Pine-bark extract

[witchy1]

.... Enzogenol, the name of the supplement, is a natural extract from the bark of New Zealand-grown pines.

The aim of the study was to explore its effectiveness in improving verbal and working memory, information processing speed, attention span, everyday memory difficulties and post-concussive symptoms in patients three to 12 months after a mild traumatic brain injury.

"There was a significant improvement on the reporting of cognitive failures such as walking into a room and forgetting what you went in for, failure to remember names, forgetting directions on a familiar route, and forgetting to respond to correspondence."

.....Franks said the difference she noticed during the study was amazing. Each time she was interviewed she had to sit a random memory test, where she was asked to recall 20 items. When she started she could remember only the last four, but as the trial wore on she was able to remember all 20 each time.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/6000084/Pine-bark-extract-helps-brain-function

[DeDukshyn]

I will look for supporting info with our research data at work - we use Pine Bark extract in one or more of our formulas, so we'll likely have peer reviewed research and studies. I'll take a look on Monday.

EDIT: Bah, too busy today ... I'll try again tomorrow ...

[nomadguy]

A little story,

Awhile back I was listening to Harvey Arden's "Wisdom Keepers" And in that recording a man talks about nature and medicine.
He mentions at one point a few ways to get rid of the illness by drinking a very strong pine needle tea batch dubbed by Arden as "Cleansing Indian Bitter Tea".
It is mentioned a few times and the ingredient wormwood is mentioned a few times as well. Wormwood should be used with caution, and is indeed incredibly bitter. Though it does eliminate worms and parasites. Pine is another bitter cleanser and is not as tricky.

Here is a link to the book,
http://www.amazon.com/Travels-Stone-Canoe-Return-Wisdomkeepers/dp/0684800942
*I highly recommend this book to all, there is also an audio out there, fascinating and useful material

So "bitterness" is healthy.
And as a body, humanity the current, eats too much sweetness and we have lost our palate for bitter-healthy-foods.
So as a personal test I have been eating bitter foods for about a year now. I don't eat bitter meals or "snack" on them. This is more like a tonic only you chew it. I think that the chewing and the salivary glands are also a part of this healing process. I sometimes chew a few pine needles or make pine needle tea from the Sugar-Jeffrey that close by. The oils ind the needle come out in the tea, and it is actually quite tasty once you get used to it's strength. Another I like is the fresh black pine sap or "Washoe pine" (a relative to the Bristlecone) or a maybe a fir. Basically in mid-winter ~While skiing I would pull off and snag a golden drop from an older circle of trees on the slope. You tend to find tree circles in places like this, so it isn't to hard to find whiles you are wisping around the mtn slopes.

A lot of foods when over ripe are also bitter and so I will add one extra bitter lettuce leaf to salads and if I am not feeling well I might have some Aloe Vera, which can also be quite bitter. White willow bark is a great aspirin replacement and is also bitter. ~on and on the list rolls on once you start to look at this. Certain inner cambiums of tree bark are also edible, bitter and extremely beneficial to you health. Like the Quassia tree ref - http://indianherbalguru.com/2010/08/08/quassia/

Now I rarely get sick and I think the bitterness that has assisted me has some relation to certain substances that help our immune system and happen to taste bitter. Sours foods are another paradigm. Lemon Juice, lime juice... lovely sours and the seeds are "bitter".

So what happened here? Seems like we all only want to eat the salty and sweet stuff. ~And as it happens very few of those benefit your health. I think we might be overdue to have a fresh look at our foods we CHOOSE to eat and why.

~ Carry on

[Arrowwind]

I've been using pycogenol - pine bark extract for a number of years now. It was the cure to my mountain cedar allergy that had plagued me for years.
I use it currently to deal with a painful vericose vein acquired from long hours on my feet. When I combine it with vitamin c it is like a miracle.
Many studies have been done on pycogenol and it is all that it is cracked up to be.

When I was working in Hopsice I had a patient who was 99 years old. She came to Utah on a wagon train. She told of how her family learned of using pine bark tea from the Ute Indians and how they used if for so many different diseases. White pine is preferred in this neck of the woods but I think most any pine will offer similar qualities. I use Source Naturals 100mg tabs... they are excellent... I know because when I take them the vascular pain goes away.
http://www.iherb.com/Source-Naturals-Pycnogenol-Supreme-60-Tablets/16670?at=0

and wow.. Look at this knock your socks off product! I may change to this... it will be better for vascular issues, even though the pycogenol is only 50mg
http://www.iherb.com/Source-Naturals-Pycnogenol-Supreme-30-Tablets/16674?at=0

[conk]

Another pine product: http://www.surthrival.com/pinepollen.html