Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Pine Bark could improve microangiopathy

In what was described as "clinically remarkable," the results of a small control study in September's Journal Angiology showed that 150mg pine bark extract given to 36 diabetic patients on insulin with severe microangiopathy improved blood flow between 34 and 68%. The 24 patients in the placebo group only showed a 4.7-8% improvement.

Microangiopathy, which is the deterioration of blood flow, affects almost everyone with diabetes.

Steve - there are limitations to this study. First, it was not a double blind control study. Second, it was a small number of patients. Third, the study was funded from the manufacturers of pine bark products. However, the results are statistically significant, and pine bark has also shown to be effective for numerous maladies.

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