October is Menopause Awareness Month. For women experiencing menopause, though, it’s already a part of everyday life. It can be a sudden flush during a meeting, another night of interrupted sleep, an achy morning, or that familiar word you can’t seem to remember. Hot flashes may get most of the attention, but women often experience a much wider mix of symptoms.
Perimenopause, the transitional period leading up to menopause, can last for years. As hormone levels fluctuate, women may notice shifts in sleep, mood, memory and concentration, joint and muscle comfort, and skin and hair health. Symptoms usually vary for every woman and can change from month to month, making the transition easy to dismiss as a string of unrelated problems.
Hormone therapy is a very effective option for many women, but it may not be appropriate or preferred for everyone. This has left many women looking for well-studied, nonhormonal support. Pycnogenol® French maritime pine bark extract is one ingredient with clinical research across several areas of the menopause experience.
A Multifunctional Ingredient for Menopause Support
Pycnogenol is a patented, standardized extract made from the bark of French maritime pine trees grown along France’s southwest coast. Pycnogenol is produced to defined specifications, helping ensure that the ingredient used in finished products is consistent with the one evaluated in clinical research.
Additionally, Pycnogenol is nonhormonal, meaning it doesn't supply estrogen or other hormones. In a 170-woman clinical trial, researchers found no significant changes in estradiol, FSH, or the other hormones measured, making it very useful for women who can’t or don’t want to take hormone therapy.
Finally, menopause rarely arrives as a single symptom, and the research on Pycnogenol reflects this reality. The research considers hot flashes alongside sleep, fatigue, mood, focus, and physical discomfort to capture a fuller picture of what menopause looks like in daily life.
What the Research Shows
Pycnogenol has been studied in nearly 600 menopausal women across five clinical studies examining menopause symptoms. A few examples show how broadly researchers have looked at the menopause experience.
In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 170 perimenopausal women, participants received 60 mg of Pycnogenol or a placebo daily. After three months, the total menopause symptom score was reduced by 17% with Pycnogenol compared to the placebo. Hot flashes and nighttime sweating showed particularly clear improvement. Women also reported improvement in fatigue, sleep problems, and muscle or joint soreness.
A separate six-month trial followed 155 women who completed the study. Women taking Pycnogenol improved across every area measured by the Women's Health Questionnaire, including hot flashes and sweating, sleep, mood, memory and concentration, physical symptoms, and sexual well-being. Researchers also observed a more favorable ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol, a useful finding because menopause is also a time to pay closer attention to cardiovascular health.
Research has also looked beyond the familiar symptom list. In a 2023 placebo-controlled study of 63 menopausal women, hair density in the Pycnogenol group rose 30% from baseline after two months and remained 23% above baseline at six months. Changes in the placebo group weren’t significant. Researchers also saw improvement in the scalp's skin barrier function and better scalp moisture balance. In a separate 12-week study of women ages 55 to 68, Pycnogenol increased skin elasticity by 25% and hydration by 8% overall. Women whose skin was dry at the start saw a 21% increase in hydration.
Menopause can affect how a woman sleeps, moves, thinks and sees herself, so support should reflect more than one part of the experience.
Support for the Whole Transition
For women seeking plant-based, nonhormonal support during menopause, Pycnogenol is a patented, standardized extract studied across a range of symptoms that can affect daily life.
For this Menopause Awareness Month, Pycnogenol’s research offers a broader way to look at menopause support, not one symptom at a time, but as a whole.
