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Lee Swanson Research Update
Study Supports Pycnogenol for Better Memory in the Elderly
April 2008
A study accepted for publication in the Journal of Psychopharmacology indicates that the flavonol Pycnogenol can help improve memory in the elderly.
Valued for its potent antioxidant properties, Pycnogenol is extracted from the bark of the Maritime pine that grows on the southern coast of France.
It is thought that one of the main causes of ageing is damage to macromolecules caused by the reactive by-products of oxidative metabolism—and the ageing brain is particularly susceptible to oxidative injury.
In addition to examining the effects of Pycnogenol on a range of cognitive and biochemical measures in 101 seniors, aged between 60 and 80 years, the new study also looked at this oxidative stress hypothesis of ageing and neurological degeneration in elderly individuals.
Conducted at the Centre for Neuropsychology at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia, the study used a double-blind, placebo-controlled and matched-pairs design. The participants were divided into two groups, matched by age, sex, body mass index, micronutrient intake and intelligence.
Subjects received a daily dose of 150 mg of Pycnogenol over a three-month period, and were assessed at baseline, then one, two, and three months into the treatment. The assessment involved cognitive tasks, conducted using a computerized system, to measure attention, working memory, episodic memory and psycho-motor performance.
The researchers, led by Dr. Con Stough, found that, after three months, the participants receiving Pycnogenol had "significantly improved" memory, as seen in a factor that combined accuracy scored from spatial working memory and numeric working memory tasks.
In addition, the team measured a number of biological markers: levels of clinical hepatic enzymes, serum lipid profile, human growth hormone and lipid peroxidation products.
The team found that there was a statistically significant relationship between memory-based cognitive variables and lipid peroxidation products. A marker known as F2-isoprostanes, which developed when unsaturated fatty acids were oxidized, was seen to be present in high quantities in the nerve cell membranes.
Study participants in the Pycnogenol group were seen to have improved performance on working memory measures and decreased concentrations of F2-isoprostanes, compared to those in the placebo group.
