Herbal Andrographis Protects Your Heart Against the Onset of Heart Disease

By Kyle J. Norton

Herbal Andrographis may process certain bioactive compounds for the prevention and treatment of heart diseases, some scientists suggested.

Heart disease is the medical condition associated with the blood vessels, including coronary artery disease, heart rhythm, and a heart defect caused by the accumulation of plaques.

Plaque made up of cholesterol, fatty molecules, and minerals accumulated in the arteries can cause stiffening and hardening of the arterial wall and narrowing the arteries, affecting the transportation of oxygen risk blood to the heart.

These result suggested that people who follow the Western diet high in saturated and trans fat, red med meat and processed foods and over the use of calcium supplement are associated with the increased risk plaque building up.

Long-term building up plaques can cause substantial damage to the arterial wall, facilitating the onset of heart disease.

According to statistics, heart disease kills more than 2,000 Americans every day and approximately 60 million Americans have heart disease.

The exact causes of heart disease are debatable. Researchers do not why people who over a few decades of following the Western diet, only some are susceptible to heart disease while many do not, even they have the same health conditions.

The differentiation suggested that some people may process certain genetic preposition which

can increase the development of heart disease.

Dr. Seka Kathiresan, the lead scientist in the study"Genetics of Human Cardiovascular Disease" Cardiovascular disease encompasses a range of conditions extending from myocardial infarction to congenital heart disease most of which are heritable", and

"ANGPTL3mutations as a cause of familial combined hypolipidemia, BAG mutations for dilated cardiomyopathy, NT5E mutations for arterial calcification, KCNJ5 mutations for hereditary hypertension due to aldosterone-producing adenomas, and KLHL3 or CUL3mutations for hypertension and hyperkalemia".

Other risk factors, according to epidemiological studies include obesity insulin resistance or diabetes, high cholesterol and blood pressure, physically inactive, smoking and eating an unhealthy diet are also associated with disease onset.

However, most people who carry some of the risk factors have never developed heart disease.

Andrographis paniculata is also known as Andrographis is a herbaceous plant, genus Andrographis, belonging to the family Acanthaceae, native to India and Sri Lanka.

The plant has been used in traditional Siddha and Ayurvedic in treating the common cold, flu, upper respiratory infections, infectious diseases, diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, pneumonia, swollen lymph nodes, leprosy, bronchitis, sore throats, tuberculosis, chicken pox, etc.

Besides the main ingredient andrographolides, giving the plant a bitter taste, herbal Andrographis also has diterpene lactones, neoandrographolide, andrographolide, 14-doexy-11, 12-didehydro andrographolide, etc., flavonoids viz., oroxylin, wogonin, andrographidines A, B, C, D, E, F.

In the concern of ischemia-reperfusion (I-R) injury in the increase of the complication of myocardial infarction (MI), researchers at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences conducted a study with an aim to find a natural ingredient or whole herb which processes a cardioprotective effect.

In the rat model, hydroalcoholic extract of Andrographis paniculata was evaluated against left anterior descending coronary artery (LADCA) ligation-induced I-R injury of the myocardium.

Selected MI  rats were induced by LADCA ligation for 45 min followed by reperfusion for 60 min and divided into five experimental groups viz., sham (saline-treated, but LADCA was not ligated), I-R control (saline-treated + I-R), benazepril (30 mg/kg + I-R), A. paniculata (200 mg/kg per se) and A. paniculata (200 mg/kg + I-R).

* In I-R control group, LADCA ligation showed a significant cardiac dysfunction evidenced by reduced hemodynamic parameters; mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR).

* The I-R control without treatment of the herbal extract expressed a decline of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione (GSH) but enhanced lipid peroxidation product, malondialdehyde (MDA), a marker of oxidative stress.

After 30 days of 200 mg/kg A. paniculata administered orally, treated group showed favorable improvement of hemodynamic and left the ventricular contractile function, restoration of the myocardial antioxidants and prevention of depletion of myocytes injury marker enzymes along with inhibition of lipid peroxidation.

The results indicated that 200 mg/kg A. paniculata demonstrated a significant cardioprotective activity by inhibiting the adverse effect caused by LADCA in the rat model.

Dr. Ojha SK, the lead author said. "The cardioprotective effects of A. paniculata were found comparable to that of benazepril treatment".

Additionally, in the reaffirming the cardioprotective effect of herbal Andrographis, researchers launched an investigation to examine the watery extract of Andrographis paniculata Nees (APN) activity after one hour of the development of myocardial infarction by the formation of thrombus.

13 dogs were included in the study with 6 of the was served as a control group.

Andrographis treatment group showed a clinically significant efficacy in the improvement of the myocardial structure surrounding the initially appearing ischemic area.

Andrographis exerted a cardioprotective effect in a reversal the damaged area by restoring the damaged area.

The degree of myocardial degeneration and necrosis in the central part of the ischemic area was mild. in the treatment, dogs compared to the control.

These observations strongly suggested that APN processes a cardioprotection by limiting the expansion of ischemic focus, accelerating the reversibly ischemic myocardium.

Taken altogether, herbal Andrographis may be considered a functional food for the prevention and an adjunct therapy combined with the primary medicine for the treatment of heart disease.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.


References
(1) Protective effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Andrographis paniculata on ischemia-reperfusion-induced myocardial injury in rats by Ojha SK, Bharti S, Joshi S, Kumari S, Arya DS. (PubMed)
(2) Protective effects of Andrographis paniculata Nees on post-infarction myocardium in experimental dogs by Zhao HY, Fang WY. (PubMed)
(3) Genetics of Human Cardiovascular Disease by Sekar Kathiresan1, and Deepak Srivastava. (PMC)