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Ingredient News


Pycnogenol Promotes Healthy Circulation

Researchers are reporting encouraging news for long-distance travelers. A new clinical study found that French maritime pine bark extract Pycnogenol® (pic-noj-en-all) can have a positive effect on leg swelling (referred to as “edema”) during long airplane flights lasting 7–12 hours.

“Pycnogenol showed effectiveness in improving circulation and helping to prevent leg and ankle swelling. Most people will notice the effects of in-flight swelling if they take their shoes off during the flight and have difficulty getting back into them at the end of the flight. Leg and ankle swelling can lead to dangerous conditions such as deep vein thrombosis (DVT),” said Peter Rohdewald, Ph.D., Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Muenster and one of the authors of the study.

The double-blind, placebo controlled study published in the July 2005 issue of Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/ Hemostasis tested in-flight ankle swelling for 169 participants. Before the airline flight, ankle size was similar for the control group and participants who supplemented with Pycnogenol. Upon arrival, untreated passengers showed increased ankle swelling which was almost twice as high as in the group of passengers supplemented with Pycnogenol. The researchers showed that Pycnogenol prevents swellings by strengthening the veinous walls. This enables veins, stretched by pooled blood, to better resist the increased pressure, letting less liquid seep into the tissue, and hence less swellings occur.

According to researchers, the compression of veins on the edge of the airplane seat could be a contributing factor to leg and ankle swelling and DVT. Swelling is caused by lack of movement and insufficient veinous blood circulation, with fluids accumulating in tissues throughout the legs. Long periods of immobility, decreased fluid intake and water loss in the dry, compressed airplane cabins are identified as important triggers of leg swelling. These factors can lead to a dangerous DVT condition and even a stroke.

The majority of thromboses occurring during travel remain symptomless as the developed clot spontaneously dissolves before it may affect blood flow. Many travelers do not realize they developed a thrombosis and were lucky. Travelers affected by thrombosis typically experience a warming sensation in one of their calves, swelling and show a blue-red discoloration after some time. Thrombosis may be fatal when the blood clot is dislodged and travels with the blood stream to block arteries in the lungs or to the brain.

“Previous studies have shown Pycnogenol to be effective in encouraging improved circulation and helping to prevent travel-related DVT. The airline industry is predicting a record numbers of passengers this summer. This research further demonstrates the effectiveness of Pycnogenol in helping to relieve the leg and ankle swelling and discomfort that is a common flight experience,” said Dr. Rohdewald.

Pycnogenol is a natural plant extract originating from the bark of the maritime pine that grows along the coast of southwest France. Pycnogenol’s unique combination of procyanidins, bioflavonoids and organic acids enhance overall circulation and offers extensive natural health benefits to individuals suffering from inflammation. The extract has been extensively researched for the past 35 years and has more than 130 published studies and review articles ensuring its safety and efficacy as an ingredient.

The Pycnogenol brand is available in over 140 dietary supplements, multivitamins and health formulas nationwide.

Natural Health Science Inc., (NHS) based in Hoboken, New Jersey, is the North American distributor for Pycnogenol brand French Maritime Pine Bark Extract on behalf of Horphag Research. Pycnogenol® is a registered trademark of Horphag Research Ltd., Guernsey, and its applications are protected by U.S. patents #4,698,360/ #5,720,956 / #6,372.266 and other international patents. NHS has the exclusive rights to market and sell Pycnogenol and benefits from over thirty years of scientific research assuring the safety and efficacy of Pycnogenol as a dietary supplement. For more information about Pycnogenol visit our Web site at www.pycnogenol.com.
Oral supplementation with Tocomin® may protect against stroke

Carotech announced the publication of the NIH-funded study conducted at the Ohio State University Medical Center that confirms earlier studies suggesting that Tocomin® natural full spectrum palm tocotrienol complex may significantly benefit strokeinduced neurodegeneration.

Published in the October issue of the American Heart Association’s journal STROKE, Tocomin® showed significant protection against stroke-induced injury compared with matched controls.

In a previous study, Professor Chandan Sen from the OSU Medical Center showed that the tocotrienol crosses the blood-brain barrier and in neuronal cells, nanomolar level of alpha-tocotrienol but not alpha-tocopherol (the regular vitamin E) blocked glutamate-induced cell death. Glutamate-induced toxicity is a major contributor to pathological cell death within the nervous system.

