THE BEAUTY of a spring meadow in bloom. The profound sense of presence in a grove of redwoods. The appearance of tiny green shoots in a garden--all these things can give flight to the heart and bring us peace. Yet the heart-healing power of the earth's magnificent flora is not just spiritual; it can be physical as well.
Garlic and hawthorn berries are two herbs you can take every day to gently strengthen your heart and circulatory system, and prevent heart disease. A word of warning though: Self-diagnosis is a very hazardous pastime! If you suspect you have any kind of heart condition, see your health-care practitioner. Keep in mind that the favored tools of cardiology--drugs and surgery--do have an appropriate place and can be dramatically successful at treating acute conditions and cardiac emergencies.
Our discussion of garlic and hawthorn berries is limited to their use by generally healthy persons. While well-trained phytotherapists (health-care practitioners clinically trained in the use of botanicals) may have striking results when using them for patients with heart conditions, the layperson's use of these herbs should be as a preventive measure, not a substitute for medication. Like a low-fat vegetarian diet and regular exercise, herbs that benefit the circulatory system are best viewed as one aspect of a healthful lifestyle (see "Prevention Is the Best Medicine," p. 106).
THE HAWTHORN BERRY (Crataegus spp.) is a heart tonic whose benefits have been well-known for decades. The renowned turn-of-the-century physician and medical herbalist Dr. Finley Ellingwood said the herb was "superior to any of the well-known and tried remedies at present in use for the treatment of heart disease, because it seems to cure while other remedies are only palliative at best." Numerous studies conducted in Europe have confirmed the contribution of hawthorn berries to heart health, leading to their recognition by the German government as an approved heart medication.
Research indicates that hawthorn berries increase the strength of heart contractions, normalize irregular heartbeat and increase coronary circulation by dilating the coronary arteries; the net effect is that hawthorn reduces the likelihood of anginal attacks (Planta Medica 1981, 43[3] 209). Medical researchers have concluded that they are useful for the long-term treatment of "loss of cardiac function," any situation in which the patient feels congestion and "oppression" in the heart region, mild arrhythmia and conditions of the aging heart not severe enough to warrant taking drugs. Most significantly, no side effects have been noted.
When used on a regular basis, hawthorn berries have a gentle but long-term preventive effect against degenerative age-related changes. If hawthorn berries are used consistently--every day for a year, for example--the tonic effects could be expected to continue for a couple of months if you were to stop taking them. In the hands of a health-care practitioner trained in the clinical use of botanicals (in the United States, this means mainly naturopaths), hawthorn berries also may be used therapeutically for such conditions as myocardial problems, angina pectoris and hypertension; response time varies depending on the severity of the condition, but 100 drops of tincture (two to three droppersful) twice a day can be expected to provide relief within four to six weeks. (Again, if you have a heart problem, you should be under the care of a physician.)
For the healthy person, hawthorn berries should be seen not as medicine, but as food. You can make a very pleasant-tasting tea by taking 2 teaspoonsful of hawthorn berries and placing them in a cup or glass jar. Pour one cup of boiling water over the berries, cover and let steep 15 minutes or so, then strain and enjoy. The number of cups you can drink per day is limited only by your fondness for the beverage.
Another way to incorporate hawthorn berries into your diet is to make a conserve, which you can spread on toast, muffins or the like. Soak a large handful of dried berries in enough apple juice to cover plus a few inches; add a cinnamon stick and leave overnight in the refrigerator. The next day, remove the cinnamon stick and add honey to taste. Keep refrigerated.
THE GOODNESS OF GARLIC
GARLIC (Allim sativum) has been used therapeutically for centuries. Records of its medicinal use date back 5,000 years in India and 3,000 years in China; the first Egyptian medical text, the Ebers papyrus, refers to garlic's use as long ago as 1550 B.C. Worldwide it is still used as an antiseptic and treatment for all kinds of infection.
Garlic also has an international reputation as a remedy for generally improving the health of the cardiovascular system. Indeed, more than 30 years of research shows that garlic lowers cholesterol and triglyceride levels. In an excellent review of the voluminous clinical research on garlic, Michael Murray, a naturopathic physician and herb researcher in Bellevue, Wash., concluded that in patients with initial cholesterol levels greater than 200 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl), supplementation with commercial preparations containing at least 10 mg. of alliin can lower total serum cholesterol 10 percent to 12 percent. In addition, levels of low-density lipoprotein, or "bad" cholesterol, decreased by about 15 percent; high-density lipoprotein, or "good" cholesterol, increased about 10 percent; and triglyceride levels dropped by about 15 percent (The Healing Power of Herbs, Prima Publishing, 1995).
Garlic also has been found to reduce clots in blood vessels, apparently because it works on the "stickiness" of blood platelets, reducing their tendency to clump together and inhibiting the release of clotting factors in the blood. One German study looked at subjects with elevated platelet aggregation and found that taking 900 mg. of garlic supplements containing 1.3 percent alliin every day eliminated the aggregation (Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther Toxicol [1991] 29:151-155).
For preventive purposes, the recommended daily intake of fresh garlic is 4 grams, equal to about one clove; interestingly, while cooking destroys garlic's anti-microbial effects, its benefits to the heart remain intact. For those who are not garlic lovers, there is a wide range of supplements labeled as odor- and taste-free. Garlic can easily lose its therapeutic constituents if it spends too much time in processing and storage, so be sure the label says that a daily does provides at least 10 mg. of alliin or total allicin potential of 4,000 micrograms. Such a supplement will be as effective as fresh cloves.
Keep in mind that there is more to practicing herbalism than just taking some medicine. The healing properties of herbs come not only from their chemical constituents, but from the opportunity they offer an alienated humanity to reconnect with nature and experience ourselves as an integral part of it. Seek out herbs where they grow, enjoy the sounds and songs of wildlife, notice the glory of the sunset. Take time to surround yourself with nature, and let it nurture and heal you.
