Got Hay Fever? Pine Bark Extract Appears to Help
Lee Swanson
Seven weeks of supplementation with the branded pine bark extract Pycnogenol® also reduced the level of non-prescription antihistamine medication use to only 12.5%. Fifty percent of participants in the placebo group required the antihistamines.
Hay fever is an allergic reaction to pollen or fungal spores, most commonly grass pollen. According to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, about 60 million people in the U.S. are affected by allergic rhinitis.
The immune system mistakes the spores for harmful invaders and white blood cells—T-helper type 2 (Th2) lymphocytes—produce protein-like cytokines, such as interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-5 and IL-6, which in turn promote the synthesis of immune system immunoglobulins (Ig), which bind the pollen and fight it off.
The researchers looked at levels of birch pollen specific IgE in 60 people with birch-related hay fever. Participants were assigned to receive the pine bark extract supplement (100 mg per day of Pycnogenol) or placebo throughout the allergy season.
Results showed that IgE levels increased by 32% in the placebo group, compared with only 19% in the pine bark extract group.
"The present study demonstrated that Pycnogenol decreases nasal and ocular symptoms in allergic rhinitis patients," wrote the researchers, led by Dale Wilson of the Canadian research facility, KGK Synergize. "It is possible to suggest that Pycnogenol may represent a new and promising therapeutic modality for subjects with allergic rhinitis."
Wilson and his colleagues recruited hay fever sufferers between the ages of 18 and 65 in Ontario, Canada. Participants began receiving the pine bark extract or the placebo three to eight weeks before the start of birch allergy season.
Results of the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study showed that a "lag-time" of at least five weeks was required for Pycnogenol to impact hay fever symptoms.
The study reports: "Detailed analysis suggested that symptom relief was better the longer the subjects were on Pycnogenol prior to the allergen exposure. The best results were found with subjects who took Pycnogenol seven to eight weeks ahead of the allergy season. With the limited number of 39 patients statistical predications were unattainable."
"In conclusion," the researchers said, "Pycnogenol improved allergic rhinitis symptoms when supplementation was started at least five weeks before onset of the allergy season."