New study confirms hawthorn good for an ailing heart

A Little Something Extra

Ask any herbalist what’s good for the heart and you’ll probably get a one-word answer: hawthorn.

For instance – noted herbalist Christopher Hobbs writes that he has a special affection for hawthorn because it helped his father strengthen his heart after a heart attack more than two decades ago.

Hobbs writes: “The extract of hawthorn can increase blood flow to the heart muscle itself, helping to counteract one of the most common modern causes of death in industrial countries – heart attack due to lack of blood flow to the heart.”

Sudden failure

A team of German and U.S. researchers recently tested a hawthorn extract in a trial that included more than 1,440 patients with congestive heart failure.

Writing in the European Journal of Heart Failure, the authors note that hawthorn preparations have been used for centuries in Europe, but their use as a complementary treatment, as an “add-on” with drug treatment, has never been studied.

Subjects received either 900 mg of hawthorn per day, or a placebo, for two years.

Researchers found that the average time to first cardiac event was statistically the same: an average of 620 days for hawthorn, against 606 days for placebo. There was also no statistical difference in mortality rates between the two groups.

But one measure stood out. The authors write that hawthorn extract “can potentially reduce the incidence of sudden cardiac death, at least in patients with less compromised left ventricular function.”

The left ventricle is the lower chamber of the heart that pumps blood to the rest of the body. This function is typically impaired in heart failure patients.

Improvements all around

Last year I told you about a 2003 study in which more than 200 patients with chronic congestive heart failure (CHF) were divided into three groups to receive either 900 mg or 1,800 mg of hawthorn extract daily, or placebo.

After 16 weeks, maximum exercise tolerance increased significantly in the high-dose group compared to the other two groups, and heart failure symptoms improved in both of the extract groups, but not the placebo group. In an 18-month follow up assessment, patients who were taking the extract had a 20 percent reduced risk of CHF-related death compared to placebo

That study was very likely included in a 2008 meta-analysis of 14 clinical trials in which hawthorn was tested on hundreds of patients. Researchers found that adding hawthorn as a complementary treatment along with conventional CHF treatments, significantly improved exercise tolerance, maximal workload, fatigue, and pressure-heart rate product (an index of cardiac oxygen consumption).

Adverse side effects were described as “infrequent, mild, and transient.”

Talk to your doctor before adding hawthorn to your daily regimen. CHF patients might want to consult with an experienced herbalist to make sure they receive a potent, high- quality hawthorn extract.

Sources:
“The Efficacy and Safety of Crataegus Extract WE 1442 in Patients with Heart Failure: The SPICE Trial” European Journal of Heart Failure, Published online ahead of print 11/18/08, sciencedirect.com
“Hawthorn Extract for Treating Chronic Heart Failure” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2008 Issue 1, mrw.interscience.wiley.com