Thursday, June 18, 2009

Faster healing of diabetic ulcers

The Facts:

* People with advanced diabetes often have a number of symptoms including loss of eyesight, nerve damage and circulatory problems leading to ulcers.

* A recent study looked at the effect of using Pycnogenol (French maritime pine) for the treatment of diabetic leg ulcers.

* A combination of oral and local application of Pycnogenol was found to be highly effective at healing leg ulcers; oral and local application on their own were slightly less effective but still resulted in improved healing compared with no Pycnogenol.

Shaun’s comment: There is a lot of research looking at pine bark extracts at the moment. People with diabetes can have problems with small blood vessels in the skin and if there is not enough oxygen and nutrients getting through, ulcers can occur, which can be very difficult to treat. This was a small study, but the results are positive and bigger studies are needed. Interestingly, the results were good both when the pine bark extract was given orally and when it was applied directly to the ulcers.

Study Reference:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1076029606290133


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