WASHINGTON, June 20 (UPI) -- Pycnogenol, a supplement derived from the bark of the French maritime pine tree, reduces children's symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, according to a new study.
Sixty-one children with ADHD participated in the study, led by the Department of Child Psychiatry at the Child University Hospital in Slovakia and published in the new issue of European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. The children were between 6 and 14 years old and predominantly male.
Forty-one participants were given Pycnogenol for a month, while the other 16 received a placebo. Because the study was a double-blind experiment, neither the participants nor the researchers knew who had received the real drug. The study was funded by Horphag Research, the company that developed Pycnogenol.
Before the treatment began, the participants were evaluated by both teachers and parents using a series of internationally applied tests to measure symptoms such as hyperactivity and inattention. They were tested again after receiving the treatment for a month and yet again one month after the treatment period had ended.
Both teachers and parents reported reduced levels of hyperactivity and inattention for participants who had been given Pycnogenol. An improved attention span was not as noticeable by parents, but this may be because inattention can be more disturbing in a classroom environment. There was no change in these variables for those who received a placebo.
After the treatment stopped, hyperactivity and inattention returned to their baseline levels, providing further evidence that Pycnogenol does help alleviate these symptoms.
No serious side effects were reported among the participants.
One of the authors of the study, Dr. Peter Rohdewald of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Germany's University of Munster, pointed out that many children with ADHD are very intelligent, but their inability to focus contributes to poor grades. He said the study follows case reports from the United States and Japan that showed evidence that Pycnogenol helped relieve symptoms of children suffering from ADHD.
According to the study, "ADHD is the most common neuropsychiatric disorder among school-age children." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 7.8 percent of children in the United States are diagnosed with ADHD. However, Rohdewald pointed out, about 45 percent of these children do not receive treatment.
This large percentage of untreated children could be a result of parents not wanting to subject their children to possible side effects of the most commonly used drugs. Currently, the best treatments for ADHD are prescription stimulants, such as Ritalin and Adderall.
The study results suggest Pycnogenol could "give some children a possibility to do better schoolwork, to have a better social and family life, and to do it with a natural extract," he said.
Dr. Steven Lamm, a faculty member at New York University School of Medicine, warned that Pycnogenol is not a miracle cure and will not replace pharmaceuticals anytime soon.
"I can see Pycnogenol as being complementary in the treatment of ADHD instead of adjunctive," he said.
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