Pycnogenol alleviates symptoms of benign prostatic hypertrophy, according to new research

Photo courtesy of Horphag Research

Horphag Research (Chicago, IL) recently announced the results of a new study that demonstrated its French maritime pine bark extract Pycnogenol’s ability to ease symptoms of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH), a condition that half of men experience by age 60 and that over 90% experience by age 80. Symptoms of BPH include straining while urinating and frequent urination.

“This is a big issue,” said Sebastien Bornet, vice president global sales and marketing for Horphag, to Nutritional Outlook. “It’s about quality of life. If you have to wake up two, three times during the night, you can’t sleep. If you can’t sleep, you can’t stay healthy, and then it’s a snowball effect and you have other health issues at the end of the day.”

Published in Minerva Medica, the study was done on 75 men between the ages of 55 and 75. Subjects were divided into three groups: 1) a control group, which received a standard management routine, 2) a group that took the common pharmaceutical treatments finasteride and dutasteride, and 3) a group supplementing with 150 mg/day of Pycnogenol. Over the course of the eight-week study, researchers found the group supplementing with Pycnogenol experienced significant improvements in BPH symptoms compared to controls, surpassing even the improvement in the group being treated with pharmaceuticals. Specifically, subjects taking Pycnogenol had a 51% improvement of residual bladder volume, 42% improvement in bladder emptying, 37% reduction in urination frequency, 31% improvement in urinary straining, 31% reduced frequency of nocturia, 31% reduction in intermittency, and 24% improvement of weak flow.

Pycnogenol also showed benefits at 60 days without unwanted side effects, whereas most pharmaceuticals take six months to show results, Horphag says.
 

References:

1. A. Ledda et al. “Benign prostatic hypertrophy: Pycnogenol supplementation improves prostate symptoms and residual bladder volume.” Minerva Medica, vol 109, no. 4 (2018): 280-284.