Pycnogenol® Cuts Peril Of Processed Foods
03/22/2000
We knew we had to put up with processed food not really meeting our body's demand: All valuable ingredients and vitamins are destroyed. Yet, ready-made dishes are quickly prepared and usually quite tasty. But the taste bears a great danger: the ever increasing amount of glutamate used as flavour-enhancer threatens our nervous system!
In our nerves glutamate plays an important role as messenger to transmit sensations. Adding it to food in high quantities lets the tongue perceive the taste more intensively. Yet, scientists now realize that high amounts of glutamate kill neuronal cells by overstimulating them and by exploiting their anti-oxidative protection. This ultimately leads to cell deaths and neuronal degeneration. A new study carried out by Dr. Lester Packer at the University of California (Berkeley) now reveals how easy it is to keep the popular flavour-enhancer in check. He investigated isolated neuronal cells and searched for suitable anti-oxidants to prevent glutamate mediated neurotoxicity. Lester Packer discovered that an extract of the bark from the french maritime pine, Pycnogenol®, almost completely abolished the harmful effect of glutamate on neuronal cells. This confirms an earlier study by Dr. Dave Schubert of the Salk Institute (La Jolla), who found that Pycnogenol® protects neuronal cells from toxic effects of glutamate and amyloid-b, a protein associated with Alzheimer's disease.
We need to be aware that our modern way of life bears many pitfalls, wrong nutrition being one of the most dangerous. It is of vital importance to reinforce our body's defence by giving him Pycnogenol® for protection. Pycnogenol® delivers superior antioxidant protection and warrants a healthy circulation.
M.S. Kobayashi, D. Han and L. Packer. Antioxidants and herbal extracts protect HT-4 neuronal cells against glutamate-induced cytotoxicity. Free. Rad. Res. 32: 115-124, 2000.
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