Study shows pine bark naturally reduces osteoarthritis

Pycnogenol lowered joint pain by 55% from baseline 'severe' to moderately painful, improved physical function by 56%, joint stiffness by 53% and increased patient's mobility almost 3-fold

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More than 20 million Americans suffer from osteoarthritis, with half a million Americans having a total joint replacement each year. A new study to be published in the April 2008 edition (Volume 22, issue No 4) of the journal of Phytotherapy Research shows Pycnogenol (pic-noj-en-all), an antioxidant plant extract from the bark of the French maritime pine tree, was shown to reduce all osteoarthritis symptoms by 56 percent. The study revealed a particularly high efficacy of Pycnogenol for lowering joint pain by 55 percent. Moreover, patients required dramatically less standard pain medication (-58 percent), which greatly improved the gastrointestinal complications resulting from the pain medication by 63 percent.

“Pycnogenol seemed a natural fit for this study,” said Dr. Gianni Belcaro, a lead researcher of the study. “There are a few main components contributing to the clinical picture of treatment management in osteoarthritis: inflammation causing a progression in the disease, alteration of fatigue resistance and muscular performance—reversing and blocking the vascular problems associated to altered mobility. Theoretically, a treatment with a compound specifically active on all those aspects could be highly effective, which is why we chose Pycnogenol.”

The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, held at Italy’s Chieti-Pescara University, sampled 156 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee (OA). Patients were administered 100 mg Pycnogenol or placebo, daily for three months. Symptoms were evaluated by WOMAC index scores and mobility by recording their walking performance on a treadmill. Patients were permitted to continue taking their choice of pain medication provided they recorded every tablet in a diary for later evaluation.