Proceedings: Fifth International Maritime Pine Plus^® Symposium, Singapore--October 1998

This remarkable forest has been entirely planted by man, relying on the native pine's ability to grow in sands. Started by Napoleon III in 1850, this large-scale project has proved highly successful, turning a large area of swamps and moors, stricken with poverty and diseases, into a highly productive and carefully managed lumber industry resort.

This French maritime pine of Gascogne, a specifically identified species, is grown in the Landes de Gascogne over a cycle of 50 years. As soon as mature trees are cut down, they are replaced by seeds or young twigs grown in nurseries. This means the forest extension remains stable as does the available volume of wood and this has been the case for the last 50 years now.

In the course of this 50 years cycle, plantations are taken care of through regular thinning cuts. Up to 25 years old, the wood is used by the pulp and timber industries, but in all cases its bark is removed from the trunk in the factories before it is processed. The biological production of wood is an average of 10m3/ha/year. This means that, yearly, the forest grows around 10 million m3 of new wood, of which about 8 to 9 million m3 are cut and processed. It is a golden rule for both forest owners and wood industries that the yearly removal remains below the natural growth, and the Landes of Gascogne are well known for their environmentally friendly management.

Back to Pycnogenol^®, its story starts with the bark of the French maritime pine of Gascogne. Pine timber includes 15% in volume of a thick protective bark, allowing trees to successfully protect themselves from salty winds and gales.

The outer part of the bark consists of many layers, which preserve the inner living part of the bark from air and moisture and where Pycnogenol^® develops and remains. The quantity of bark made available as a left over of wood processing is estimated to be 1.2 million metric tons, offering a more than impressive potential of 1200 metric tons of Pycnogenol^® every year.

The development from bark to Pycnogenol^® is again another story. Pycnogenol^® is extracted in the BIOLANDES factory, located at the heart of the pine forest, from fresh bark collected in various sawmills nearby.

Oxygen is a dangerous friend. Free radicals derived from oxygen metabolism or from environmental sources contribute to aging, chronic and degenerative diseases. Free radicals are essential for physiology, but can, under conditions of oxidative stress, contribute to pathology. Oxidative stress has been defined as "a change in the prooxidant-antioxidant balance in favor of the former, potentially leading to biological damage." Thus, a delicate balance between oxidants and antioxidants is important for healthy aging.

Xiyuan Hospital of China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine; Institute of Food Safety Control and Inspection; Ministry of Public Health, Beijing, P.R. China Presented by Michael Ni, Beijing PHT Nutriment Science Technology Dev. Co Ltd

Background and design: Melasma (or chloasma) is a common disorder of cutaneous hyperpigmentation predominantly affecting the faces of women. The pathogenesis of melasma is not fully understood and treatment is frequently disappointing. Current treatments can be divided into two categories, i.e., local treatment (or external therapy) and general treatment (or internal therapy), the former includes external application of hypopigmenting agents, chemical peels, and laser therapy; the latter includes oral administration of vitamin C or/and vitamin E, intravenous injection of vitamin C or/and glutathione. Local treatment often brings side effects such as irritant and allergic dermatitis, ochronosis and atrophy. General treatment, however, does not have these side effects and has demonstrated significant efficacy. The activity of vitamin C is considered to reduce deep, oxidized pigments to light, reduce pigments, prevent the oxidation of melanin catabolism and inhibit the formation of melanin. Pycnogenol^® is a well-known, potent antioxidant. Studies in vitro show that Pycnogenol^® is 50 times more powerful than vitamin E and 20 times more powerful than vitamin C, and therefore we investigated its efficacy in the treatment of melasma. Thirty women with melasma completed a 30-day clinical trial in which they took one Pycnogenol^® 25mg tablet with meals three times daily, i.e. 75mg Pycnogenol^® per day. These patients were evaluated clinically by using the Melasma Area index and Pigmentary Intensity index as well as by the Routine Blood Examination and the Routine Uronoscopy.

Results: After 30-day treatment, the average, melasma area of the patients decreased by 25.86! 20.39mm²(P<0.001) and the average pigmentary intensity decreased by 0.47! 0.51 unit (P<0.001). The general effectiveness rate was 80%. No side effect was observed. The results of the Blood Routine Examination and the Routine Uronoscopy at baseline at day 30 were normal. Moreover, several other symptoms of the patients such as fatigue and constipation were also improved.

Conclusions: This study demonstrated that oral administration of Pycnogenol^® is therapeutically effective against melasma and is safe. With this exciting result, the Public Health Ministry of China will approve Pycnogenol^® for skin health-improving (melasma-improving) activity at the end of November 1998.

