Arteriosclerosis

Arteriosclerosis can happen to any artery, but is most serious in those vessels that channel blood to the heart and brain. When vessels to the heart narrow, not only is blood flow to the entire body diminished, but a lot of stress is placed on your heart to work harder as it tries to pump blood through the narrowing passages. Symptoms include leg cramps while walking, changes in skin temperature and color, an altered pulse, headaches, dizziness and memory defects. The problem is that symptoms often do not arise until the problem has progressed to a dangerous phase. In fact, more deaths occur in the United States from arterial and degenerative heart disease than from heart attacks.

Dozens of studies have shown that garlic—a lot of it—keeps arteries healthy by thinning the blood and lowering cholesterol. Typically, the people in these studies took the equivalent of one to four cloves for every 35 pounds of body weight daily. I know that's a lot of garlic, but I've eaten that much for a day or two at a time—to knock out a cold—and still managed to keep most of my friends.

Since arteriosclerosis is worsened by high cholesterol levels, which contribute to the formation of dangerous blood clots, you should consider using the herbs recommended in "Cholesterol Reduction" and "Blood Clots" below. For example, compounds called anthocyanidins, which give foods such as bilberries, blueberries, grapes, hawthorn berries and cherries their bright coloring, reduce your chances of developing arteriosclerosis by slowing down both cholesterol buildup and the blood's tendency to clot. Anthocyanidins also stop a destructive enzyme from attacking the elastic fibers that support the arteries. You get some anthocyanidins when you eat deep red and blue fruits. They are also sold in pill form.

CHOLESTEROL REDUCTION

Cholesterol is on the minds, as well as the plates, of many people these days. In 1984 the results of the Coronary Primary Prevention Trial, a ten-year study on cholesterol involving about 4,000 men, were released. These results showed that lowering blood cholesterol from elevated levels will reduce the risk of heart disease. After that, the anticholesterol bandwagon started rolling.

But even public enemy number one has a good side. Our bodies produce their own cholesterol to make adrenal and sex hormones. You should expect to find some cholesterol in your blood, since that is how it is transported in your body. Problems develop when cholesterol begins collecting on your artery walls. This can begin happening as early as your twenties, but it may be many years before you start noticing any problems. Eventually, cholesterol contributes to arteriosclerosis and the formation of blood clots, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke. And a diminished flow of blood to the brain contributes to senility, depression and memory loss.

For simplicity's sake, I am using the term "cholesterol" in a generic sense. When I talk about lowering cholesterol, it is the LDL (low-density lipoproteins) —the "bad guy" cholesterol—that I am talking about, not the HDL (high-density lipoproteins), the "good guy" cholesterol. There are drugs that lower LDL levels, but these drugs can cause vomiting, headaches, liver damage, internal bleeding and vitamin deficiencies. Why experience side effects like these when a better way to keep cholesterol down to a heart-healthy level is to take herbs and cut fats from your diet? Numerous scientific reports show us that herbs can lower cholesterol almost as much as prescription drugs—about 16 percent.

If North American diets are responsible for our cholesterol problems, at least we can take heart in the knowledge that some of the best cholesterol fighters are found right in our kitchens. Onion, garlic, cayenne, rosemary, turmeric, fenugreek and ginger—add any of these herbs to your meals or take them as pills, teas or tinctures. When participants in a 1991 study were put on an experimental diet that included three ounces of fenugreek seed powder a day for 20 days, their LDL levels fell by about a third, while the HDL levels remained the same. Several other studies on fenugreek showed similar reductions.

Turmeric helps to prevent high cholesterol before it even gets into your bloodstream by interfering with its absorption in the intestine. Studies from India, where turmeric is a popular spice, show that it also improves the body's ability to break down and eliminate cholesterol.

If you are a connoisseur of south Indian­style curry, you may already know about brindal berry. This small yellow fruit is advertised in the United States mostly as a treatment for weight loss—one of its traditional Ayurvedic uses—but modern studies show that it also lowers cholesterol.

Garlic lovers will be happy to learn that there is less heart disease in areas of the world where people eat lots of the "stinking rose," as some affectionately call it. When researcher Arun Bordia, Ph.D., was working in Udaipur, India, he could not help noticing the near absence of heart disease despite the locals' habit of dousing their vegetables in butter. He also observed that vast quantities of garlic were consumed regularly and decided to find out if that could be the secret to the low frequency of heart disease. Sure enough, even when he had volunteers eat butter, their cholesterol levels fell, providing they ate garlic along with it! Take away the garlic, and their cholesterol levels jumped.

Three onions (which are in the same family as garlic and share many of its healing properties) or five cloves of garlic a week are recommended, but if you find that even this much garlic puts too big a crimp in your social life, smaller amounts are also beneficial—or you can take garlic capsules instead. Liquid garlic tested at Loma Linda University in California noticeably reduced blood cholesterol. The German Association of General Practitioners found that dried garlic also reduced cholesterol levels.

