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news.Pycnogenol, an antioxidant plant extract derived from the bark of the French maritime pine tree, is effective in relieving tinnitus symptoms by improving blood flow in the inner ear, according to a study published in Panminerva Medica.
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Natural Health Science, based in Hoboken, New Jersey, is the North American distributor for Pycnogenol brand French maritime pine bark extract on behalf of Horphag Research.
Pycnogenol is a registered trademark of Horphag Research, Guernsey, and its applications are protected by US patents 5,720,956 / 6,372,266 and other international patents.
In the study conducted by the Chieti-Pescara University in Italy, 82 patients between the ages of 35 and 55 with mild-to-moderate tinnitus in only one ear, while the other remains unaffected, were studied throughout a four-week period, in which patients were assigned to one of three groups, A, B and control.
Group A consisted of 24 patients who were administered 150mg/day of Pycnogenol, group B consisted of 34 patients who were administered 100mg/day of Pycnogenol, and the control group consisted of 24 patients who received no Pycnogenol.
At the beginning of the study, patients’ average initial systolic and diastolic blood flow velocities were 14.3 and 4.22cm/sec in the low dose Pycnogenol group and 13.2 and 3.2cm/sec in the high dose Pycnogenol group, indicative of insufficient blood perfusion of the ear in both groups.
The study found that after four weeks of treatment with Pycnogenol, inner ear systolic and diastolic blood flow velocities in the affected ear rose to an average of 21.2 and 8.23cm/sec in the low dose group and to 24.3 and 12.5cm/sec in the high dose group.
Reportedly, these results are significant for the improvement of inner ear blood micro-circulation and, consequently reduction of tinnitus symptoms and they also indicate the potentially dose-related effect of Pycnogenol on the condition.
Lead researcher of the study Gianni Belcaro said that the study clearly indicates Pycnogenol’s ability to improve vascular function and restore cochlear blood perfusion, which in turn relieves the severity of tinnitus symptoms.
"The results provide further evidence of the supplement’s natural efficacy for a variety of vascular health symptoms," Belcaro said.