Pine-bark extract helps brain function

Can we get this added to our list of possible drug therapies?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/national/6000084/Pine-bark-extract-helps-brain-function
Ronny Franks has spent the past year battling to regain her memory after suffering a traumatic brain injury when she tripped and hit her head on a wooden floor.
The Auckland woman, like thousands of others in New Zealand, suffers the daily frustrations of trying to remember what she did yesterday, trying to sleep with issues such as ringing in her ears, and learning to live with the difficulties and fears of a brain injury.
"I can't remember anything, not even what I did yesterday. I'll go to the cupboard and I can't remember why or what I want. It's frustrating and scary."
Franks, 64, a former Air New Zealand assistant accountant, was one of 60 people who were recently involved in a study to test the effectiveness on brain injury of a supplement containing New Zealand pine bark extract.
The study, by a team of AUT University researchers, headed by Professor Valery Feigin, the director of AUT's National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neuroscience, and Dr Alice Theadom, found the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of the extract meant people were three times more likely to recover their everyday memory than those who took a placebo.
Enzogenol, the name of the supplement, is a natural extract from the bark of New Zealand-grown pines.
The aim of the study was to explore its effectiveness in improving verbal and working memory, information processing speed, attention span, everyday memory difficulties and post-concussive symptoms in patients three to 12 months after a mild traumatic brain injury.
Theadom said the preliminary results indicated an improvement in day-to-day cognitive functioning.
"There was a significant improvement on the reporting of cognitive failures such as walking into a room and forgetting what you went in for, failure to remember names, forgetting directions on a familiar route, and forgetting to respond to correspondence."
Franks said the difference she noticed during the study was amazing. Each time she was interviewed she had to sit a random memory test, where she was asked to recall 20 items. When she started she could remember only the last four, but as the trial wore on she was able to remember all 20 each time.
"I was happy, I felt different – I felt very positive, I could just remember everything."
Feigin said 90 New Zealanders suffered a brain injury every day, including stroke, and traumatic brain injury was a leading cause of disability and death, costing the health system an estimated $100 million a year. There are now plans for a full clinical trial.