05/28/2008
Study Shows Pycnogenol® Naturally Reduces Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Diabetics
Pycnogenol® improved diabetes control and reduced antihypertensive medicationsGENEVA - Switzerland– A new study published in the May 2008 (volume 8, issue 25) edition of the journal of Nutrition Research shows Pycnogenol® (pic-noj-en-all), an antioxidant plant extract from the bark of the French maritime pine tree, reduces blood sugar in type II diabetes patients, allows people to lower their antihypertensive medication and improves cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. The study, conducted at the University of Arizona, Tucson, indicates Pycnogenol® may serve as a potent adjunct to prescription medications for the 20 million people in the Unites States living with diabetes. “Most people with type II diabetes have cholesterol problems and half of those people experience hypertension. It has been documented that Pycnogenol® mediates a number of beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system for diabetics and healthy individuals,” said Dr. Ronald Watson, a lead researcher of the study.” Previous studies have shown Pycnogenol® supplementation to be associated with reducing platelet aggregation, lowering LDL and increasing HDL cholesterol and modifying hypertension, among others. But what really makes the study results compelling is Pycnogenol® simultaneously lowered blood glucose, LDL cholesterol and blood pressure in patients. Furthermore, this is the first study suggesting that Pycnogenol® might also be beneficial in protecting kidney function in diabetics.”The 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial consisted of 48 men and women, 40 to 75 years of age, with noninsulin-dependent type II diabetes, taking anti-diabetic medication with metformin, sulfonylurea and glitazones. Furthermore, they took antihypertensive medications with ACE inhibitors such as Lisinopril. Despite their medication their fasting blood sugar was above healthy values (142 mg/dL) and their average systolic blood pressure was 139 mmHg subjects were randomly assigned to receive either Pycnogenol® (25 mg, 5 times daily) or matched placebo. Participants were instructed to continue taking their prescription medications. Blood pressure and heart rate were recorded at baseline and at biweekly follow-up visits physicians tried to lower the patient’s individual anti-hypertensive medication with aim to keep it below 130 mmHg. At monthly follow-up visits, all unused prescription medications were collected and counted. Change from baseline at weeks four, eight and 12 were calculated after eight hours of fasting for assessing plasma glucose, LDL cholesterol and endothelin-1. Urinary protein concentration was measured from spot urine samples on a monthly basis. In the Pycnogenol® treated groups, results revealed Pycnogenol® achieved blood pressure control in 58.3 percent of patients at the end of the 12 weeks with 50 percent reduction in prescription medications. Plasma endothelin-1, a very potent hormone-like arterial constrictor which is typically elevated in diabetes patients, decreased by 17.8 percent. The constriction of arteries is believed to be the cause of hypertension and the decreased endothelin-1 with Pycnogenol® is suggested to be the cause for the healthier blood pressure. The mean average blood glucose decreased from high 142.3 mg/dL to a healthy value 118.6, a decrease by 16.7% after 12 weeks. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol improved significantly, declining by 11.9%“It is amazing to see that adding Pycnogenol® to the regimen of prescription medication brought blood glucose to healthy levels, allowed half the patients to reach healthy blood pressure and enabled 58% to even lower their anti-hypertensive medication,” said Watson. “An absolutely new finding is that Pycnogenol® appears to improve kidney function in diabetic people, this deserves more attention in future investigations. Pycnogenol® should be standard adjunct to pharmaceutical treatment of diabetic patients to help control an array of cardiovascular problems.” In the past four years alone, numerous studies have been published on Pycnogenol’s® health benefits for people living with diabetes. In a study published in the March 2004 Diabetes Care, Pycnogenol® was shown to lower blood sugar levels and not affect insulin levels. The October 2006 journal of Angiology revealed Pycnogenol® reduces diabetic microangiopathy and in 2006, published research in the July journal of Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Hemostasis revealed Pycnogenol® heals leg ulcers in patients who suffer from diabetic leg ulcerations. Additionally, Pycnogenol® has been shown to reduce fasting and postprandial serum glucose levels and glycosylated hemoglobin in patients with type II diabetes. And, earlier studies with more than 1,000 diabetes patients, showed that Pycnogenol® has the ability to seal leaky capillaries in the eye. This capability stops the progression of vision loss in patients suffering from diabetic retinopathy, a diabetes-induced eye disease that ultimately leads to blindness. Pycnogenol® is a natural plant extract originating from the bark of the maritime pine that grows along the coast of southwest France and is found to contain a unique combination of procyanidins, bioflavonoids and organic acids, which offer extensive natural health benefits. The extract has been widely studied for the past 35 years and has more than 220 published studies and review articles ensuring safety and efficacy as an ingredient. Today, Pycnogenol® is available in more than 600 dietary supplements, multi-vitamins and health products worldwide.
