Pycnogenol is a branded extract of French maritime pine bark; pine bark extracts are rich in plant flavonoids, mainly proanthocyanidins, which are antioxidants. As supplements they are marketed for long-term conditions linked to oxidative stress, such as poor circulation, blood pressure, diabetes and joint pain.
Also known as: French maritime pine bark extract, pine bark extract.
There is no intake value or upper limit. The reviews below pooled trials that used different extracts, amounts and durations (4 weeks to 6 months).
It is sold in the US as a dietary supplement. Under the 1994 dietary supplement law (DSHEA), FDA does not approve dietary supplements before they are marketed, and the maker, not FDA, is responsible for safety and labeling.
What studies show: a 2020 Cochrane review of 27 trials (1,641 people) across 10 conditions, including asthma, ADHD, heart disease risk factors, vein problems, diabetes, erectile dysfunction and knee arthritis, rated all of the evidence very low certainty and concluded that no definite conclusions on benefit or safety are possible, because trials were small, few per condition and poorly reported (Robertson 2020). A 2025 meta-analysis of 27 trials (1,685 people) found small reductions in blood pressure (about 2 to 3 mmHg), fasting blood sugar, HbA1c, body weight and LDL cholesterol, and called for larger, longer, higher-quality trials (Mohammadi 2025).
Safety: the Cochrane review says most studies did not report serious adverse events, so safety cannot be judged from them.
We could not find a single published half-life or time to peak for pine bark extract that applies to a supplement dose, so we do not list one. Plant and mushroom products are mixtures of many compounds, so no single figure would describe them.
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