No abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of Pycnogenol® (Pyc) in reducing use of antihypertensive medicines and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in subjects with hypertension and type 2 diabetes. In a randomized, placebo controlled trial, 48 individuals, aged 40–75 yrs, with type 2 diabetes and being treated for hypertension with ACE‐inhibitors, were randomly assigned to receive either Pyc pill (125 mg daily) or matched placebo. Pycnogenol® treatment achieved blood pressure control in 58.3% of subjects at the end of the 12 weeks with 50% reduction in individual pretrial dose of ACE‐inhibitors (P < 0.05). Plasma endothelin‐1 decreased 3.9 pg/mL in Pyc‐treated group versus 0.5 pg/mL increase in control group (P < 0.001). Mean HbA1c dropped from 7.9 to 7.1% in Pyc group (P < 0.05), while the control group decreased from 8.1 to 8.0%. Serum fasting glucose level declined by 23.7 mg/dL in Pyc group versus 5.7 mg/dL in control group (P < 0.0001). LDL‐cholesterol improved significantly in Pyc group, declining by 12.7 mg/dL (P < 0.001). A significant decrease in urinary albumin level was observed at week 8 compared to the control group (P <0.05). However this reduction was not significant at 12th week. In summary after 12 weeks of supplementation, Pycnogenol® resulted in improved diabetes control, lowered CVD risk factors, and reduced antihypertensive medicine use versus controls.