Pycnogenol improves memory in seniors

MELBOURNE, March 17 (UPI) -- Pycnogenol, an antioxidant plant extract from the bark of the French maritime pine tree, improves the memory of senior citizens, an Australian study said.

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, matched pairs study, researchers at Swinburne University, in Melbourne, examined the effects of Pycnogenol on a range of cognitive and biochemical measures in 101 senior individuals ages 60 to 85.

Participants consumed a daily dose of 150 mg of Pycnogenol for a three-month treatment period and were assessed at baseline then at one, two and three months of the treatment.

Blood samples after 3 months treatment showed a marker known as F2-isoprostanes significantly decreased with Pycnogenol, but not in the placebo group. F2-isoprostanes develop by oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids, which are present in particularly high quantities in nerve cell membranes.

"The antioxidant Pycnogenol had beneficial cognitive and biochemical effects for elderly individuals," study leader Dr. Con Stough said in a statement. "Participants in the Pycnogenol groups showed improvement relative to the controls with the effects becoming evident from the second to third months of the Pycnogenol treatment."

The findings were presented at the World Congress on Oxidants and Antioxidants in Biology in Santa Barbara, Calif., and are scheduled to be published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.