Lee Swanson Research Update

Kidney Health Could See Benefit from Pine Bark

March 2010

A French maritime pine bark extract appears to improve kidney health by encouraging healthy blood flow and by reducing the risk of hypertension-related damage.

The pine bark extract Pycnogenol® was added to a normal ACE-inhibiting intervention over a six-month period. Blood flow improved about 10% in the kidneys, according to findings published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

In addition, kidney function improved when the extract was used in conjunction with the anti-hypertensive medication Ramipril. Researchers from G D’Annunzio University in Italy reported that urinary protein levels, a measure of kidney function, resumed to almost sufficient levels.

"Kidney disease is a common problem for people with hypertension and is an equally ‘silent’ threat to the body. There are no warning signals and inefficient fluid removal may further increase the blood pressure, causing a vicious circle to set in," said researcher Dr. Gianni Belcaro.

"The results of this study demonstrated Pycnogenol’s ability not only to reduce blood pressure, but also to relieve the kidney damage caused by chronic hypertension," Dr. Belcaro added.

Dr. Belcaro and his co-workers recruited 55 hypertensive patients to participate in the randomized, controlled study. Subjects were assigned to receive Ramipril (10 mg per day), and 29 of these people were randomly selected to also receive Pycnogenol (150 mg per day).

Urinary albumin was used as a measure of kidney function. Albumin is the most abundant protein in human serum. In people with kidney problems, the protein leaks from the kidney into the urine. At the start of the study, average albumin levels were 89 mg per 24-hour period, significantly more than the 30 mg representative of sufficient function.

After six months, albumin levels in the Ramipril-only group decreased by 26% to 64 mg per 24-hour period, while additional Pycnogenol produced levels that averaged 39 mg per 24-hour period, equivalent to a 57% decrease, the researchers said.

Statistically significant decreases in patient blood pressures were also observed, with systolic and diastolic blood pressures dropping by more than 30 and 8 percent, respectively, in the Ramipril-only group, and by a further three to six percent in the combination group.

Diastolic and systolic blood flow improved by 8 and 12 percent in the combination group.

"Pycnogenol has been demonstrated in various previous studies to have a favorable effect for normalizing blood pressure, and this effect has been attributed to an improved endothelial function," wrote the researchers. "Our study extends the knowledge on antihypertensive effects of Pycnogenol to kidney-protective effects."

Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Therapeutics 15(1):41-46, 2010
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