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Blood pressure drops several points during supplementation with Pycnogenol
Pycnogenol lowers blood pressure. According to a Chinese meta-study, published in the Iranian Journal of Public Health in 2018, Pycnogenol supplementation lowers both diastole and systole blood pressure by more than 3 points.
Study
Researchers from Soochow University traced 9 previously published trials, in which a total of 549 subjects had received 150-200 milligrams of Pycnogenol daily.
In almost all studies the subjects were ill. They had diabetes, high blood pressure or other cardiovascular disease.
Results
The researchers combined the results of the trials and re-analyzed them. They found that Pycnogenol lowers both upper and lower blood pressure [blood pressure during the contraction of the heart; the systole] as the examination [the blood pressure between two heartbeats; diastole] decreased.
The effect was greater the longer the trials lasted. In trials lasting longer than 12 weeks, the decline was more than two times greater than in trials lasting less than 12 weeks.
Mechanism
The researchers suspect that components of Pycnogenol increase the activity of the enzyme nitric oxide synthase in the arterial walls. This means that the vessel walls convert more arginine into NO, making the vessel wall cells more flexible and lowering blood pressure.
Another meta-study
In 2020, a meta-study with a similar outcome was published in Phytotherapy Research. [Phytother Res. 2020 Jan;34(1):67-76.]
Source:
Iran J Public Health. 2018 Jun;47(6)779-87.
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Cardiovascular Health
Pycnogenol
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