Herbal Extract Extends Life For Heart Failure Patients

An herbal medicinal substance, Crataegus Extract WS®1442, safely extends the lives of congestive heart failure patients already receiving pharmacological treatment for the disease, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology's 56th Annual Scientific Session. Crataegus Extract WS®1442 is an extract of leaves of the Crataegus tree, and is a natural antioxidant. The herb is currently approved for use in some European countries to treat early congestive heart failure, a condition in which the heart cannot pump enough blood to the body's other organs.

 

The randomized, double-blind trial, known as the SPICE study, was conducted at 156 centers in Europe. The majority of the patients were male (84 percent) and nearly half the group (44 percent) were classified as NYHA III, meaning they were significantly impaired by their heart condition. The primary endpoint of the study was time to first cardiac event, including sudden cardiac death, death due to progressive heart failure, fatal heart attack, non-fatal heart attack or hospitalization due to heart failure.

A total of 2,681 patients with markedly impaired left ventricular function -- indicating advanced congestive heart failure -- were randomized to WS®1442 or placebo for a duration of two years. All patients were already receiving pharmacological therapy with ACE-inhibitors (83 %), beta-blockers (64 %), glycosides (57 %), spironolactone (39 %) and diuretics (85 %).

Dr. Christian J. F. Holubarsch and his team saw a 20 percent reduction in cardiac-related deaths among patients on WS®1442, extending patients' lives by four months during the first 18 months of the study. The safety of the compound was confirmed by a lower number of adverse events among the study group than those on placebo.

"WS 1442 is safe in patients with more severe congestive heart failure and left ventricular ejection fraction lower than 35 percent," said Dr. Holubarsch of Median Kliniken Hospitals in Bad Krozingen, Germany, and lead study author. "It postpones death of cardiac cause after 18 months and sudden cardiac death in an important subgroup of patients."

Dr. Holubarsch wil present "Crateagus Extract WS 1442 Postpones Cardiac Death in Patients With Congestive Heart Failure Class NYHA II-III: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Trial in 2,681 Patients" on  March 27  at the American College of Cardiology's 56th Annual Scientific Session.

Herbal Remedies Gain Popularity

Chileans are rediscovering the ancient herbal remedies of the Mapuche indigenous tribe, including a sexual energizer touted as a natural Viagra and other inexpensive alternative medicines.

Chile's largest native ethnic group, the Mapuche, who live mainly in the Temuco area of southern Chile, have long used a wide variety of herbal remedies for everything from arthritis and acne to a lack of libido.

One of the most popular remedies, palwen, known as "Mapuche Viagra," was snatched up earlier this year by enthusiastic tourists attending a local song festival, who exhausted supplies of the aphrodisiac in the port town of Valparaiso. 

The Mapuche, whose name means people of the earth, are famous for their fierce resistance to the Spanish conquest. Their modern-day population is relatively small, and indigenous culture is not as influential in Chile as in other Latin American countries. 

The herbal medicine trend has made many Chileans reclaim a part of their Indian heritage. 

"A year ago I discovered Mapuche medicine and it's worked. I'm now being treated for arthritis. I use it to complement the medications my doctor prescribes," Aurora Navarrete, a 59-year-old housewife, told Reuters.

The natural remedies got a boost four years ago when the Mapuche community took over the administration of the Maquehue Hospital in Temuco and set up a pharmacy project using regular doctors and Mapuche healers called machis.

The machis set up traditional Mapuche wooden huts called rucas on the hospital grounds so that patients could opt for Mapuche remedies as well as modern medical treatments, with many taking advantage of both.

The herbalist pharmacy venture, called Makelawen and owned by Herbolaria de Chile (Herbalists of Chile) and a Mapuche trade organization, has spread across the country, growing from one pharmacy with 50 clients to seven pharmacies, including four in the capital, Santiago.  

MAPUCHE WISDOM 

Oclida Millallanca, a 28-year-old Mapuche woman in traditional dress wearing the signature crown of silver coins draped across her forehead, tends the Makelawen pharmacy in downtown Santiago.

"I'm like a psychologist. People tell me about their problems, their physical and spiritual complaints. People trust Mapuche wisdom," said Millallanca as Mapuche music played in the background.

The Makelawen pharmacy does not look like an immediate threat to Chile's retail pharmacies, which are dominated by three major chains, but it is gaining followers.

"My children and I use this type of alternative because it's more natural," said housewife Liliana Dorival, 56. "I have different varieties of these medications, they're good."  

Makelawen now offers nearly 50 products, which are sold as liquid tinctures based on plant extracts. At $3.80 a bottle, they are cheaper than most conventional medicines.

 

Ayurveda: The Good, the Bad and the Expensive

 

For those who find acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine oh-so 1990s, India might have what you crave: its ancient healing system called ayurveda.  The powerhouse of the Asian subcontinent is preparing for a major boom in health tourism.

Hotels spas such as Taj Wellington Mews in Mumbai offer aromatherapy messages, body scrubs and generous showers of flower petals, marketed toward Western clientele.  With scented candles and mineral baths, you'll be treated to ayurveda-light, which is a good thing. 