Other herbs that keep cholesterol in line may seem even more like food than medicinal plants. In one German study, participants who were given compounds extracted from artichoke showed a consistent reduction in cholesterol levels, with an average decrease of 20 percent. So far, studies on eggplant have been done only on animals, but these preliminary studies indicate that it too may lower cholesterol levels. It's no wonder that India's ancient Ayurvedic medicine considered this vegetable a heart tonic.

The Ayurvedic herb guggul can also be used to slow cholesterol buildup. In studies conducted in India, more than 100 people who took guggul saw their cholesterol go down almost as much as it did in people taking the cholesterol-lowering drug clofibrate. Both the herb and the drug began taking effect about three to four weeks after the people started taking them, but only guggul increased HDL (the good cholesterol) in more than half of the people. A derivative of this relative of myrrh is generally used instead of the raw herb, which sometimes has side effects like skin rashes and diarrhea when used in doses large enough to have a medicinal effect. This derivative of guggul is most commonly available in pill form.

In China, we find that Chinese skullcap, ginseng and sanqi ginseng also keep cholesterol low. Even more impressive are two mushrooms used in China—shiitake and reishi. In various Chinese studies, these mushrooms have dramatically knocked high cholesterol levels down. Chinese skullcap and ginseng are available as bulk herbs, but you will probably need to get sanqi ginseng and reishi in pill form.

Lowering cholesterol can be that easy—just eat. During my class on making dried herbal wreaths, a student asked if any of the herbs we were using were medicinal. I said they were and spoke some about the medicinal effects of garlic. That was all the prompting Joyce needed to tell us her husband's story. When George's physician told him that he was concerned about his high cholesterol reading, Joyce decided to take the situation into her own hands. "Well, I don't know much about medicine," she told us, "or herbs for that matter, but I read about the side effects of those drugs and knew there had to be a better answer. So, I did what I do know how to do best; I started cooking. George—he did what he knows how to do best; he ate everything I put in front of him. We started the day with garlic omelettes, and ate garlic pasta for lunch and anything you can imagine." It worked. George's cholesterol is still not as low as it should be, but they are not through with garlic, either. Joyce is still cooking up a storm, and she also discovered that they could buy garlic capsules.

Another thing George could try is a special type of fatty acid called omega-3, which some researchers believe reduces blood cholesterol. For a long time, the only known source was fish—until Artemis P. Simopoulos, Ph.D., former chairwoman of the National Institute of Health, cut up some purslane one night for her dinner. She had learned to cook this plant in her native Greece, but only now noticed how similar its slippery leaves were to fish oil. The next day, she brought some purslane into her lab for testing, and sure enough, she learned that it contains omega-3. It also has large amounts of vitamin E, probably the most important vitamin for the heart and circulation. Since then, small amounts of omega-3 have been found in flaxseed, soy beans, wheat and oat germs, radish seeds, rapeseed (canola) oil and nuts, especially walnuts.

Fiber is also important, as the proper amount of fiber in your diet keeps your liver healthy, and a healthy liver means that fats will be broken down properly—which is absolutely necessary for a healthy cholesterol level. One teaspoon of psyllium seeds (an herbal laxative sold in any drugstore) soaked in a cup of water, three bran muffins a day (be sure to buy the low-fat kind—most commercial muffins are unhealthy because they're loaded with fat) or a few servings a day of carrots, cabbage, apples, grapefruit, pinto or navy beans or agar will do the trick. You will probably find that herbalists will recommend all of these, since they generally find that the line between medicinal herbs and foods is a thin one. Even the natural fungicide in grape skins increases good cholesterol and lowers the bad. This fungicide is found in wine, but it has to be good wine—cheap, processed wines and those made from grapes treated with pesticides do not have this fungicide.

Remember, though, that dietary habits are not the only lifestyle issues implicated in cholesterol problems. Some of the African Masai of the former Tanganyika and some Jews in Yemen thrived on fat-laden, high-cholesterol diets, but never got heart disease until they emigrated to other countries and adopted a Western lifestyle. Researchers from San Antonio's School of Aerospace Medicine in Texas conducted a series of studies to determine whether stress might be a factor in elevating cholesterol. They found that cholesterol increases after only one hour of either emotional or physical stress, such as overexposure to cold. Worse, they found that if you stay stressed for a few hours, your cholesterol can remain high for more than a week. They even sent some lucky people to Hawaii to relax...and eat two eggs a day. In every case, their high cholesterol levels dropped and stayed low, until they returned home. Studies conducted at Stanford Research Center and Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco showed that cholesterol also increases in medical students before exams and in accountants around tax time every year.

Of course, you do not have to move to a remote area of the world to keep cholesterol—and stress—under control. You can simply use the herbal treatments suggested in "Stress" in chapter 20. Two of your best choices are the sedative herbs valerian and motherwort, which also reduce high blood pressure. Since the cholesterol that you eat is processed in the liver, you might also consider taking herbs to keep your liver healthy. Herbs such as milk thistle can help keep your liver happy and your cholesterol low.