For the worlds only Isotonic capable formulation of Pycnogenol please visit www.AmpdFit.com.
For more information, visit www.pycnogenol.com.###Horphag Research Ltd. is the exclusive worldwide supplier of Pycnogenol® (pic-noj-en-all) French maritime pine bark extract. Pycnogenol® is a registered trademark of Horphag Research Ltd.; Guernsey and its applications are protected by U.S. patents #5,720,956 / #6,372,266 and other international patents. For more information about Pycnogenol® visit our Web site at www.pycnogenol.com
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Energy Drink Blamed for Teen's Seizure from AllStudentAthletes.com
My personal recommendation for athletes needing energy drinks is to first start by cleaning up their eating habits. If additional need for energy is necessary then I prefer they use an all natural B-vitamin energy enhancer called Awake.
Energy Drink Blamed for Teen's Seizure
Posted By: ASA News
Posted On: 2/24/2010
Printer Friendly Version
JOPLIN, Mo. - There's a hole in Dakota Sailor's memory - a gap from the evening of Thursday, Feb. 4, until late afternoon on Saturday, Feb. 6.The Carl Junction teen remembers going to school that Thursday, drinking two high-powered energy beverages, and later falling asleep on the couch in the living room.He next remembers waking up in St. John's Regional Medical Center on Saturday when physicians removed him from a ventilator.The 17-year-old junior - a defensive end and tackle for the Carl Junction High School football team - had no history of seizures, and a series of medical tests found no apparent cause for this one.His mother, Monique Burrows, found him that Friday morning after hearing what she described as a strange "gurgling" noise. She said that she found her son on the couch, where he had aspirated and turned blue. She yelled for her husband, who performed CPR on Sailor until an ambulance arrived.He spent five days in the hospital, Burrows said.Doctors concluded that her son's seizure was likely triggered by the energy drinks he had consumed that evening."It was upsetting, and it's life-changing," Sailor said. "I never thought a drink could do something like that to somebody."Since Red Bull was launched in 1997, energy drinks have become a multibillion dollar industry, with more than 500 new products launched in 2006 alone, according to Nutrition Journal.Sailor was drinking NOS, a high-performance energy drink that is labeled an "energy supplement." NOS is short for "nitrous oxide," which can be used to boost speeds in race cars.Each 16-ounce can contains two servings, and each serving contains 130 milligrams of caffeine; 1,000 mg of the organic acid taurine; 200 mg of the compound L-carnitine; 100 mg of inositol; and 50 mg of ginseng extract.The back of the can warns that the drink is powerful and not recommended for children, pregnant women or people who are sensitive to caffeine.Sailor consumed two full cans - four servings, with 520 mg of caffeine - in a short amount of time. This was on top of soda he had already consumed that day.While it was the first time that Sailor had tried NOS, he said that he's enjoyed other energy drinks in the past - Red Bull, Monster, Full Throttle, he's tried just about all of them.Ahmed Robbie, a neurologist with Freeman Health System, said it's entirely possible for a seizure to be caused by drinking too much of an energy beverage.He said side effects from consuming too many energy drinks - or any high-caffeine product, for that matter - range from restlessness and headaches to tremors, confusion and seizures."It can even become fatal," said Robbie. "It can cause an irregular heartbeat and severe hypertension. There have been reported cases of death from caffeine toxicity."There's also an addiction problem. People who have a caffeine addiction have a tendency to drink more and more of it."Robbie said that 80 to 250 mg of caffeine a day would be the range that he would consider safe. Side effects could begin to set in after more than 250 mg, and become more serious past 500 mg.He said he believes that energy drinks should come with a more prominent warning label that mentions the serious side effects of ingesting too much caffeine and that it is not recommended to drink too many of them.Even the American Academy of Neurology in recent years has been asking questions about possible links between new-onset seizures and the consumption of large amounts of energy drinks, but did not have enough data to draw conclusions.A spokeswoman for Coca Cola North America, which markets NOS and other energy drinks such as Full Throttle and Monster, said she could not comment on Sailor's experience or whether the company had heard of any similar incident with the products.Sailor, who is feeling better, began easing back into his routine at school last week.Besides having to be on anti-seizure medication for the next year, he's not allowed to drive for six months, and he has to wear an oximeter at night to monitor his heartbeat and oxygen levels.Sailor said that doctors advised him to limit the amount of soda he consumes and to stay away from energy drinks.That's not going to be a problem, he said."I'm just trying to get the word out," he said. "They're not good for you." © 2010 Rivals.com. All rights reserved.
