Pycnogenol and Tinnitus Relief

A recent study shows some postitive results for the use of the supplement pycnogenol and tinnitus relief.  Tinnitus is a condition usually just called “ringing in the ears“, which affects a suprisingly large number of people.

TINNITUS

Usually, tinnitus is just annoying.  It’s not really a disease all by itself, but more of a symptom.  A rushing, hissing, or ringing sound is heard, even though there isn’t anything creating such a sound.

It’s more of a concern as a sign of another underlying disease process than anything else, but the ringing sensation itself can also become a problem.  Think about it.  If you constantly have an annoying ringing sound in your ears, how well are you going to sleep? Or focus?

One of the causes of tinnitus is a problem with blood flow in the area of the ear.  This is where our old friend pycnogenol comes in.

PYCNOGENOL AND TINNITUS

Pycnogenol is a supplement based on a pine bark extract that has been shown to have a number of beneficial properties.  If you’ve looked around this site much, you’ve probably seen me mention it here and there… like in this article on how pycnogenol helps asthma symptoms or this one on reducing inflammation with pycnogenol.

One of its more impressive characteristics is its ability to aid circulation, both in the major arteries and the smaller arterioles and capillaries.  Remember, your circulatory system looks like a tree branch… a large vessel branching out into progressively smaller, more complex, and more delicate structures.

Pycnogenol helps to make those arteries more elastic and pliable, which in turn makes them more capable of adapting to changes in demand for blood flow.  Not every part of your body needs the same amount of blood flow all of the time or the same as every other body part.  Demand varies, and the more responsive your circulatory system is, the better those demands are met.

THE STUDY

For this particular study, subjects rated their tinnitus symptoms and also had their blood flow velocities measured (side note:  it is super cool that we can actually measure blood flow velocities).  Some subjects were in a control group, some on a low dose of pycnogenol, and some on a high dose.

After four weeks, the results were pretty obvious.  Blood flow velocity increased proportionally to the amount of pycnogenol used in supplementation, and tinnitus symptoms reduced in a similar manner.  No changes were noted in the control group, so there wasn’t any Jedi Mind Trick placebo effect.

So, this study is a pretty strong indicator of the use of pycogenol for tinnitus relief, and the circulatory-enhancing effects of pycnogenol in general.

Stay healthy!

Source article: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-10/mg-sdp101310.php