes no symptoms until it is relatively advanced. Therefore, regular screening for retinopathy is most important for diabetics.
Fortunately, there are ways to prevent and even stop further deterioration of retinopathy. Pycnogenol®, the extract of the bark of the French maritime pine, is known to seal fragile and leaky capillaries (Rohdewald, 1998). This owes to Pycnogenol's ability to tightly bind to proteins responsible for the integrity of capillar walls (collagen and elastin).
This function of Pycnogenol® is also effective in stabilizing and sealing the retinal blood capillaries as shown in this month's edition of "Phytotherapy Research" (Spadea et al., 2001). A placebo controlled clinical study at the Italian University of Aquila was carried out with 40 patients suffering from various forms of retinopathies. Most patients were diabetics, others suffered from hypertensive and atherosclerotic retinopathy.
Whereas the retinopathy progressively reduced the visual acuity in the placebo treated patients, treatment with 150 mg Pycnogenol® daily for 2 months significantly slowed down the deterioration of visual acuity and, in some cases even improved the recovery.
In the Pycnogenol® treated group the significant reduction of retinal blood capillary leakage was demonstrated by injecting a fluorescent dye into the blood of patients, allowing to trace blood leakage into the retina.
The retina was scanned after light-stimulation in a checkerboard pattern by measuring electric responsiveness, a method termed electroretinography. This method provides an objective measure for the integrity and function of the retina. Pycnogenol® treated patients showed a clear and significant improvement, whereas placebo treated patients remained unaffected.
The physicians scored the efficacy of Pycnogenol® as "good" to "very good" in 53% of the patients. The tolerabilty was very good in all patients.
The results of this study objectivate early case reports from France, were Pycnogenol® was discovered to have a positive effect in cases of retinopathy for the first time (Magnard et al., 1970).
The fact that Pycnogenol® happens to be an extremely powerful antioxidant is an additional benefit for diabetics. Previous studies have demonstrated that Pycnogenol® is superior to many other antioxidants (e.g. vitamins C and E, lipoic acid, Q10 and grape seed extract) in the ability to protect retinal components against free radical-induced damage (Chida et al., 1999) (Ueda et al., 1996). This is important as the reaction of blood sugars with proteins is known to involve free radicals, a process responsible e.g. for cataract development. It was discovered recently that Pycnogenol helps to prevent cataracts in diabetic rats (Trevithick et al., 2000).
For diabetics it is important to regularly screen for retinopathy and to begin with protective measures as soon as possible. When the vision is impaired and retinopathy is diagnosed, the retinal degeneration has already progressed and cannot be reverted. Early supplementation with Pycnogenol® should be the first choice to maintain normal functions of the retina. Pycnogenol® is a safe food supplement, meant to be taken regularly like a vitamin. Yet, Pycnogenol® is so powerful it can help to keep your eye sight.
- Spadea L, Balestrazzi E. Treatment of vascular retinopathies with Pycnogenol®. Phytother Res, Issue May 2001.
- Williams R. Health care needs assessment. In A Stevens, J Raftery eds. Diabetes Mellitus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 31-57, 1994.
- Klein R, Klein B, Moss S, Davis MD, DeMets DL. The Wisconsin epidemiological study of diabetic retinopathy. Prevalence and risk of diabetic retinopathy when age at diagnosis is less than 30 years. Arch Ophtalmol 102: 520-532, 1984.
- Rohdewald P. Pycnogenol®. In CA Rice-Evans, L Packer eds. Flavonoids in health and disease. Marcel Dekker, Inc, 1998.
- Magnard G, Franck LP, Dorne PA. Die Bedeutung des Pycnogenols in der Ophtalmologie, insbesondere bei diabetischer Retinopathie. German translation from Lyon Médical 4: 1970.
- Chida M, Suzuki K, Nakanishi-Ueda T, Ueda T, Yasuhara H, Koide R, Armstrong D. In vitro testing of antioxidants and biochemical end-points in bovine retinal tissue. Ophtalmic Res 31: 407-415, 1999.
- Ueda T, Ueda T, Armstrong D. Preventive effect of natural and synthetic antioxidants on lipid peroxidation in the mammalian eye. Ophthalmic Res 28: 184-192, 1996.
- Trevithick JR, Hirst M, Cukiernik V, Wahlman J, Chartrand M, Dzialoszynski T, Sanford SE, Bantseev V, Sivak JG, Sanford SEA. Pycnogenol, antioxidant, and cataract risk reduction experiments. Oxygen Club of California 2000 (OCC) Santa Barbara, March 2000, (abstract).
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