Pycnogenol and a Healthy Heart
Although we’ve made great strides in lowering the incidence of fatalities from cardiovascular disease with surgery and prompt treatment, heart disease is still the leading cause of death in men and women in the United States, according to the American Heart Association. As a member of the medical community for the past 30 years, I have seen scientists and doctors, myself included, actively seek a new preventative measure that could ultimately eliminate this deadly disease.
There are many important facts and misconceptions that keep us from understanding the true complexity and scope of this disease. Cardiovascular disease is an equal opportunity killer which actually affects more women than men. This statistic is a shock to many women nationwide who believe this disease does not affect them as much as men. The opposite is true and heart disease strikes six to 10 times more women than breast cancer or lung cancer.
In fact, I am starting to notice that one of the major risk factors of heart disease—plaque build up that constricts blood vessels—is beginning during the teenage years in patients as young as 12-years-old. This disproves the misconception that heart disease affects only our aging population. It is crucial that we begin planting the seeds for heart disease prevention early and increase the level of awareness and education as often as possible.
The prognosis of heart disease is important to recognize that early prevention practices are not only necessary but incredibly helpful to overall health in general. While maintaining a healthy heart is the obvious goal—diet, weight control and exercise are the major factors in achieving that goal. However, we are learning that a healthy heart is more complex than we knew, involving the health of the whole circulatory system and other factors such as a recent study on the effect of inflammation and effect of free radicals.
To prevent this deadly disease, lifestyle changes are often necessary, regardless of what age you are. I recommend the following health conscious regimen to many of my patients.
Nutrition:
Optimize nutritional choices including incorporating a balance of fruits, vegetables, fiber, dairy and protein into your daily diet. Learn portion control and be conscious of your food choices. Antioxidants in food or dietary supplements, such as E and C, are a good addition to a heart healthy diet.
Weight control and exercise:
Maintaining a healthy body weight is another absolutely critical path we need to focus on. Exercise is an important activity to incorporate into your daily routine and avoiding risk factors such as smoking and engaging in a healthy lifestyle and learning how to manage anger and stress is important.
These aggressive lifestyle changes can start working immediately as preventative care to counteract the risk factors of heart disease. The more effective you are in reducing these risk factors, the healthier you will be. Additionally, I believe we need to go one step beyond the aforementioned lifestyle changes and enrich our diets with antioxidant supplements which may be crucial to our overall health.
For instance Pycnogenol® (pic-noj-en-all) an antioxidant ingredient which has been scientifically proven to increase the effect of vitamin antioxidants in the body. Armed with this information and rising concerns focused on heart heath, educated consumers are taking control of their health care and treatment options by turning to products like Pycnogenol, with valid scientific evidence, learning how they work in the body to combat risk factors of heart disease.
Pycnogenol is the brand name of a natural plant extract originating from the bark of the Maritime pine that grows along the coast of southwest France. Horphag Research, the company that produces the extract has invested millions of dollars in research over the last 30 years, resulting in 90 published studies and peer reviewed articles which support and ensure the safety and efficacy of it as a dietary supplement. The majority of the research conducted involves the cardiovascular system, providing solid evidence that this antioxidant, is powerful in reducing inflammation in the body, strengthening the vascular system, lowering high blood pressure and cholesterol and fighting the effects of smoking, stress and other environmental risk factors on the heart.
My experience with Pycnogenol has been based on much of the research using it as a blood vessel protector, enhancing the health of the whole circulatory system, and the results have been exceptional.
Following research reports published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and new research this year, doctors are suspecting that inflammation can damage the walls of heart arteries, making them prone to fat buildups that can lead to heart attacks. Inflammation in the body is triggered either by an infection or a health condition, ranging from arthritis, asthma, stress or even minor sinus or wound infections, and is much more serious than we anticipated. Even a small amount of inflammation left for a long period of time can have serious consequences and possibly lead to heart disease.
In addition to the serious effects of inflammation, the constriction of blood vessels has the consequence of a higher blood pressure, another risk factor of heart disease. Various factors cause blood vessels to constrict, such as stress, advanced age and cigarette smoking. A study at the University of South Florida, Tampa, has discovered that Pycnogenol naturally counteracts the action of stress hormones on arteries. While stress hormones like adrenaline let arteries constrict, Pycnogenol dosedependently relaxed these blood vessels.
Pycnogenol increases the diameter of blood vessels, supporting an improved blood flow. In a placebo-controlled double-blind study, elderly patients with a history of heart insufficiency showed increased blood vessel diameter and improved microcirculation in response to supplementation with the extract. Hypertension is just one of the major risk factors which can be managed by taking it.
The most recent correlation between Pycnogenol and heart health was a clinical study published in Lipids by Dr. Kenny Jialal at the University of Texas, Dallas. After three and six weeks of daily dosages of 150 mg supplementation, Dr. Jialal found that Pycnogenol significantly reduced the LDL-cholesterol levels (often referred to as “bad” cholesterol) in the blood, while the HDL-cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol) was elevated in the participants of this study.
The third risk factor of cardiovascular disease is increased “stickiness” of blood platelets, which increases the likelihood that they will form a blood clot. There are several reasons for platelets to get more “sticky” including stress, diabetes, smoking and advanced age in general. The event of blood clotting in a vessel (thrombosis) can cut-off tissue from oxygen supply and may cause heart infarction and stroke. An incident that causes a rapid and measurable increased aggregation of blood platelets (“stickiness”) is smoking. Dr. Ronald Watson of the University of Arizona showed in his studies that taking Pycnogenol prevented the increase of “stickiness” of blood platelets. This effect has awarded Pycnogenol U.S. patent (# 5,720,956).
Decades of scientific research has established the therapeutic benefits of Pycnogenol it is also recognized as a staple in personal daily vitamin programs. It is included in hundreds of dietary supplements, multi-vitamins and health products worldwide.