Hawthorn: Promotes Cardiovascular Health!

• Helps balance blood pressure.
• Believed to support heart and circulatory system health including heartbeat, blood flow, control of artherosclerotic plaque.
• Used by practitioners for help in preventing angina attacks.
• In a study of 132 individuals, standardised hawthorn extract compared favorably to captopril, a member of a class of prescription medications known as ACE-inhibitors.
• May be useful in treatment of Raynaud’s disease and varicose veins.
• Another study involving 136 patients, the hawthorn group showed improvement in the areas of heart function evaluated, whereas the placebo group did not.
• May be useful for promoting restful sleep.
• Research indicates hawthorn may help preserve collagen.

What is Hawthorn?

Hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantha) grows as bushy shrubs or small trees that were often planted as fences or hedgerows in northern Europe. Now found growing throughout mild climate areas of North Africa, West Asia, Europe, and North America, Hawthorn adapts to a wide range of growing conditions. A member of the rose family of plants, Hawthorn has fragrant white or pink blooms that are sometimes called mayflowers. Its blossoms are followed by fruits, resembling cherries, that may be eaten fresh or dried, used in cooking, made into jam, or brewed into wine. The wood of Hawthorn, known for its durability, is often used to make handles for tools. For use in medicine, hawthorn leaves and flowers are collected, dried, and powdered.

Historically, hawthorn was used by Roman physicians as a heart drug in the first century A.D. The literature from that period focuses on its symbolic use of hawthorn for religious rites and political ceremonies. During the Middle Ages, hawthorn was used for the treatment of “dropsy,” or congestive heart failure. Today, extracts of the hawthorn plant have been used extensively in Europe to treat a variety of circulatory disorders, including high blood pressure.

Hawthorn is readily accepted as a medicine in Europe: in Germany, hawthorn is approved for the treatment of heart failure by the German Commission E, the German governmental agency that evaluates the safety and effectiveness of herbal products.

Hawthorn’s flowers, leaves and berries are all used in herbal supplements. Each is high in flavonoid content, which gives the plant powerful antioxidant properties. Hawthorn contains three groups of compounds which are key to the plant’s positive effects on the cardiovascular system. These constituent groups are the triterpenoid saponins, the amines and the flavonoids. By inhibiting free radical formation, hawthorn’s antioxidant activity can be beneficial in maintaining healthy heart vessels and promoting overall heart health.

Why should you take Hawthorn?

• Blood pressure: Hawthorn helps lower high blood pressure by dilating the coronary arteries. Hawthorn is a rich source of healthy chemical compounds, including procyanidins and the flavonoids rutin, vitexin, quercetin, hyperoside, and vitexin, which have been shown to dilate blood vessels of the heart and thus improve blood flow (these cardiovascular effects result from taking the herb over a prolonged period). These chemicals also act directly on the heart muscle to increase the force of heartbeats and on the blood vessels to relax the arteries around the heart. It may also lengthen the time that the heart rests between beats. As a result, Hawthorn is recommended for people suffering from high blood pressure.

• Congestive Heart Failure: Clinical trials have also confirmed that hawthorn is beneficial for people with stage II congestive heart failure. Researchers in Germany recently gave hawthorn extract to patients suffering from congestive heart failure and found the patients experienced fewer overall symptoms and showed improvements in stamina and a reduction in blood pressure and heart rate during exercise.

• Arthritis: Hawthorn is also good for arthritis as it helps stabilise collagen, the protein found in joints, and thus protects the joints from damage inflicted by inflammatory diseases. The bioflavonoids present in hawthorn also have potent antioxidant properties.

• Heart Function: Hawthorn also increases energy production within the heart by utilisng the oxygen produced by the presence of the flavonoids.

• Cholesterol reduction: Hawthorn contains procyanidins which have been shown to reduce cholesterol levels and size of cholesterol containing plaques in the arteries. The lowered blood pressure effects dilates the larger blood vessels and also inhibits angiotensin-converting enzymes. This process is mildly diuretic in nature and increases the functional capacity of the heart. The effects generally are not seen until after two weeks of treatment. There are no known side effects and the body tolerates hawthorn extremely well.

CONTRAINDICATIONS:

• If you are pregnant or lactating consult your health care practitioner prior to using Hawthorn.
• There are no known reports of toxicity associated with Hawthorn.