Like traditional Chinese medicine, ayurveda is a complex and sometimes insightful regimen for healthy living developed thousands of years ago.  But perhaps even more so than its Asian rival, ayurveda can border on the bizarre, for it is deeply rooted in astrology and outdated beliefs.

Light-years ahead of the West

While Europe was a backwater in the immediate centuries after the birth of Jesus, India was developing an advanced civilization.  Doctors there knew how to sew wounds, drain fluids, remove kidney stones and perform basic surgery, even nose jobs.  This is documented in the Susrutha Samhita, the oldest known surgical text.

Yet the mere fact that ayurveda developed in this brilliant ancient culture doesn't mean it doesn't have its serious flaws.  The system is based on the concept of imbalances, much like China's yin and yang and medieval Europe's four humors.  With ayurveda there are three forces, or dosha, called vata, pitta, and kapha.  Imbalances cause disease, the story goes. 

Then along came Western allopathic medicine, the Rodney Dangerfield of the medical world.  Its identification of viruses, bacteria and genetic disorders as the underlying cause of disease has nearly doubled human life expectancy in the past 100 years.  Still, it gets no respect. 

Largely divorced from the knowledge of diseases that plagued our ancestors, Americans are increasingly turning to ancient cures like those found in the ayurvedic system. 

Celebrity-based medicine

Ayurveda beyond the borders of India was made popular by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, famed multi-millionaire guru to the Beatles, and by Deepok Chopra, whose best-selling books and lectures on the subject speak of reversing the aging process, levitating and improving your golf game.  They are quite popular with the jet set. Chopra was earning $25,000 per lecture by the end of the 1990s.

At best, ayurveda is a healthy lifestyle that promotes a vegetarian diet and relaxation.  As with traditional Chinese medicine, its insight into herbal cures is keen.  Some of these herbs are being studied by Indian scientists and turned into reliable medicines.  Herbs, after all, are the basis of conventional pharmacology.

At worst, ayurveda is a billion-dollar business of sham cures based on astrology, gem healing, psychic healing, mantras and pop culture, spun through either fraud or naiveté.  One concern is the herbal concoction given for treatment.  Heavy metals have long been part of the ayurvedic tradition, and a 2004 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found the 20 percent of herbal remedies sold around Boston had harmful amounts of lead, mercury or arsenic.

Another concern is the diagnosis, based on unconventional methods of pulse-taking and other bodily signs to determine the levels of vata, pitta, and kapha.  The treatment, depending on your healer, will likely take into effect the position of the planets, because Mars is related to blood and the liver, and Venus, you may have guessed, is tied to impotency.

Ayurveda today

Fortunately when you buy ayurvedic soap, you're not really tapping into the most bizarre and potentially harmful aspects of ayurveda; you're just buying soap at twice the price.

At its most basic level, ayurveda's emphasis on a balanced diet with exercise, such as yoga, could help prevent chronic diseases plaguing the United States.  That's not too shabby.  But caution is needed once you begin treating cancer and serious diseases based on the alignment of the moon in Aquarius.

Hindu way of healing works

Ayurveda, an ancient Hindu healing method, has seen a resurgence as India vies for a share of the lucrative Asian medical tourism market by offering traditional massages and beauty treatments to wealthy tourists.

Past the glass doors of the spa at Indian Hotels' Taj Wellington Mews in Mumbai is a softly lit ayurveda room with a brass-edged, wooden treatment platform dotted with flowers.

In the corner is an idol of Dhanavantari, the Hindu god of health, garlanded with flowers and lit by an oil lamp. Therapists in cotton saris pray to Dhanavantari before each ayurveda session, from a basic head massage to an intense detox scrub and wrap, that can last from 45 minutes to five-and-a-half hours and are priced at 950 rupees to 10,000 rupees.

Ayurveda (`ayu' means life and `veda' knowledge in Sanskrit) is an ancient Hindu system of holistic healing with herbs, metals and minerals that are believed to have therapeutic benefits.

India, like Thailand, Singapore and other countries in the region, is pushing for a share of Asia's medical tourism market which is forecast to grow almost four times in value to C$2.8 billion by 2012.  The push is coming via luxury hospitals for foreigners and wealthy locals staffed by highly-trained doctors such as Apollo Hospitals, which offers low priced surgeries - from cardiac to plastic - along with guided tours.

But the revival of more traditional remedies through treatment centers and beauty products is also seen as a potentially lucrative drawcard for tourists as well as locals becoming increasingly affluent from India's economic transition.

Pharmacies and shops carry a range of over-the-counter herbal and ayurvedic products containing combinations of herbs, spices, flowers and fruits.

Their products - ranging from face packs to throat lozenges and medications to treat hair loss, diabetes and skin disease - generate a big chunk of the estimated US$200 million to US$300 million alternative therapy market in India's beauty industry.

The modern Indian market for alternative therapies is dominated by hundreds of traditional practitioners and small firms that peddle creams, syrups and pills in unmarked jars or wrapped in paper. Lever, which picked ayurveda as a new growth engine, has more than 40 Ayush ayurveda centers that offer therapies, yoga and meditation classes and is adding two more every month.

