catatonic

[Jorgy]

Thanks fro your answer on OPC. A friend sells it and uses it with his ADHD kids. At the present time we are using stims with good success but if I can find out enough info on this, I may give it a try. Do you know of any web sites with more info on this. Positive and negative. I like to research thougherly anything before using it. Thanks, Sue

[catatonic]

Sue,
This first one probably isn't exactly what you're after, but I found it interesting.

The Journal of Attention Deficit Disorder reported in Sept 2002 on a study that compared methylphenidate (ritalin) with pycnogenol (pin bark extract, a major OPC source) in a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover experiment with adult ADHD cases. They concluded that NEITHER the ritalin nor the pycnogenol provided results better than the placebo. This was not a great study, low doses and short treatment phase, but still it stuck in my mind.

This website has a great deal of information on OPC, but it is very slanted since the site is also devoted to selling OPC: www.opc.cc/

The NIH summary is far more comprehensive but kind of a pain to look through. It attempts to include all of what's currently known "officially" about grape seed extract, pine bark extract and pycnogenol, including safety data and adverse events reported to the FDA.
216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:Jj15e5hB00MJ:ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/htdocs/Chem_Background/ExSumPdf/GrapeSeeds_PineBark.pdf+Oligomeric+Proanthocyanidins&hl=en&start=6&ie=UTF-8

If you read the NIH paper, it appears to be extremely safe to use, with one possible exception. It reduces the effectiveness of antibiotics, especially tetracycline and its derivatives.

There is evidence that it may prevent tumor formation. Mice treated with pycnogenol, or grape seed, or pine bark extract, showed reduced tumor formation when exposed to known tumor-causing agents.

There is considerable evidence that any of the antioxidants in this group offer general health benefits, some of them quite striking. There is no evidence that they have any ADHD-specific benefit. This is because it has NOT BEEN STUDIED. It is not because it's been studied and proven ineffective.

There's a brief summary here, that is more readable than the NIH document, although far less comprehensive:
www.drugdigest.org/DD/DVH/HerbsWho/0,3923,551937|Oligomeric+Proanthocyanidins,00.html

A very good overview, complete with links to research and terminology is here, as well as some drug interactions to be careful of. OPC's possible usefulness in ADHD doesn't even rate a mention:
community.healthgate.com/GetContent.asp?siteid=iHerb&docid=/tnp/pg000670

Hope these help some.