Pine

Other names: Deal pine, soft pine, white pine

Scientific name: Pinus strobus

Common names: Christmas tree, Short leaf, Pear, Presimmon,

Ayurvedic names: Saral m- kul

Chinese names: (hào) “Red Pine” (赤松 “Chi Song”),

Bangladesh names: Saralgaach 

Arabic names:    الصنوبر (as-sanawbar)

RainForest names:

Family: Fabaceae

Approximate number of species known:

Common parts used: inner bark, twigs

Collection: Stem can be collected when the tree is felled

Annual/Perennial: Perennial

Height: upto 150 feet

Actions: Demulcent, expectorant

Known Constituents: volatile oil (mainly pinene, limonene)

Constituents Explained:

Description: 

Native to the mountainous regions of the world, the pine is still widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere. It is a coniferous tree, growing to 150 feet with reddish-brown bark, fine linear needle-like leaves, yellowish buds in winter, and oval to conical-shaped cones 

Traditional Use:

The Native Americans used the pine tree for food by making a bread from the ground up bark.  They used it for the respiratory system and the kidneys.  

Clinical Studies:

The simplification of the management of asthma in the different clinical phases of this common chronic inflammatory disorder is the main goal of therapy. Pycnogenol®, a standardized extract of French maritime pine bark, inhibits expression of 5-lipoxygenase and consequently decreases leukotriene levels in asthmatic patients.

This study evaluated the efficacy of Pycnogenol® during a period of six months for improving allergic (mite in house dust) asthma management in patients with stable, controlled conditions. 

Pycnogenol® was used at a daily dosage of 100 mg, distributed as 50 mg in the morning at 9 am and again in the evening at 9 pm). An individual patient’s asthma condition was graded in five steps based on the daily dosage of inhaled fluticasone propionate with step 1 indicating 0 µg and step 5 the maximum dose of 500 µg ICS twice daily.

A total 76 patients were enrolled for this study. The group taking Pycnogenol® in addition to ICS and the group taking only ICS were comparable for age, gender and clinical characteristics. The analysis of therapeutic ranking steps showed that 55% of patients taking Pycnogenol® improved as judged by passing to a lower ICS dose step.

In comparison, only 6% of patients depending exclusively on ICS progressed to a lower therapeutic step. No deterioration was observed in the Pycnogenol® group, whereas in 18.8% of patients depending exclusively on corticosteroids a deterioration requiring a higher dosage step was observed. 

The passage to different therapeutic steps was statistical significant between groups. No serious adverse events were observed in both groups and tolerability of Pycnogenol® was very good. The levels of asthma control in the 6 interventional months as compared to the same period in the previous year were compared. 

In the Pycnogenol® group, night-awakenings were less frequent, the number of days with PEF<80% were decreased, days with asthma score >1 were lower, requirement for salbutamol and additional asthma medication less frequent, and consultation of general practitioner and specialist required less commonly.

All these parameters were statistical significantly improved in Pycnogenol® + ICS group versus the ICS control group where no considerable changes were observed. Various common signs and symptoms were evaluated by visual analog scale, (dry) cough, severity of chest symptoms, wheezing, dyspnea and daytime symptoms.

A decrease by 15.2% of the specific IgE titer was found in the Pycnogenol® + ICS group, whereas the titer increased by 13.4% in the ICS-only group, while IgG1 and IgG4 remained unchanged in both groups.

Pycnogenol® administration was effective for better control of signs and symptoms of allergic asthma and reduced the need for medication.

Reference:

Belcaro G, Luzzi R, Cesinaro Di Rocco P, Cesarone MR, Dugall M, Feragalli B, Errichi BM, Ippolito E, Grossi MG, Hosoi M, Errichi S, Cornelli U, Ledda A, Gizzi G. “Pycnogenol® Improvements In Asthma Management.” 2011 September http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22108478