[acb-diabetics] FW: [Accessible Devices Medical News] Pine Bark Shown To Improve Circulation, Swelling And Visual Acuity In Early Diabetic Retinopathy

[Shirley Roberts]

Shirley Roberts
n8lx at earthlink.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Parker at Vip conduit <Vipcomm at mchsi.com>
Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 2:30 PM
To: Medical Research List <medical at accessible-devices.com>
Subject: [Accessible Devices Medical News] Pine Bark Shown To Improve	Circulation,	Swelling And Visual Acuity In Early Diabetic Retinopathy

Pine Bark Shown To Improve Circulation, Swelling And Visual Acuity In Early Diabetic
Retinopathy
Article Date: 03 Dec 2009 - 5:00 PST
According to the National Institute of Health, 40 percent to 45 percent of Americans
diagnosed with diabetes already have some stage of diabetic retinopathy. 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. In fact, 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 published in the Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics
 reveals Pycnogenol® (pic-noj-en-all), an antioxidant 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."
The randomized controlled study, conducted by G D'Annunzio University in Italy, investigated
a total of 46 diabetic patients over a period of three months. The Pycnogenol® treatment
group consisted of 24 patients, with 22 patients placed in a placebo treatment group.
Each of the patients had been previously diagnosed with diabetes for at least four
years prior to participating in the study and their blood glucose was well controlled
by diet and oral anti-diabetic medication. Patients had early stage retinopathy characterized
by capillaries in the eye leaking fluid into the retina causing swellings. At this
stage only minor bleedings into the retina occur and damage to light-sensing cells
may still remain largely reversible.
Subjects were treated with three 50 mg Pycnogenol® tablets (total 150 mg. of Pycnogenol®)
or placebo tablets in the morning after breakfast over a period of three months.
Following treatment with Pycnogenol®, the major positive observation of this study
was visual improvement, which was subjectively perceived by 18 out of 24 patients
in the Pycnogenol® group. Testing of visual acuity using the Snellen Chart (the standard
eye chart used by eye care professionals to measure visual acuity) showed a significant
improvement from baseline 14/20 to 17/20 after two months of treatment with Pycnogenol®.
There were no improvements found in the control group.
The retina is considered swollen when the diameter of the macula exceeds 500 micro
meters 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 favorably 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."
Over the past decade, numerous studies have been published on Pycnogenol's® health
benefits for people living with diabetes. Most notably, research results on five
clinical studies with over 1,000 diabetes patients showed that Pycnogenol® has the
ability to seal leaky capillaries in the eye. This capability impedes the progression
of vision loss in patients suffering from diabetic retinopathy.
Source: Nikki Snodgrass
MWW Group
www.accessible-devices.com



__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4661 (20091204) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://accessible-devices.com/pipermail/medical_accessible-devices.com/attachments/20091204/6cbbea9e/attachment.html>
To unsubscribe from the Accessible Devices Medical Research list copy the line below
and paste it in the to line of a blank message and send it.
medical-unsubscribe at accessible-devices.com
This is an announce only list and subscribers are not able to post to it.
Visit the Medical News Center page on the Accessible Devices Website by clicking
on the link below or pasting the address into your browser.
http://www.accessible-devices.com/medical.html