Urgent Advances in Protecting Your Heart

One in every 2.4 Americans dies from heart disease. To put it plainly, if you don’t die from it, someone very close to you will. Even
though “only” one in every four of us today has any symptoms—chest pain, high blood pressure, or exertion pain—most of us have some degree of heart disease.

But it’s up to you to do something about it. Pharmaceutical companies would love it if you—and your doctor—continued to use the same old cholesterol-lowering drugs. But there are better alternatives. In the following pages, you’ll learn about surprising research on the causes of heart disease and what you can do to protect yourself.

1. Ayurvedic herb fights angina, heart disease, atherosclerosis and more Once in a blue moon, we uncover a supplement that does so many things, it’s hard even for us to believe it’s real. Such is the case with arjuna. The Terminalia arjuna tree is found throughout India, and its bark has been pulverized and used for heart conditions for over 2,700 years. Researchers are now investigating other diseases that may benefit from this Indian herb, but it’s already a well-proven cardiovascular “cure.”

If you’re under a doctor’s care or taking prescription drugs for any cardiovascular condition, you should consult with a practitioner
before supplementing with arjuna. Because the herb is so potent and effective, the combination of arjuna and drugs may cause too sudden or too severe an effect.

Lower LDL cholesterol by at least 25 percent
Although vitamin E has been shown time and again to be an effective supplement for controlling cholesterol levels, the antioxidant
capacity of arjuna outperformed the vitamin in a recent randomized placebo-controlled trial in India. After only 30 days of supplementation with arjuna, the test group decreased their average LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels by 25.6 percent with a corresponding 12.7 percent drop in total cholesterol. The groups receiving either the placebo or 400 IU of vitamin E had no significant change in either measurement.

At SMS Medical College in India, scientists gave 500 mg of arjuna per day to a group of rabbits suffering from high blood-fat levels. After 60 days of therapy with the herb, the rabbits’ average total cholesterol dropped from 574 to 217 and their LDL levels dropped from 493 to 162. A group of rabbits receiving only 100 mg of arjuna also experienced lower cholesterol levels, although the drop in cholesterol levels was not as significant.

Reduce angina attacks without the side effects of drugs
More than 6.2 million Americans suffer from angina (chest pain) due to an insufficient supply of blood to the heart. While nitroglycerin is a drug often prescribed for this condition, its effectiveness is reduced with each use. Arjuna, however, can continue to relieve angina regardless of how long it’s used. Researchers at Kasturba Medical College in Mangalore, India, tested arjuna against ISMN (Isosorbide Mononitrate), a nitroglycerin-based drug commonly prescribed for stable angina. While ISMN was effective over a 12-week period, it didn’t perform as well as arjuna. The arjuna group had a 30 percent reduction of angina attacks, while the group taking ISMN had a 27 percent reduction. While this is not a significant difference, the performance of arjuna is considerable when you take into account the possible side effects of ISMN—lightheadedness, dizziness, a rapid pulse rate, and blurred vision.

Scientists found none of these side effects with the group taking the herb. And, of course, arjuna can be used without fear that it’ll stop working when you need it most. Another study found that 15 stable angina sufferers taking arjuna for three months experienced a 50 percent reduction in angina episodes. A treadmill test administered before and after the subjects took the herb showed that angina symptoms were significantly delayed after supplementation. Subjects also reduced their systolic blood-pressure levels, had a marked decrease in their body-mass indexes—which indicates weight loss—and experienced an increase in HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels. The researchers concluded that treating stable angina patients with arjuna was an effective way to relieve symptoms.

Patients with congestive heart failure improve in just two weeks
The New York Heart Association has developed a classification system that helps doctors determine the appropriate treatment
depending on the severity of a patient’s condition. Classes I and II are mild, class III is moderate, and class IV is severe and sufferers are completely incapacitated. In a recent doubleblind, crossover, placebo-controlled study, 12 class IV patients with refractory chronic congestive heart failure received arjuna for two weeks in addition to traditional medication. The placebo term of the trial included only traditional medication. During the short treatment with the herb, the patients were reclassified as class III patients due to improvements in a number of cardiac factors. The results were so impressive that during a later third phase of the
study, the same patients continued supplementing with arjuna for 20-28 months in addition to conventional medications. Their conditions continued to improve, and they were able to tolerate additional physical effort.6

Protect yourself from ischemic heart disease
If heart disease runs in your family and you’d like to take preventive measures, arjuna may do the trick. Scientists gave laboratory rats a supplement containing the herb for 60 days, and after that time gave them isoproterenol, a synthetic chemical that causes an irreversible destruction of heart tissue. Researchers found that pretreating the subjects with arjuna offered “significant cardioprotection.” They also found that there was a remarkable reduction in the loss of high-energy phosphate (HEP) stores, a protective factor against ischemia.7 (Ischemia is a reduction in the supply of oxygen to an organ.)

