and c) irregular dietary patterns), reduced bioavailability (impairment of the intrinsic factor-mediated absorption pathway, often due to the widespread and prolonged use of proton pump inhibitors), and malabsorption syndromes

1 Introduction There are many pine bark extracts on the market, from different pine tree species, from different countries and with different levels of efficacy for human health ( French maritime pine bark extract (Horphag Research) is the most researched pine bark extract with over 450 published studies and over 160 human clinical trials, including over 12.000 subjects ( The French maritime pine trees that are used for Pycnogenol grow in Les Landes de Gascogne, along the coast of southwest France ( Pycnogenol was found to contain mainly procyanidins, their monomers catechin and epicatechin, taxifolin as well as phenolic acids ( is standardized to 70 5% and thus meets the specifications for maritime pine extract, described in the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) ( , taxifolin, catechin, caffeic acid, ferulic acid and metabolite 1 [-(3,4-dihydroxy-phenyl)--valerolactone] have been detected in the blood plasma of volunteers ( Clinical research on Pycnogenol started over 40 years ago and various health benefits of Pycnogenol have been observed and investigated

10.1016/j.amepre.2009.12.022 Am
Bacterial species involved in the conversion of dietary flavonoids in the human gut