How Pycnogenol May Make Menopause Easier
By Lisa Collins | Fact Checked | Sources
Most of us would take any reasonable help getting through these years. Pycnogenol, an extract of French maritime pine bark, is one of the few ingredients with menopause specific research behind it rather than research borrowed from somewhere else. Here is what those studies found, and where they stop.
For context on how common this is: roughly 75 percent of women experience vasomotor symptoms, meaning hot flashes, night sweats, migraine and palpitations. Around 60 percent experience urogenital changes. Just under half report anxiousness, low mood, sleep problems, loss of confidence and trouble concentrating.
Read about natural relief in perimenopause
What Pycnogenol is
In 1965 a German chemist named Charles Haimoff developed a water soluble extract from the bark of the French maritime pine. Pycnogenol is the registered trademark for that extract, standardized to 70 percent procyanidins. More than 160 studies have been published on it, a good share of them in women's health.
The trademark is worth noticing when you shop, because the research was done on that specific standardized extract, not on pine bark in general.
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What the menopause studies found
Errichi S and colleagues, 2011, followed 70 women, 38 taking 100 mg of Pycnogenol daily for eight weeks and 32 as controls, scoring 33 menopausal symptoms.
- Six of the most common symptoms improved significantly while controls showed no change: hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, vaginal dryness, libido and cycle irregularity.
- Also significant: breast pain, the electric shock sensation, digestive discomfort, headache, tingling in the hands and feet, itchy skin and burning tongue.
- Fatigue, memory and concentration, low mood, irritability, dizziness and sleep improved but not significantly. That distinction matters and most articles drop it.
Kohama T and Negami M, 2013, gave 170 perimenopausal women 30 mg of Pycnogenol or placebo twice daily for 12 weeks. Compared with placebo, the supplement group had significant decreases in several symptoms, with sleep disturbance and hot flashes the standouts.
A third group of 155 perimenopausal women took 100 mg or placebo twice daily for six months and reported improvement in sleep, fatigue, hot flashes, anxiousness, moodiness, memory and headache.
The honest read: consistent direction across three studies, which is more than most ingredients manage. All are small to modest, one used controls rather than placebo, and the outcomes are self reported symptom scores.
Skin
Skin changes in these years too, with dryness, loss of elasticity and fine lines. In 20 postmenopausal women taking 25 mg three times daily for 12 weeks, hydration and elasticity improved significantly, with changes visible by six weeks, and two collagen associated genes increased by as much as 41 percent. Small study, but the measurements were objective rather than self reported.
More on Pycnogenol and menopausal skin
Bottom line
If you are looking at Pycnogenol for hot flashes, night sweats or sleep, the menopause research is real and it points the right way, with the usual caveat that the studies are small. Doses used in the research ranged from 60 mg to 200 mg daily. As with anything, run it past a healthcare professional who knows what else you take.
Morphus does not make a Pycnogenol supplement. This page exists because women ask us about it, not because we are selling one.
