Pine bark extract for migraine

Researchers are jumping on the pine bark extract band waggon, and they just may be onto something.  Pine bark extract is made from the bark of a European pine called the Landes Pine, which grows in the Landes region of France.  Pine bark extract is an antioxidant, and has also been used as an anti-inflammatory (especially for arthritis and PMS).  The Stanford University School of Medicine is studying pine bark extract’s use for high blood pressure.  Heart disease and stroke are targets for this alternitive treatment.  Looking at this combination, you might be asking,”What about migraine?”

That’s the question New Zealander Larry Stenswick began asking, when a friend taking his pine bark extract supplement noticed a reduction in migraine attacks.  Griffiths University in Australia is interested in taking on the project, and is planning to start trials this year.  Will this be a valuable alternative treatment for migraineurs, or not?

Either way, pine bark extract has a good enough track record to be getting a lot of attention.  At the University of California, Berekeley, they found Pycnogenol to be the most potent antioxident, even prolonging the use of vitamin C in the body and helping the immune system.  The extract seems to be very safe as well.  Has anyone out there tried it for migraine?  It just may be the supplement of 2007…