In the current study, to further explore the effects of tocotrienol and its neuroprotective mechanism, the researchers supplemented spontaneously-hypertensive rats with Tocomin® natural palm tocotrienol complex. The animal model chosen for the trial is commonly used in stroke research as hypertension represents one of the major risk factors for stroke. The brain infarct volume was measured 24 hours subsequent to stroke.

Oral supplementation with Tocomin® in spontaneously-hypertensive rats lead to increased brain levels of tocotrienols. This unique form of vitamin E at subattomole quantity protected neurons from glutamate-challenge, consistent with previous reports that at low doses, the neuroprotective property of tocotrienol is not shared by tocopherol. The regular vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) had no effect at such low doses.

Rats supplemented with Tocomin® showed more protection against strokeinduced injury compared to unsupplemented controls. The neuroprotective effect was associated with suppression of stroke-associated c-Src activation, which is a key mechanism that contributes to neurodegeneration. Next, Prof. Sen went on to identify that 12-lipoygenase as another tocotrienol-sensitive molecular check-point that proved to be critical in executing neuron deaths. Tocotrienol lowers the tyrosine phosphorylation of 12-lipoxygenase and hence protects the neurons from apoptosis. The site of action is in the cytosol and not nuclear.

This study demonstrates that oral supplementation with Tocomin® may protect against stroke. Tocotrienols effectively modulates two key molecular check-points—the c-Src and 12-lipoxygenase activity—to favor survival of the neurons.

“Eighty three years after the discovery of vitamin E in 1922, it is long overdue to closely examine all naturally occurring forms of vitamin E side by side,” said Prof. Sen, who noted that the general misconception is that tocopherols are the only vitamin E molecules in nature. “Attention to the naturally occurring tocotrienols, especially to their neuroprotective properties, could well provide us with a powerful tool to combat neurodegeneration especially stroke, by safe dietary means.”

“We are proud to be associated with OSU Medical Center and this NIHfunded study as it further solidifies Carotech’s position as the leading and largest supplier of natural full spectrum tocotrienol complex (TOCOMIN®) in the world,” said W.H. Leong, Vice President for Carotech, Inc, the largest producer of tocotrienol complex in the world.

“The only way to get tocotrienols into the brain is through supplementation over a period of time. As such, it is prudent to take TOCOMIN natural full spectrum palm tocotrienol complex supplementation over a period of time to have significant and measurable level of tocotrienols in the brain for optimum protection,” added Leong.
LinumLife Science
Evaluation of the efficacy of LinumLife EXTRA on hair loss in men with Androgenetic Alopecia

Hair loss and thinning hair are sensitive and frustrating subjects for men and women. The most common type of hair loss is Androgenetic Alopecia (AGA). Lignans from flax are suggested to have beneficial effects on AGA. A pilot study was conducted to test the potential of LinumLife EXTRA to reduce hair loss in men with AGA. LinumLife EXTRA is a flax hull extract that is standardized to 20 percent lignans (as secoisolariciresinol diglycoside, or SDG).

Study Design
For a period of six months, 10 Asian men consumed one capsule per day containing 250 mg of LinumLife EXTRA. The daily intake of lignans was 50 mg (as SDG). The age of participating men varied between 20 and 70; their average age was 45. Photographs were taken to characterize their hair loss conditions at the beginning of the study (see picture below). Stage 1 represents a situation without AGA. Before the test, five men experienced hair loss sate 2. Two were in stage 3 and three in stage 4. In addition, every month the degree of oil secretion on scalp was reported by the subjects.

Results
After six months of using LinumLife EXTRA, eight men reported modest improvement of their hair loss condition; subject nine reported much improvement, where one subject noticed no effect.

With regard to oil secretion on scalp, 50 percent of the subjects experienced improvement upon taking LinumLife EXTRA. If any effect was noticed, it started after one or two months of taking the lignan supplement. No side effects were reported.

Conclusion
Ninety percent of participants felt their hair loss problem improved after daily use of 250 mg of LinumLife EXTRA for six months. The daily number of hairs lost decreased. In addition, 50 percent of subjects noticed a decrease in oil secretion in their scalp after using LinumLife EXTRA. Improvements were more noticeable in those subjects with the more severe conditions.

After finishing this study, 9 out of 10 subjects expressed the intention to keep using the LinumLife EXTRA supplement.

 
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