Pine Bark Extract

[01dragonslayer]

Study results have shown that taking a daily dose of the pine bark extract pycnogenol may help to treat or prevent metabolic syndrome, a condition that is linked to type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Researchers administered 150 milligrams per day of the extract to 64 subjects, aged 45 to 55  years, who had exhibited all five risk factors for metabolic syndrome for six months. Another group of 66 matched participants served as controls.

The researchers found that supplementation with the pine bark extract was correlated with reductions in waist circumference, triglycerides, fasting blood glucose and blood pressure and an increase in HDL cholesterol, a.k.a. the good cholesterol. They concluded that the extract may help improve health-risk factors in people with metabolic syndrome.

Belcaro, G., et al. (2013). Pycnogenol® supplementation improves health risk factors in subjects with metabolic syndrome. Phytother Res. Published online January 28.

Sleep Problems Linked to Prostate Cancer

A study of 2,102 men suggests that those who suffer from sleep problems have a significantly increased risk of developing prostate cancer. Lara G. Sigurdardóttir, M.D., of the University of Iceland in Reykjavik, and colleagues questioned participants regarding whether they took medications to help sleep, had trouble falling asleep, woke up during the night and had difficulty going back to sleep or woke up early in the morning and had difficulty going back to sleep. At the start of the study 8.7 percent of the participants reported severe sleep problems and 5.7 percent reported very severe problems. None of the participants had prostate cancer. The researchers followed the participants for five years, during which time 6.4 percent of the subjects were diagnosed with prostate cancer. Analysis revealed that the risk for prostate cancer increased proportionately with the severity of reported problems falling and staying asleep. The men with the most severe sleep problems were more than twice as likely to have developed prostate cancer as the men who reported no sleep problems. Furthermore, the association between advanced prostate cancer and sleep problems was even stronger, with men who reported “very severe” sleep problems having more than a threefold increased risk of advanced prostate cancer.

“Sleep problems are very common in modern society and can have adverse health consequences,” said Dr Sigurdardóttir. “If our results are confirmed with further studies, sleep may become a potential target for intervention to reduce the risk for prostate cancer.”

Sigurdardòttir, L.G., et al.