Reply #23: helped to keep my medical expenses down this year.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

The number TWO reason why the government should be teaching the public about the myriad benefits of certain select supplements... AND THEY WON'T.... but they will go after anyone who does attempt to reveal the truth about them.

This moring on CNN they are blah blahing about PAD.... peripheral artery disease.... I say get a clue.

1: J Herb Pharmacother. 2004;4(2):19-32. Related Articles, Links


An open study to assess the safety and efficacy of Aesculus hippocastanum tablets (Aesculaforce 50mg) in the treatment of chronic venous insufficiency.

Dickson S, Gallagher J, McIntyre L, Suter A, Tan J.

Bioforce (UK) Ltd., 2 Brewster Place, Irvine, KA11 5 DD, Scotland, UK. [email protected]

An open study was carried out to assess, primarily, the safety and tolerability of Aesculus hippocastanum in the treatment of CVI. Patients underwent 8 consecutive weeks of treatment and were asked to take one 50 mg Aesculus hippocastanum tablet, twice daily. In total, 91 adverse events were reported, of which only 4 were rated as probably related to the study drug. Patients judged the tolerability of the study medication in the majority of the cases at visits 2 and 3 (90 and 95%, respectively) to be "good" or "fairly good." Only 2 patients rated tolerability as poor at visit 3. For each of the symptoms investigated the difference in the median value between baseline and visit 3 was found to be statistically significant and both the ankle and lower leg circumference decreased. The PPG measurements were rejected after analysis since validation measurements carried out after the trial showed that the PPG technique had an internal error of around 30%. Nevertheless, the majority of patients rated efficacy to be "very good" or "good," with only 10 patients reporting no effect by the end of the study. The results of this study indicate that Aesculaforce 50 mg tablets are a safe, well-tolerated and efficacious treatment for Widmer stage I and II CVI.

Publication Types:
Clinical Trial
Controlled Clinical Trial

PMID: 15364642

1: Phytother Res. 2002 Mar;16 Suppl 1:S1-5. Related Articles, Links


Comparative study of Venostasin and Pycnogenol in chronic venous insufficiency.

Koch R.

Wolfsschlucht 6a, 34117 Kassel, Germany.

The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of Venostasin (horse chestnut seed extract) and Pycnogenol (French maritime pine bark extract) in the treatment of chronic venous insufficiency (CVI). In an open, controlled comparative study 40 patients with diagnosed CVI were treated either with 600 mg chestnut seed extract per day or 360 mg Pycnogenol per day over a period of 4 weeks. The following parameters were investigated before the start of treatment and after 2 and 4 weeks of treatment: circumference of the lower legs and rating of subjective symptoms (scores) of pain, cramps, night-time swelling, feeling of "heaviness", and reddening of the skin. In addition, blood levels of cholesterol LDL and HDL were determined before and at the end of treatment. Pycnogenol significantly reduced the circumference of the lower limbs and significantly improved subjective symptoms. Furthermore, Pycnogenol significantly decreased cholesterol and LDL values in the blood, whereas HDL remained unaffected. Venostasin only moderately but not significantly, reduced the circumference of the lower limbs and marginally improved symptoms. Venostasin had no influence on the determined lipid values. Both medications were equally well tolerated. In conclusion, Pycnogenol was found to be more efficacious than Venostasin for the treatment of CVI. Copyright 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Publication Types:
Clinical Trial
Randomized Controlled Trial

PMID: 11933130