French Maritime Pine Bark Extract Pycnogenol Dose-Dependently Lowers Glucose in Type 2 Diabetic Patients
- Ximing Liu, MD1,
- Ha-Jun Zhou, MD2 and
- Peter Rohdewald, PHD3
- 1Guang An Men Hospital of Chinese Medical Science Research Institute, Beijing, China
- 2Wei-Hai Stomatology Hospital of Shan-Dong Province, Wei-Hai, China
- 3Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Münster, Munster, Germany
- Address correspondence to Prof. Dr. P. Rohdewald, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Muenster, Hittorfstrasse 58-62, 48149 Münster, Germany. E-mail: rohdewa{at}unimuenster.de
Pycnogenol, a standardized extract from the bark of the French maritime pine, consists of phenolic compounds including catechin, taxifolin, procyanidins, and phenolic acids (1).
We investigated whether Pycnogenol has a glucose-lowering effect because of personal verbal communication from patients reporting no need for insulin following supplementation with Pycnogenol.
The study was designed as an open, controlled, dose-finding study and was approved by the ethical committee of Guangnamen Hospital. Patients gave written informed consent. We recruited 18 men and 12 women among outpatients of the Guangnamen Hospital and Municipal Dental Hospital. Patients were 28–64 years of age and had a BMI 22–34 kg/m2. Patients with type 2 diabetes were included with fasting plasma glucose between 7 and …
