Introducing the Most Potent Antioxidant Known to Man

July 7, 2005 - In last week's newsletter I discussed the incredible benefits of resveratrol, grape seed extract and green tea. All of these phytonutrients are from a class known as bioflavonoids. The bioflavonoids are sometimes also known as "Vitamin P" because of their effect on decreasing the permeability of capillaries, thus maintaining their health and the health of your blood vessels. Bioflavonoids work well with Vitamin C and are required by your body to promote a healthy immune system, cardiovascular function and to prevent oxidation of Vitamin C. This week, I would like to tell you about perhaps the most incredible bioflavonoid known to science: Pycnogenol. 
Pycnogenol (pronounced Pick-nah-geh-nol), is the trade name of a nutrient that comes from-believe it or not-the extract of the bark of a French Maritime pine tree. It is actually a blend of bioflavonoids, including catechins, epicatechin, taxifolin and a host of others. It is an incredible antioxidant and has been shown to be 20 times more powerful than Vitamin C and 50 times more powerful than Vitamin E. It is rapidly absorbed in your bloodstream within about 20 minutes, and once absorbed, its maximum protective effect lasts about seventy two hours. Some experts have hailed it as the most potent, natural antioxidant compound ever discovered by science.
What I find so appealing about Pycnogenol is the amount of medical research and science for this phytonutrient. For example, in the June 2005 edition of Leukemia Research, researchers investigated the anti-tumor effects of Pycnogenol on various human leukemia cell lines. It was found that Pycnogenol inhibited cell proliferation on all three different leukemia cells lines that it was tested on. Pycnogenol was found to induce differentiation of the cancer cells, leading to apoptosis (cell death). The researchers concluded that Pycnogenol could serve as a potent anti-cancer chemo-preventative or chemo-therapeutic agent for human leukemia cells.
Pycnogenol has been successfully tested in a host of medical conditions. In a study published last October in the journal Life Science, 77 patients with Type II diabetes were randomized to receive either 100 mg daily of Pycnogenol for 12 weeks or a placebo. During a three-month study, standard anti-diabetic treatment was continued. It was found in the treated group that glucose levels decreased along with hemoglobin A1C (a marker for diabetes). In addition, those in the Pycnogenol-treated group showed improvement in endothelial function, theoretically leading to decreased risk of heart attack and stroke.
Pycnogenol has also been shown to have benefit in diabetic retinopathy. In a small study involving 30 diabetics, the patients were given either Pycnogenol or placebo. During the two-month clinical trial, those participants receiving Pycnogenol showed no deterioration of retinal function. In fact, a number of patients in the test group actually showed some improvement in visual acuity in comparison to the placebo-treated group that showed progressive worsening.
In the same vein (no pun intended), there was an interesting study on reducing the risk of venous thrombosis and phlebitis (two forms of blood clotting) in long airline flights. In this study, 211 individuals considered at moderate to high risk of developing deep or superficial venous thrombosis were randomized to receive either Pycnogenol or placebo. The individuals treated with placebo were given 200 mg of Pycnogenol about two or three hours before the flight, 200 mg six hours later and 100 mg the following day. The average flight duration was 8 hours, 15 minutes. Those individuals in the control group receiving placebo had five thrombotic events, while only one individual in the treated group had localized phlebitis which was considered non-thrombotic. I strongly recommend this product to anyone who plans to travel long distances in cars or airplanes based on this study, and I would follow the same dosage schedule.
There have been other studies demonstrating that Pycnogenol could have benefits for memory and men's fertility. There was also a study published last year showing that Pycnogenol, along with other nutrients, appeared to improve skin smoothness and elasticity in a double-blinded, placebo-controlled study with 62 women between the ages of 45 to 73. Further, there was a study published in 2004 in the medical journal Asthma with 60 children age 6-18 with asthma, indicating Pycnogenol improved pulmonary function and reduced medication requirements and inflammatory markers.
Nutraceutical Sciences Institute's (NSI) mission is to improve the health of the families we serve while providing exceptional quality and value. We've been adding exceptional new products every week that give you and your family more options to protect your health. We'll continue to introduce new products as the medical doctors and I on the Scientific Advisory Board uncover significant evidence of their healing properties. We continue our promise to you that each of our formulations is based purely on sound science, not just using the lowest-cost ingredients with maximum profit margin as the goal, like so many others vitamin manufacturers. In fact, the cost of our Pycnogenol is 3,400 times more expensive when compared to the primary ingredient in most multi-vitamins! But this isn't reflected in your price: Our 90-count, 50 mg Pycnogenol costs only $31.99, or about 35 cents a capsule. Compare this to other Pycnogenol products on the market that may charge up to $40-$100 for a similar size. It is obviously not an inexpensive nutrient, but we provide it to you at a tremendous value and as you can see, the benefits are pretty amazing.
I know you're serious about your cardiovascular health, lung function and cellular health. And NSI is serious about providing you with a premium formulation of one of the most powerful antioxidants available.