(NaturalNews) The hawthorn plant comes from the Northern hemisphere, more precisely from Europe, North America and certain parts of Asia. The tree produces berries that are filled with important flavonoids known to be vital antioxidants that are capable of effectively removing damaging free radicals. The hawthorn berries certainly help to maintain healthy cardiovascular functions by protecting veins and arteries while contributing to better blood circulation.
Doctors have apparently started taking advantage of their amazing health benefits all the way back in the first century. In America, the early 1800s is when hawthorn berries were introduced in order to treat circulatory and respiratory problems. They can certainly have a strong impact when faced with cardiovascular conditions such as an irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, chest pains and arteriosclerosis.
Hawthorn's ability to improve blood flow was demonstrated in a study that involved sixty individuals suffering from angina. For a period of three weeks, some of these people were only given a placebo while the others took a daily 180 mg dose of hawthorn berry leaf extract. By the end of the three weeks, the extract group was capable of exercising for much longer periods of time without reporting any chest pains. A very noticeable increase in overall blood flow was thought to be the main reason for this positive outcome.
Hawthorn extracts can treat chronic heart failure
The New York Heart Association reported several trials that came up with compelling results proving hawthorn extracts can control and improve all symptoms related to chronic heart failure. Data was analyzed and gathered from more than 850 individuals involved in the studies. Scientists revealed that the hawthorn extracts not only outperformed the placebo factor, but they were directly responsible for major improvements such as an increased tolerance to exercises and generally speaking less shortness of breath or fatigue.
Back in 2002, a few dozen participants suffering from mild hypertension got involved in a 10- eek study in order to evaluate hawthorn's ability to control its symptoms. Besides placebos, hawthorn and magnesium supplements were given to the selected individuals. Although it may be hard to assess if hawthorn had a much bigger impact than magnesium, it was evident that the extracts played a vital role in drastically diminishing diastolic blood pressure and anxiety in comparison with placebo extracts.
In another study, 1200 mg hawthorn extracts were administered daily to type 2 diabetes patients for a period of 16 weeks. Final results convincingly showed that blood pressure was lowered in the hawthorn group rather than the placebo one.
Past tests did show conclusive evidence that regularly taking up to 900 mg daily doses of hawthorn extracts can be as effective as taking low doses of a prescriptive heart medication such as Captopril.