Why Antioxidants?

Pycnogenol Task Force of 
Antioxidants Battle Free Radicals

Best Antioxidant Product!

Think of your cells, including brain cells, each getting thousands of  free-radical hits every day.  This violent process is called "oxidation." 

You may think of yourself as a peaceful sort, but there is an all-out, endless war going on in your body.  Think of the entire body, including your DNA, undergoing this endless assault.  Think of your cells, including brain cells, each getting thousands of free-radical hits every day.  This violent process is called "oxidation."  Without antioxidants like vitamins E and C to fight off free radicals, the body's cells would be locked in a losing battle for survival.  Cutting-edge science reveals that the inevitable defeat of the body can perhaps be delayed.  First, a short course on oxygen as major player on this battlefield...  the oxygen we breathe is life-giving, but it is also toxic; it sets off a process that unleashes a big-time enemy, known as a "free radical."  This is a molecule lacking an electron on its outer orbit, making it extremely unstable.  In a desperate attempt to reclaim their electrons, free radicals attack our cells to free up electrons, damaging the cells and boosting the probability of disease.

Antioxidant task force of reinforcements are our saviors: they include vitamins and other nutrients that target free radicals.  Our food, particularly fruits and vegetables, is a powerful source of these valiant protectors, and the body produces some itself.  Without antioxidants, there wouldn't be much of a fight.  Their role is to limit the damage, maybe slow down disease and keep us living longer.  They do this by giving up their very own electrons to those desperate free radicals and saving the cell from attack.

Antioxidant Research
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Professor Lester Packer, who heads a molecular and cell biology laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley is at the forefront of research on the importance of vitamins C and E in protecting cells against free radical attack.  He has also shown that when vitamin E gives up an electron to that nasty free radical, it then becomes a free radical itself.   But then vitamin C comes in to save the day, giving up one of its own electrons and thereby recycling the warrior power of E.

Recently, the Packer lab unveiled a potent hot antioxidant: Pycnogenol, an extract from French Maritime Pine Bark (Pinus Maritima).

 Research shows that the extract protects blood vessels from free radical attack and may increase blood flow from tiny vessels to tissues.

 Pycnogenol also appears to have microbial-fighting properties. It does this by acting on a molecule called nitric oxide.  And the extract's networking role includes helping out vitamins C and E.  (Pycnogenol is a registered trademark of Horphag Research, Ltd.) [Lester Packer, Professor, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology University of California, Berkeley, CA. 94720-3200 USA]

Pycnogenol ...a powerful antioxidant 50 times more powerful than Vitamin E and 20 times more powerful than Vitamin C ...a blend of special bioflavonoids, a powerful antioxidant reducing free radical-caused tissue damage many times more effectively than Vitamin E and potentates the health-enhancing effects of Vitamin C.

Pycnogenol was shown to be an excellent scavenger of free radicals such as the hydroxyl radical and the superoxide radical.  Both these free radicals are unavoidably produced during normal metabolism; therefore the need to have an adequate supply of scavengers of these particular radicals is important to maintain health and longevity.  In addition, Pycnogenol was shown to retain almost all of its free radical scavenging capabilities even after excessive heating.

These results demonstrate that Pycnogenol is not only efficacious as an antioxidant, but also that the active components are extremely stable.  [(Noda, Y., Anzai, K., Mori, A., Kohno, M., Shinmei, Packer, L. , 1997).

 Hydroxyl and superoxide anion radical scavenging activities of natural source antioxidants using the computerized JES-FR30  ESR Spectrometer system. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology International 42,35-44.]Pycnogenol increases the life span of other antioxidants.  (The whole is better than the parts). 

The antioxidant properties of Pycnogenol were further investigated in this paper.  The authors propose that antioxidants work together in a network.  After an antioxidant neutralizes a free radical, it is temporarily "out of order" until it can be recycled to a functioning state.  A network of antioxidants help each other recycle, thus enhancing the life span of important antioxidants.  In these experiments, Pycnogenol  significantly increased the life span of the antioxidant Vitamin C.  The life span of Vitamin E as an antioxidant was also increased. More importantly, when these experiments were performed using known components of Pycnogenol, Pycnogenol in its complete form worked better than its individual parts.  These data suggest that there may be synergism among the components of Pycnogenol and that its unique fingerprint may be important for its biological effects.[Cossins E., Lee R, Packer L., (1998) ESR studies of Vitamin C recycling, order of reactivity of natural source physiochemical preparations. Biochem Mol Biol Int.]

Pycnogenol,  Health Effects and Biological Activity.  A presentation given by Prof. Lester Packer in Singapore on August 31, 1998:

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  "change in the pro-oxidant-antioxidant balance in favor of the former, potentially leading to biological damage." Thus, a delicate balance between oxidants and antioxidants has been found important for healthy aging.

Pycnogenol French Maritime Pine Bark Extract may be a difficult word to say, but its benefits are clear-cut and powerful.  Pycnogenol is the most potent antioxidant compared with other natural plant extracts because it contains a naturally occurring complex of more than 40 bioflavonoids and organic acids.  Overall, studies have shown that Pycnogenol serves two important functions as both an antioxidant and as a circulation enhancer.

Pycnogenol as an antioxidant
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As an antioxidant, it protects against free radicals, boosts defenses against disease, and safeguards from environmental stress.  Pycnogenol appears to act in the redox antioxidant network at the interface between vitamin C and vitamin E.  We have, in fact, found Pycnogenol to be remarkably effective in extending the effectiveness of vitamin C and to regenerate vitamin E.  This indicates that Pycnogenol can play an important role in the antioxidant network.  Therefore, it was predicted that Pycnogenol should protect vitamin E and other network antioxidants from being destroyed which we have also now demonstrated.  Other botanical extracts like Pycnogenol often display similar free radical scavenging activities, but their biological and health effects are likely to be very different based on our analysis of their effects on gene expression.Pycnogenol as a circulation enhancer

Pycnogenol helps improve circulation, strengthens blood vessels and delivers oxygen and nutrients throughout the body.  The effects of Pycnogenol on the circulation include responses to nitric oxide metabolism, inflammation, platelet aggregation and capillary resistance.[Lester Packer, Professor, Dept. of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200 USA]

.......Sooner or Later Your Health Will Become A Priority