Health Supplement 101: What are the Benefits of Pine Bark Extract? 

Read our take on the benefits of pine bark extract, its right way to use, and how it works in our bodies. 

Introduction:

Our bodies are in constant danger of inner diseases caused by free radicals and other cancerous agents. These free radicals and other reactive oxygen elements can come from external sources or the body's internal metabolic processes. Clinical research has proven that natural antioxidants can stop oxidative damage. With its potent ability to scavenge free radicals against reactive oxygen and nitrogen agents, Pine bark extract has garnered significant interest among natural antioxidant products. This article explains the potential benefits of pine bark extract and why we should use it.

What is Pine Bark?

Back in the old times, Scurvy was such a mighty disease that it now almost doesn’t exist. This condition occurs due to a lack of vitamin C in the human body. But in the 16th century, a decoction made from French pine trees called Pinus pinaster emerged. This decoction was first used to cure scurvy patients who happened to be a crew of expeditions of French explorers. Its history goes even beyond this point but today, this amazing supplement is still used thanks to its great health benefits. 

These Pinus Pinaster trees (a.k.a maritime pines or cluster pines) are indigenous to the Mediterranean region (Portugal, Spain, France, and Morocco). Maritime pines have thick bark that develops in a variety of brown, orange, and red hues. 

Today, the extract of Pine bark is readily available which is first grounded and cleaned, and then soaked in hot water to create the extract. The liquid extract is then strained to extract the solids. After that, the solids extract can be utilized straight away or processed further by grinding it into a powder and freeze-drying it.

Benefits of Pine Bark Extract

As stated above, Pine bark extract (PBE) extract has earned a reputation for centuries. Here are its top benefits to us:

1. Pine bark extract has tons of healthy phytochemicals (natural plant components) and also boosts vitamin C and E levels in our bodies which has tons of implications for normal biological processes in the human body.

2. PBE lessens platelet aggregation in people who are addicted to smoking. It also helps to dilate small blood vessels in patients with heart disease and improve lung function in asthma patients. 

3. PBE has significant immunomodulatory effects in lupus patients and also acts as an antihypertensive and antispasmodic thus reducing symptoms associated with the menstrual cycle. 

4. PBE also helps improve cognitive function, including reducing symptoms of childhood ADHD.

5. PBE is an extremely significant agent with anti-inflammatory properties and slows the onset of inflammation by blocking the production of pro-inflammatory mediators controlled by oxidative stress. PBE does that by suppressing leukocytes, endothelial cells, and epidermal cells that produce pro-inflammatory mediators allowing blocking of inflammation. 

6. It is also very effective in treating erectile dysfunction by boosting Nitric Oxide levels in the body. These levels are responsible for vasodilation and enhancing blood flow in our bodies. This helps to treat erectile dysfunction, poor libido, and high blood pressure in patients.

7. It also has great results with conditions like blood sugar, pre-diabetes, or diabetes and helps to enhance blood sugar management and cardiovascular health. This happens by the introduction of polyphenols from PBE which improves the levels of two coronary artery disease risk factors: total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and HDL cholesterol. This lowers LDL cholesterol increases HDL cholesterol and improves the atherosclerotic index.

8. This extract offers great skin protection by protecting you from harmful UVB rays helps to reduce hyperpigmentation and improves skin barrier function.

9. It also gives strong antibacterial protection, especially against staphylococcal, E. coli, Pseudomonas, and other common bacterial infections.

10. Recent studies have demonstrated that people over middle age who took these extract supplements for a year showed significant improvement in memory and other brain-related functions. Thus, it also boosts your brain function which is an extremely significant advantage. 

Wrapping Up:

Benefits of pine bark extract are tremendous as it is naturally loaded with vitamins, polyphenols, and other phytonutrients. It has been used for centuries and now with the help of more research, it has been proven that pine bark contains a variety of phytochemicals that promote human health. It is loaded with vitamin C which is the remedy for scurvy), and proanthocyanidins which are effective antioxidants and offer several additional health advantages, even surpassing those of vitamins C and E.