Maritime Pine

In modern times maritime pine is famed for its ability to fight inflammation, stimulate immune system action, ease swelling and exert antioxidant effects. The most extensively studied use of maritime pine is to treat cardiovascular health, especially improvement of endothelial (the thin layer of cells that lines blood vessels) function and chronic venous insufficiency, a condition defined by poor drainage of blood from veins resulting in swelling or skin problems. However, this claim to fame harks back to the frigid winter of 1536 at Stadacona (now Quebec City) when French explorer Jacques Cartier's critically ill crew were cured from scurvy, a severe deficiency of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), by drinking a decoction from the native American Indian tribe, the Iroquois. Four centuries later during a sabbatical at the University of Quebec Professor Jacques Masquelier, of the University of Bordeaux in France, heard about Cartier's account and this turned his attention to the antioxidant proanthocyanidins of conifer bark. He was investigating a group of substances called flavanols which he originally found in peanut skins. Masquelier found that these substances have beneficial effects in the body particularly in improving circulation and repairing tissue. Maritime pine is found around Masquelier’s home region Bordeaux so when he went for a walk one day, on his return home from Quebec, he took a piece of bark from a tree which reminded him of peanut skin. Masquelier and his colleagues came to regard the pine bark as a huge peanut skin and found that an abundant source of these substances was also in the bark of the pine trees that grew on these coasts of southern France.

Masquelier referred to proanthocyanidins as pycnogenols. This term was used to describe an entire group of procyanidin complexes found in a variety of plants including pine bark, grape seed, peanuts and citrus peel. The term pycnogenol is now considered obsolete in the scientific community to describe these compounds giving way to the terms procyanidins, oligomeric proanthocyanidin complexes (OPCs) and/or procyanidolic oligomers (PCOs). Pycnogenol is now a patented trade name for a water extract of the PCO of bark of the maritime pine commonly grown in the coastal southwest of France (Pinus pinaster ssp. atlantica). Concentrated standardised extracts like Pycnogenol are not the same as whole plant (broad or full spectrum) maritime pine bark medicine in the same way that curcumin is not the same as using whole plant turmeric and cannabidiol is not the same as using full spectrum cannabis. For example when Pycnogenol is manufactured the fresh outer bark is powdered and extracted with 70% ethanol and 30% water in patented equipment allowing an automated continuous process. After purification (there is no further information on how this is done on the manufacturer’s website) of the raw extract the aqueous solution of the extracted constituents is spray dried to a fine brownish powder during the standardisation process. According to the manufacturer 1000kg of maritime pine bark yields 1kg of Pycnogenol, making it 1000:1 (1kg equals 1g). In comparison The Herbal Extract Company make a 1:2 maritime pine extract, in 60% ethanol and 40% water, using continuous cold flow percolation in a simple process with no standardisation, heat or vacuum. The result is that 1ml (1g) of extract yields 500mg of maritime pine bark which is a very different, yet more sustainable, method of extraction. To get the equivalent 500mg of Pycnogenol you would need half a kilogram of maritime pine bark which is 500 times the amount The Herbal Extract Company use. 

The vast majority of the research on maritime pine is proprietary and geared at promoting the trademarked Pycnogenol and its associated products. It appears in the literature that the terms Pycnogenol and pine bark extract are used interchangeably. This makes it extremely challenging to write a highlight about a full spectrum maritime extract because there is a dearth of information. The Herbal Extract Company’s aim is not to be misleading and partake in “borrowed science” concerning the specific health benefits from researched Pycnogenol products, for the purpose of associating this science with full spectrum maritime pine bark. However, it is a fact that full spectrum maritime pine bark also contains these antioxidants along with other vitamins and phytonutrients. Previous studies have demonstrated that other maritime pine bark extracts also possess remarkable antioxidant activities similar to Pycnogenol. The research associated with these isolated active constituents is interesting because it suggests there is potential in using full spectrum extracts which mirror the natural, balanced phytochemical profile of chemical compounds of the original dry herbal material. The advantage of a full spectrum extract is that, when extracted in a balanced way, the synergistic activity of all the constituents allows the key compounds (OPCs) to work effectively for the patient.

References

HEC maritime pine monograph