Pycnogenols are OPCs and are antioxidants. They are found in plants throughout world and are produced as part of plant’s survival system. The greater environmental stress, more powerful OPCs it produces. The most powerful OPCs are found in Maritime Pine Tree of France. A French scientist read of a tragedy which happened in St. Lawrence Seaway where some sailors whose ship was trapped in ice were dying of a strange disease. Natives introduced them to a stinky tea made from local pine trees. The sailors who drank tea quickly regained health.

Since Maritime Pine Tree in France was used for lumber, bark was readily available. His experiments resulted in introduction of OPCs as a great healing source. The name Pycnogenol was patented and it only refers to OPCs from Maritime Pine Tree. None of OPCs coming from other sources can legally be called Pycnogenol. The Horphag Company who owns patent and trademark actively pursues people who illegally use name “Pycnogenol” as more and more of those companies are discovering. All OPCs are antioxidants, but their quality varies greatly.

About 15 years ago, Dr. Lamar Rosquist recorded a tape concerning his use of Horphag Pycnogenol. The testimonials were mind boggling and covered a wide range of illnesses. Over a million copies were sold and at least a million more were illegally distributed. Many people who used his tape were selling inferior quality OPCs as pycnogenol and people who bought it did not get results described by Dr. Rosquist. Disappointed, they yelled “Fraud.” Fraud was (and still is) involved, but it is look alike products that are fraud.

Question: I am new to Chinese Medicine and have taken my adult-sized 13 year old to an Acupuncturist who has prescribed Plum Flower brand Jade Screen Tea Pills for her (Yu Ping Feng San Wan). She has been directed to take 12 pills 1X daily to help her with her immune system and allergies. It is distributed by Mayway and has huang qi, bai zhu, and fang feng. I am trying to investigate these herbs to determine if they could harm her in any way. She is currrently taking Allegra and Nasacort, a steroid nasal spray, for allergies. Do you have any info or recommendations of sources of info for me? Many thanks! -Marjie

A: Marjie, that is a great question!

I'm glad you are trying to stay informed- a bit of skepticism toward any medicine makes sense these days... There is a lot of weird stuff that gets passed under guise of 'Alternative Medicine.'

Welcome to Oriental Medicine! Chinese herbal medicine is quite different from western pharmaceutical medicine. I am glad that you are seeing a practitioner for herbs- herbal self-prescription can be dangerous. If your acupuncturist has been trained in herbs (the degree of herbal training varies by school and by state), then they should know what they're doing.

YPFS (Yu Ping Feng San) is often prescribed for exactly purpose you described. It is also commonly taken to prevent colds, especially if they are chronic. It may take 1-5 months for effect to take hold. YPFS is indicated for people with symptoms of: aversion to drafts, spontaneous sweating (without exercise), recurrent colds, shiny pale complexion, and these signs: pale Tongue with white coating, floating deficient soft Pulse.

Explaining actions of any herbal formula can be as complex as one of those pharmaceutical package inserts with all biomchemistry, drawings of molecules, etc. Oriental Medicine is its own complete system of medicine complete with its own set of terms and concepts. But I will attempt to explain YPFS to you in regular English: