Pycnogenol - heard of it?

Some Australian sports team are using a product called Lact-Away, which is made from the sap of a French pine. The active ingredient is pycnogenol. Various teams state anecdotal evidence that it shortens recover time and boosts muscle endurance.

Used by Aussie Rules teams, Rugby League teams, and boxer Kostya Tszyu. Apparently it tastes foul, but the players swear by it.

I’ve never heard of it, but just read an article in the Sydney Morning Herald. Anyone on ST tried it for endurance events?

in ‘La revue de medecine’, Pr. P. delacroix et al. show the positive effects of pycnogenol in chronic venous insufficiency.
Used for blood flow issues, in particular oedema, varicose legs.
Also some prelim. studies seem to show + effects on asthma and as an antioxydant.

it also helps erectile dysfunction…Alexander…is there something you want to tell us ? :wink:

do you eat it or rub it all over yourself?

there is also some stuff on pubmed. one is a controlled double blind study to treat asthma and it seems to work

Side effects?

some people get mild diarrhea and headache (the kind of side effect you see for most meds actually)
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No troubles there, thankfully. How come you know so much about it! :slight_smile:

It really is to prevent nose picking.

For the venous benefits take internally, for the ercetile dysfunction, rub it on, (I’m kidding of course).

Styrrell

Is it a “Health Food” store type of thing or a prescription item?

J

health food stuff. OTC definitely

Thanks
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Now that I think of it, this sounds a lot like Buckleys cough syrup. Tastes like your sucking on a pine branch soaked in ammonia.

j

This is super-spooky stuff if Google can only produce one hit for sites mentioning Lact-Away.

My cat likes to lick my sweaty, soar legs while I stretch, but still no positive effects as of yet. But one of these days cat saliva will be like bottled lightning.

It’s been around for a long time, and is an extract of the Maritime pine that is native to the coast of France. There were some folks in America that were trying to pass off grape seed extract as pycnogenol a few years ago, and they were all slapped on the wrist for it. Grape seed extract actually does the same thing, but is not as effective (nor as expensive).

The anti-oxidant properties have been well documented.

extract of the Maritime pine that is native to the coast of France.

Freedom extract!