Keep your arteries flowing free and clear

If the cholesterol circulating in your bloodstream isn’t removed on a regular basis, it can deposit on the walls of your arteries. While this happens to everyone to a certain extent, thicker cholesterol deposits reduce the volume of blood flowing through your vascular system and decrease the oxygen reaching your organs. Blood vessels with significant deposits become inflexible and hard, which is why atherosclerosis is also called “hardening of the arteries.” This can cause a deterioration of tissues and organs. Your arteries also deteriorate from the accumulation of cholesterol. If left untreated, atherosclerosis can kill you. But arjuna has been shown to turn around this life-threatening condition.

In one study, rabbits were fed a cholesterol-rich diet to create atherosclerosis and then divided into three groups to compare the effects of cholesterol-lowering supplements. One group of rabbits was treated with arjuna while the other two groups were supplemented with pharmaceuticals proven to lower cholesterol levels. In a comparison of all three groups, arjuna was pronounced as “the most potent hypolipidimic agent” and proved to induce “partial inhibition of rabbit atheroma.”8 These findings indicate that arjuna may help prevent the buildup of fat deposits in your arteries and possibly correct the deadly effects of atherosclerosis.

The same herb may fight cancer as readily as bacterial infections
One of the unique benefits of herbal therapies is their adaptogenic property. Many times, a single herb can conquer diseases and
medical disorders with seemingly different origins and mechanisms. (Drug therapy is much more targeted and thus limited.) Doctors prescribe antibiotics for bacterial infections and must use completely different types of drugs to fight cancer. Although bacteria and cancer seem to start and spread by different means, arjuna has been shown to successfully fight both. According to the Entomology Research Institute of Loyola College in India, E. coli, which is a dangerous food-borne pathogen, is no match for arjuna. Researchers tested 34 traditional tribal plants of India and found that arjuna had “significant antibacterial activity” against E. coli as well as the bacteria responsible for pneumonia, cystitis (a bladder infection), and pyelonephritis (a kidney infection). 12
Salmonella typhimurium is the culprit behind paratyphoid fever, which is a milder form of typhoid fever, as well as salmonella gastroenteritis, a type of food poisoning. But researchers found that ellagic acid, one of the constituents of arjuna, is quite effective against it and stops it from mutating, thus preventing the spread of disease.

While antibacterial drugs have not been proven to work against cancer, it appears arjuna can live up to this double duty—and withoutthe damaging effects of chemotherapeutic drugs. Many of the side effects of prescription drugs, especially those used to treat cancer, may damage organs or have a serious negative impact on general health. But according to studies at the University College of Medical Sciences and SMS Medical College, both in India, researchers have not found liver or renal damage in either human or animal test subjects receiving arjuna.

While no one drug or therapy works against all types of cancers, arjuna may help fill the gap for some forms of the disease. According to scientists at the Department of Botanical Sciences at Guru Nanak Dev University in India, arjuna has cancer-fighting properties and may be a promising agent for stopping cell mutation16—believed to be one of the first steps in cancer development. By preventing this initial process, arjuna may cut off one of the most common routes used to convert normal cells to cancerous ones. In research conducted by the National Institute of Bioscience and Human Technology in Japan, even osteosarcoma, a type of malignant bone tumor, was found to be no match for arjuna. By inhibiting the growth of osteosarcoma cells, arjuna may be able to prevent the growth and spread of this type of cancer.

T. arjuna is not only effective— it’s inexpensive!
Scientists still don’t fully understand the many disease-fighting mechanisms of arjuna, so research on this herb continues. We’ve only scratched the surface of this incredible tree and will keep you updated as new uses for it are discovered.

This article was featured from Health Science Institute