Energy Drink Blamed for Teen's Seizure
Posted By: ASA News
Posted On: 2/24/2010
Printer Friendly Version
JOPLIN, Mo. - There's a hole in Dakota Sailor's memory - a gap from the evening of Thursday, Feb. 4, until late afternoon on Saturday, Feb. 6.The Carl Junction teen remembers going to school that Thursday, drinking two high-powered energy beverages, and later falling asleep on the couch in the living room.He next remembers waking up in St. John's Regional Medical Center on Saturday when physicians removed him from a ventilator.The 17-year-old junior - a defensive end and tackle for the Carl Junction High School football team - had no history of seizures, and a series of medical tests found no apparent cause for this one.His mother, Monique Burrows, found him that Friday morning after hearing what she described as a strange "gurgling" noise. She said that she found her son on the couch, where he had aspirated and turned blue. She yelled for her husband, who performed CPR on Sailor until an ambulance arrived.He spent five days in the hospital, Burrows said.Doctors concluded that her son's seizure was likely triggered by the energy drinks he had consumed that evening."It was upsetting, and it's life-changing," Sailor said. "I never thought a drink could do something like that to somebody."Since Red Bull was launched in 1997, energy drinks have become a multibillion dollar industry, with more than 500 new products launched in 2006 alone, according to Nutrition Journal.Sailor was drinking NOS, a high-performance energy drink that is labeled an "energy supplement." NOS is short for "nitrous oxide," which can be used to boost speeds in race cars.Each 16-ounce can contains two servings, and each serving contains 130 milligrams of caffeine; 1,000 mg of the organic acid taurine; 200 mg of the compound L-carnitine; 100 mg of inositol; and 50 mg of ginseng extract.The back of the can warns that the drink is powerful and not recommended for children, pregnant women or people who are sensitive to caffeine.Sailor consumed two full cans - four servings, with 520 mg of caffeine - in a short amount of time. This was on top of soda he had already consumed that day.While it was the first time that Sailor had tried NOS, he said that he's enjoyed other energy drinks in the past - Red Bull, Monster, Full Throttle, he's tried just about all of them.Ahmed Robbie, a neurologist with Freeman Health System, said it's entirely possible for a seizure to be caused by drinking too much of an energy beverage.He said side effects from consuming too many energy drinks - or any high-caffeine product, for that matter - range from restlessness and headaches to tremors, confusion and seizures."It can even become fatal," said Robbie. "It can cause an irregular heartbeat and severe hypertension. There have been reported cases of death from caffeine toxicity."There's also an addiction problem. People who have a caffeine addiction have a tendency to drink more and more of it."Robbie said that 80 to 250 mg of caffeine a day would be the range that he would consider safe. Side effects could begin to set in after more than 250 mg, and become more serious past 500 mg.He said he believes that energy drinks should come with a more prominent warning label that mentions the serious side effects of ingesting too much caffeine and that it is not recommended to drink too many of them.Even the American Academy of Neurology in recent years has been asking questions about possible links between new-onset seizures and the consumption of large amounts of energy drinks, but did not have enough data to draw conclusions.A spokeswoman for Coca Cola North America, which markets NOS and other energy drinks such as Full Throttle and Monster, said she could not comment on Sailor's experience or whether the company had heard of any similar incident with the products.Sailor, who is feeling better, began easing back into his routine at school last week.Besides having to be on anti-seizure medication for the next year, he's not allowed to drive for six months, and he has to wear an oximeter at night to monitor his heartbeat and oxygen levels.Sailor said that doctors advised him to limit the amount of soda he consumes and to stay away from energy drinks.That's not going to be a problem, he said."I'm just trying to get the word out," he said. "They're not good for you." © 2010 Rivals.com. All rights reserved.
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