Q. I read about Pycnogenol for hot flashes and tried it. It worked within only a few days! The main side effect was constipation.
I was quite pleased until I asked my GYN about it. I told her I thought the Pycnogenol was working well. She wasn’t happy and did an Internet search on the compound. To her it looked like a pretty powerful drug with no testing. She suggested I stop taking it and use medicine that has been tested.
A. We are fascinated by your gynecologist’s reaction. Pycnogenol is an extract of the bark of the French maritime pine. It is rich in antioxidant plant compounds called procyanidins, and it has been studied for a wide range of problems, from osteoarthritis of the knee and type 2 diabetes to attention deficit disorder and hot flashes.
We found 195 scientific articles on studies in humans, animals or cell cultures. She is right that there is not much research on its use for menopause. We found only one double-blind, placebo-controlled study (Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, Aug. 2007). Another study found that Pycnogenol has no estrogenic activity (Journal of Reproductive Medicine, Aug. 2007).
We are sending you our Guide to Menopause with a discussion of Pycnogenol and other approaches to relieving hot flashes. Compared to prescription drugs like Prempro, Effexor or Pristiq, Pycnogenol appears to have few side effects.
