Pycnogeoll, an anti-oxidant found in the bark of French maritime pine trees, can help reduce retina damage in diabetics.
Diabetic retinopathy, damage to the retina caused by leaky blood vessels, is a major cause of blindness in people with diabetes and is one of the most feared diabetic complications. According to the National Institute of Health in the US, 40 percent to 45 percent of Americans diagnosed with diabetes already have some stage of diabetic retinopathy and up to 80 percent of all patients who’ve had diabetes for 10 years or more will experience some form of diabetic retinopathy.
A recent study in the Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics claims that Pycnogeoll, an anti-oxidant plant extract from the bark of the French maritime pine tree, can improve microcirculation, retinal edema and visual acuity in the early stages of diabetic retinopathy.
'Previous research has shown that Pycnogenol may reduce the progressing advanced stages of diabetic retinopathy,' said Dr. Robert Steigerwalt, a lead researcher of the study.
'While previous studies focused on the latent stages of diabetic retinopathy, the aim of this new study was to show the protective effects of Pycnogenol in the early stages of this growing diabetic complication.'
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Pycnogeoll: Pine Tree Bark Comabats Diabetic Retinopathy
The retina is considered swollen when the diameter of the macula exceeds 500 micro metres and treatment with Pycnogenol significantly decreased the swellings below that level, as judged by the high resolution ultrasound imaging used in the study.
Furthermore, the blood flow velocity in capillaries nourishing the light sensing cells improved. The authors suggest that both effects account for the improved vision of patients. In the control group, retinal edema was not relieved, blood flow velocity remained unaffected and no visual improvements occurred.
In contrast, all 22 subjects in the control group maintained the same diabetic macular swellings as they were diagnosed with at the beginning of the study.
'Pycnogenol has been intensively investigated for decades to stop the progression of diabetic retinopathy and help patients to maintain their remaining eye sight,' said Dr. Steigerwalt.
'Our study suggests that Pycnogenol taken in the early stages of retinopathy may enhance retinal blood circulation accompanied by a regression of edema, which favourably improves vision of patients.
Pycnogenol may be particularly beneficial for preventing this complication in diabetic patients, based on the large number of individuals who were diagnosed when the disease had already significantly progressed.'