"Especially at the top end, consumers are concerned about issues such as hygiene and safety, and are more trusting of well-known companies," a Lever spokesman said. L'Oreal recently said it was looking to buy a small Indian brand to launch a worldwide foray in ayurveda.

But Milind Sarwate, chief financial officer of Marico, which owns the Sundari ayurvedic line in the United States, said it may be hard to apply Western standards and quality control to these traditional therapies and their natural ingredients.

Yoga camp by Swami Ramdev in Chicago

Swami Ramdev, world renowned Yogi well versed in Sanskrit, Ayurveda and Vedic philosophy, will be holding his Yoga Camps for the first time in Chicagoland this July.

The man whose name has become synonymous with Yoga in India and elsewhere will be here from July 11 thru July 15 at Max-McCook Athletic & Exposition located in Mc-Cook, Illinois, to teach the ancient yogic science of Pranayama to thousands. Swami Ramdev started efforts to popularize Yoga in 1995 with the establishment of Divya Yoga Mandir Trust along with Acharya Balkrishna. The mission of the trust is to spread yoga to the masses and heal as many patients as possible. Now thousands of people are attending his yoga camps or shibirs. Millions watch his television programs all across the globe and read his books and learn from DVDs. To him goes the credit of starting a yoga revolution in India and overseas.

Swamiji has envisioned a Rs 100 crores dream project entitled Patanjali Yog Peeth at Bahadrabad, about 20km from Haridwar. According to him, it is expected to catapult Yoga and Ayurveda to its zenith, and lead to mental, spiritual and physical development of people. To be completed in three years, it is an ambitious project with a Yoga university, a naturopathy department which can handle 1,000 patients at a time, a residential complex of patients, a hall for 5,000 people to practice Yoga and the world's largest hospital ward to treat 5,000 patients a day.

All the proceeds received from Swamiji's July Chicago Camp will go to this Rs 100 crores Patanjali Yog Peeth project. The yoga sessions will be morning and evening 6 am to 9 am and 6 pm to 9 pm. This five-day camp is being organized by Anu and Bharat Malhotra. Anu Malhotra has been teaching free pranayama classes for the past five years at American Physical therapy and Sports Medicine Clinic.

India's ayurveda an Asian healing alternative

Those looking for an Asian alternative to traditional Chinese medicine might consider India and its ancient healing system called ayurveda, media reports said Wednesday.

     Those looking for an Asian alternative to traditional Chinese medicine might consider India and its ancient healing system called ayurveda, media reports said Wednesday.

    Like traditional Chinese medicine, ayurveda is a complex and sometimes insightful regimen for healthy living developed thousands of years ago. But perhaps even more so than its Asian rival, ayurveda can border on the bizarre, for it is deeply rooted in astrology and outdated beliefs.

    While Europe stagnated for several centuries after the fall of Rome, India was developing an advanced civilization. Indian doctors knew how to suture wounds, drain fluids, remove kidney stones and perform basic surgery. This is documented in the Susrutha Samhita, the oldest known surgical text.

    That doesn't mean ayurveda didn't and still doesn't have serious flaws. Similar to China's yin and yang and medieval Europe's four humors, ayurveda is based on the concept of imbalances. With ayurveda there are three forces, or dosha, called vata, pitta, and kapha. Imbalances cause disease, the story goes.

    Ayurveda beyond the borders of India was made popular by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, famed multi-millionaire guru to the Beatles, and by Deepok Chopra, whose best-selling books and lectures on the subject speak of reversing the aging process, levitating and improving your golf game. They are quite popular with the jet set. Chopra was earning 25,000 U.S. dollars per lecture by the end of the 1990s.

    At best, ayurveda is a healthy lifestyle that promotes a vegetarian diet and relaxation. As with traditional Chinese medicine, its insight into herbal cures is keen. Some of these herbs are being studied by Indian scientists and turned into reliable medicines. Herbs, after all, are the basis of conventional pharmacology.

    At worst, ayurveda is a billion-dollar business of sham cures based on astrology, gem healing, psychic healing, mantras and pop culture, spun through either fraud or naiveté.

    One concern is the herbal concoction given for treatment. Heavy metals have long been part of the ayurvedic tradition, and a 2004 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found 20 percent of herbal remedies sold around Boston had harmful amounts of lead, mercury or arsenic.

    Another concern is the diagnosis, which is based on unconventional methods of pulse-taking and other bodily signs to determine the levels of vata, pitta, and kapha. The treatment, depending on your healer, will likely take into effect the position of the planets, because Mars is related to blood and the liver, and Venus, you may have guessed, is tied to impotency.

    Fortunately when you buy ayurvedic soap, you're not really tapping into the most bizarre and potentially harmful aspects of ayurveda; you're just buying soap at twice the price.

    At its most basic level, ayurveda's emphasis on a balanced diet with exercise, such as yoga, could help prevent chronic diseases plaguing the United States. That's not too shabby. But caution is needed once you begin treating cancer and serious diseases based on the alignment of the moon in Aquarius.