Dietary Supplements Reduce the Need for Medicine

March 1, 2004

Like nutrition, many supplements have a positive effect on the physiological processes of the body. A new scientific study has shown that Pycnogenol, a substance extracted from pine bark, can lower the blood pressure to such an extent that the need for hypotensive medicine is reduced by 50%.

As is the case with food, a lot of dietary supplements have a positive effect on the body’s physiological processes.

For instance, new scientific research has shown that Pycnogenol can lower the blood pressure to such an extent that the need for hypotensive medicine can be reduced by 50%.

Pycnogenol is an extract of a particular type of pine bark that is found along the French southwest coast. Pycnogenol has the effect of an antioxidant, i.e. it inhibits the damaging processes that contribute to making us ill and grow old before our time.

In recent years, studies have shown that hypertension is responsible for more than 50% of all strokes and heart attacks.

Previous studies have also shown that Pycnogenol has a long line of positive effects on the body’s functions, but the news is that it is capable of lowering the blood pressure as well.

According to a scientific article in Life Sciences (no 74;7:855-862), Professor Rohdewald from Hamburg has made a so-called double-blind, placebo-controlled trial along with colleagues from Beijing in which the trial subjects were given either 100 mg. Pycnogenol or placebo during a period of 12 weeks.

It turned out that Pycnogenol was capable of lowering the blood pressure to such an extent that the amount of hypotensive medicine (Nifedipine) could be reduced by 50% after the 12 weeks.

Socioeconomically, it might open up to interesting perspectives as almost 17 million people in the UK suffer from hypertension which increases the risk of coronary thrombosis, cardiac failure, and stroke.

The hospital expenses for cardiovascular diseases are several billion pounds a year and so are the expenses to heart medicine.

If a dietary supplement like Pycnogenol can reduce this consumption of medicine by 50%, it can turn out to be just as interesting as when Glucosamine was able to reduce the consumption of antirheumatic medicine and the number of operations for arthrosis.

By: Vitality Council

Reference:
Life Sciences 74;7:855-862.

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