Low-Cholesterol Tea

1 teaspoon each roasted chicory root and lime flowers

½ teaspoon each fenugreek seeds and ginger rhizome

1 quart water

Combine ingredients in a pan and bring to a simmer. Cover and steep for about 20 minutes. Strain herbs. Drink 1 or 2 cups a day. The formula can also be made into a tincture using the same proportions. If you prefer a tincture, take ½ to 1 dropperful a day.

BLOOD CLOTS

Blood clots are life-saving when they heal a wound, but turn life-threatening when they create a blockage in a blood vessel. When this happens, your heart beats harder and harder trying to push the blood past the obstruction—the result can be a heart attack as the heart overexerts itself or a stroke if the blockage prevents the flow of blood to the brain. The accumulation of cholesterol in blood vessels is a serious risk factor for developing clots. All blood clots, especially in the legs, should be examined by a doctor. There is always a chance that clots in the leg will break away and travel to your lung, where they can produce a pulmonary embolism. (While strokes and heart attacks can also be caused by blood clots, only clots in the deep veins cause these body traumas.) If you have a minor clot in your leg, see "Varicose Veins and Hemorrhoids" in chapter 25.

It follows that treatments that reduce cholesterol also reduce your chances of developing blood clots. French scientists investigating herbs for the circulatory system have found that hawthorn, motherwort, ginkgo, bilberry, evening primrose oil and guggul, a relative of myrrh, are some of the best herbs for reducing the risk of blood clots. In addition, the enzyme bromelain from pineapple and the flavonoids known as anthocyanidins, which come from bilberry and other dark fruits, not only keep blood clots from forming, but also break down plaques of cholesterol that have already formed inside the arteries. Bromelain, evening primrose oil and anthocyanidins are usually available only as pills, but you can buy the other herbs in a variety of forms. You can also get anthocyanidins into your system by taking pills that contain bilberry or other herbs that are high in these compounds. These pills are available in most natural food stores.

You might be surprised how many anticlotting herbs you already have in your kitchen: garlic, onion, cayenne, lemongrass, turmeric and ginger. If you are thinking that this sounds like a recipe for curry, that's because it is. Studies reported in 1977 showed that garlic breaks down fibrin—the substance that blood clots are made of—and thus stops clots from forming. A 1992 study showed that garlic works even better to reduce blood clots when heated slightly; when you cook with garlic, you get a small medicinal dose. Onions have the same effect, and along with motherwort, they also stop the blood's tendency to clot—even right after eating a fatty meal.

One study conducted in the early 1980s found that ginger prevented blood clots from forming even better than garlic or onions. And in another study, turmeric was found to be so effective that the authors who reported it in a 1986 article in a German medical journal regarded it as the treatment of choice for anyone prone to developing blood clots.

Doctors recommend an aspirin a day to reduce your chance of blood clots and strokes. The aspirin helps by thinning your blood. Perhaps someday they will instead recommend the mo-er mushroom, also known as black tree fungus. For centuries, the Chinese have claimed that this fungus increases longevity, but no one knew that it stopped blood from clotting. That is, not until a medical researcher happened to eat them one evening at a Szechuan restaurant, then gave himself a routine blood test the next day. When he saw the results, he was amazed at how much his blood had thinned. He correctly guessed that it was something he ate! It turns out that mo-er prevents blood cells from clotting. You can find mo-er in any Chinese grocery or in Chinese herb formulas, but don't over-do it. The mushroom is safe in average doses, but it works so well at thinning your blood that it can make your nose bleed if you take huge quantities of it!

Physicians in at least one cardiology clinic in Israel are recommending ginger instead of aspirin to all the patients in their clinic. (Aspirin is frequently used to prevent blood clots.) They suggest a half-teaspoon of powdered ginger a day to prevent clotting. Why? Because ginger inhibits the same blood-clotting compounds inhibited by aspirin—prostaglandins and thromboxane—without any of aspirin's notorious side effects. This interesting ability of ginger was discovered in the same way that the healing powers of the mo-er mushroom were discovered: A researcher at Cornell Medical School conducted a routine blood test on himself one day in 1979 and found that his blood was not clumping as it had been. By process of elimination, he determined that it might be because of his favorite marmalade, which contained lots of ginger. A few tests confirmed his suspicions. Since then, researcher K.C. Srivastava, Ph.D., has conducted several studies on ginger's anticlotting action. In one of these, he found that eating 5 grams of ginger daily for a week counteracted the detrimental blood-clotting effects of 100 grams of butter.

Blood Vessel Tonic

2 teaspoons hawthorn flowers

1 teaspoon each motherwort leaves and ginkgo leaves

½ teaspoon ginger rhizome

Hot water (enough to cover herbs)

Cover herbs with hot water and let steep for 5 minutes. Strain and drink. The same proportions can be used to make a tincture.