Many diseases are based on failures of circulation. Among the vascular disorders, the blocking of arteries by blood clots may cause death after heart infarction or stroke.

Blood platelets have a high tendency to form blood clots after smoking, during stress and in diabetics. Pycnogenol^® is able to prevent that aggregation of blood platelets in humans. Clinical trials have shown that Pycnogenol^® in a dose of 100 mg inhibits completely the effect of smoking on the aggregation of blood platelets. That prevention of platelet aggregation is dose-dependent and persists over a period of many hours.

Furthermore Pycnogenol^® is able to relax contracted blood vessels. During stress and smoking, blood vessels are constricted. The combination of thrombus formation and constricted blood vessels is a dangerous precondition for stroke or heart infarction. Pycnogenol^® stimulates the production of the enzyme nitric oxide syntheses, which leads to the release of nitric oxide, and that nitric oxide relaxes constricted blood vessels. Hence Pycnogenol^® helps the body to have a normal circulation even under stress by normalizing platelet function and relaxing the arteries.

Pycnogenol^® also has the capability to inactivate all kinds of free radicals. Free radicals cause lipid peroxidation. Lipid peroxidation is the basis for atherosclerosis. Because of its radical scavenging activity and high tissue binding, Pycnogenol^® protects lipids against peroxidation.

Finally Pycnogenol^® strengthens the capillary walls so that the outflow of water from the capillaries and veins into the tissue is reduced. That sealing of leaky blood vessels of the venous system leads to prevention of edema formation and microbleedings. This could be confirmed in animals as well as in patients.

Taking altogether, Pycnogenol^® is a guard not only for the arteries, but also for the venous system, by normalizing the circulation as a whole.

Phlebology is the science of veins. The venous system is of great patho-physiological importance as most of the « exchange phenomena » are occurring on the venous side at post-capillary venule level. The slowing down of the blood flow, the change in the vessel walls and disorders of the platelets, blood cells and biochemical components in plasma have been implicated in the pathology of venous diseases and stasis oedema. The involvement of oxidants in the pathogenesis of venous diseases has recently been recognised.

The concept of treating venous diseases with Pycnogenol^® is as old as the discovery of Pycnogenol^® itself in the 70s. In fact, the success of Pycnogenol^® in phlebology led to extensive research on its mechanism of action. Scores of in vitro and in vivo animal studies and human clinical trials have made a strong basis for Pycnogenol's dual mechanism of action, "a strong antioxidant" action on one hand and "an improving circulation" function on the other. This "dual-axed" Pycnogenol^® is a well-defined natural tool to prevent the signs and symptoms of venous diseases.

The experience mainly focusing on the European clinical trials in phlebology is reviewed here. Eleven clinical studies were conducted between 1965 and 1995. A total of 431 patients participated in these studies, of which 319 patients were administered with Pycnogenol.

Seven out of these eleven studies were placebo-controlled double blind studies. The patients were examined using subjective and objective clinical tools of evaluation. The values were filled in the individual case report forms. The results were analysed statistically. Four of these studies have been published in reputed journals.

The patients were suffering from phlebitis, chronic venous insufficiency, primary varicose veins, haemorrhoids, deep venous thrombosis post-thrombotic syndrome and venous stasis oedema. They presented typical symptoms such as night cramps, pain, tension and heavyness of legs, bleedings, oedema and inflammation.

Dr. Takafumi Kohama, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Keiju Medical Center, Nanao, Japan

Pycnogenol^® has been used in the US and Europe for its benefits which have been demonstrated in many studies and decades of clinical experience. But little clinical experience has been reported in the Japanese and oriental people. We have studied the effects of Pycnogenol^® in cases of disorders and diseases in the Japanese (about 600 cases until now).

They are typical Pycnogenol^®-treated cases (which have been already recognized as having good response to Pycnogenol^® usage) and non-typical Pycnogenol^®-treated cases (which have not been reported as being treated by Pycnogenol^®).

In addition, a comparison between Pycnogenol^®-only and Pycnogenol^®-Selenium (which is also well known as a vital antioxidant) combination has also been performed. About 60% of all cases showed a significant improvement of disorders and diseases. In some cases no effect could be seen when Pycnogenol^®-only was applied, but the combination treatment with Selenium revealed splendid effects on the disorders.

The present study indicates that the treatment of Pycnogenol^® in the Japanese shows the same effects as previously reported, in spite of smaller doses and shorter periods of use, and there are more effects on other disorders and diseases when combined with Selenium.