Hawthorn Is Nature’s Heart Specialist

First used by the ancient Greek healer Dioscorides for heart problems and used in traditional Chinese medicine since 659 CE, hawthorn has been building its scientific resume ever since.

Powerful and versatile, hawthorn is the greatest cardiovascular herb nature has to offer. It has been shown to benefit high and low blood pressure, angina, cholesterol, arrhythmias, atherosclerosis and, especially, congestive heart failure.

High Blood Pressure

Early research suggested that hawthorn could lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in people whose blood pressure was high. In a placebo-controlled study of diabetics with high blood pressure, most of whom were on blood pressure lowering drugs, adding hawthorn lowered diastolic blood pressure.1 Hawthorn significantly lowered both diastolic and systolic blood pressure in a double-blind study of people with mild hypertension.2

Cholesterol & Atherosclerosis

Studies have suggested that hawthorn can lower cholesterol and stabilize plaque in people with atherosclerosis.3

To do its damage, cholesterol needs to be damaged by oxidation. Hawthorn’s antioxidant powers eliminate the free radicals that damage the cholesterol, according to several studies.

Congestive Heart Failure

Of all the heart benefits of hawthorn, its greatest value is for treating congestive heart failure (CHF), a chronic condition in which the heart can no longer pump blood sufficiently, causing the blood to pool in other parts of the body and fluid to build up in the lungs. CHF can cause shortness of breath and wheezing; cough; fatigue and weakness; swelling in the legs, ankles and feet; irregular heartbeat; swollen stomach; nausea and lack of appetite; difficulty concentrating; and chest pain. It can be life threatening.

Hawthorn improves the heart’s function in several important ways. It increases the contraction of the heart muscle, improving its ability to pump blood; reduces peripheral vascular resistance, improving circulation to the extremities; improves left ventricular ejection fraction; dilates coronary vessels, improving the blood supply to the heart; and increases the tolerance of the heart muscle to oxygen deficiency.

When it comes to CHF, hawthorn turns out to be even more powerful than we thought. Several studies and a systematic review had found it to be effective for class II CHF.4-11 Hawthorn improved heart palpitations, chest pressure, and swelling in the extremities in people with mild to moderate CHF.12

But research now proves it to be effective against even serious class III heart failure.

The study looked at 209 people who were 40 or over, who had had chronic CHF for at least six months and who were already on diuretics. Each of them added either a placebo, 900 mg of hawthorn or 1,800 mg of hawthorn for 16 weeks. The group that received 900 mg twice a day had a significantly greater improvement in exercise capacity than the placebo group and the 900 mg group. Patients rated their typical heart failure symptoms as improved to a significantly greater extent on both doses of hawthorn than on the placebo.

Hawthorn was so safe that the placebo group experienced twice as many side effects. The effectiveness and safety were both best for the 1,800 mg dose.13

One study found that 900 mg of hawthorn provided only modest benefit to people with class III CHF, reinforcing that, though the lower dose may be adequate for class I and II CHF, for people with the more serious class III, the larger 1,800 mg dose may be necessary.

A review looked over the existing research on hawthorn flowers and leaves on both class II and III heart failure to evaluate the risk/benefit of hawthorn. The hawthorn used in the studies was a dry extract standardized for 17.3-20.1 percent oligomeric procyanidins. It found that, while hawthorn has no serious adverse effects and no drug interactions, it effectively improves cardiac performance and exercise tolerance as well as improving the disabling symptoms of heart failure and quality of life. Hawthorn is safe and effective for heart failure: an important finding, the researchers conclude, since “evidence of efficacy for other cardioactive drugs is sparse.”14VR

References:

1 Br J Gen Pract. 2006;56(527):437-43.

2 Drugs Exp ClinRes. 2004;30(38843):221-5.

3 China J Chin Mater Med. 2014;39:1115 1119.

4 Fortschr Med 1986;104;805 8.

5 Fortschr Med 1993;111:352-4.

6 Phytomed 1994;1:17-24.

7 Munch Med Wschr from Page 1 1994;136(Suppl 1):S27-33.

8 Fortschr Med 1996;114:291-96.

9 Arzneimittelforschung 2001;51(10):793-8.

10 Phytomed 2003; 10:363 69.

11 Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2008; 1: Art No.: CD005312.

12 Z Phytotherapie 1998;19:22-30.

13 Am Heart J 2002;143:910 15.

14 Am J Cardiovasc Drugs 2018;18(1):25-36.

Linda Woolven is a master herbalist, acupuncturist and solution-focused counsellor with a virtual practice in Toronto, ON, Canada. Woolven and Ted Snider are the authors of several books on natural health. You can see their books at www.thenaturalpathnewsletter.com. They are also the authors of the natural health newsletter The Natural Path. The Natural Path is a natural health newsletter specifically designed to help health food stores increase their sales by educating their customers. The Natural Path contains no advertising and never mentions a brand name. Retailers can provide The Natural Path Newsletter to their customers. For more information, contact Snider at [email protected] or (416) 782-8211.