Herbal Ashwagandha Protects the Heart Against Damage in Post Myocardial Injury

By Kyle J. Norton

The circulatory system consists of the heart, blood vessels, and blood with the function to transport of nutrients, oxygen, and hormones to cells throughout the body and removal of metabolic wastes (carbon dioxide, nitrogenous wastes).

Cardiovascular disease is a class of chronic conditions associated with the heart and blood vessels.

According to the statistic cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women in the US with 90% of women having one risk factor.

Believe it or not, women are 4 times more likely to die from heart disease than breast cancer and 2/3 of women are not aware of heart disease risk for them, according to the Jean Hailes for Women Health in the article cardiovascular health.

Heart disease is a class of diseases associated with interruption of blood flow in the blood vessel or damage of the heart tissue, including coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction.

According to the statistics, heart disease is a leading cause of death in the US. Approximately 2000 people in the general population die of heart disease every day.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the most common type of heart disease, that kills over 370,000 people annually.

The causes of cardiovascular diseases are associated with the accumulation of plaques in the arteries, impeding the blood flow which carries the nutrients and oxygen to the heart, causing damage to the heart tissue and reduced function of the arteries.

In other words, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, weight, depression and family history associated with the early onset of plaques accumulated and impeding function of the arteries are the prevalent risk factors of cardiovascular diseases.

The World Heart Foundation, in the investigation of CVD, suggested that CVD risk factors can be classified by
* Non-Modified risk factors such as age, ethnic background,....... and family history. The risk that can not be controlled

* Modified risk factors such as smoking, high blood cholesterol, and pressure, diabetes physical inactivity,.... and overweight. These types of risks can be controlled through a change in lifestyle and diet.

Ashwagandha also is known as Withania somnifera is a nightshade plant in the genus of Withania, belonging to the family Solanaceae, native to the dry parts of India, North Africa, Middle East, and the Mediterranean.

The herbal medicine has been considered as Indian ginseng and used in Ayurvedic medicine over 3000 years to treat tumors and tubercular glands, carbuncles, memory loss, and ulcers and considered as anti-stress, cognition-facilitating, anti-inflammatory, and anti-aging herbal medicine.


In the urgency to discover a natural ingredient for the promotion of cardio-functioning, researchers examined the efficacy of Withania somnifera (Ws) to limit myocardial injury after ischemia and reperfusion compared to that of Vit E,

The study included Wistar rats (150-200 g) that were divided into six groups and received orally saline (sham, control group), Ws-50/kg (Ws control and treated group) and Vit E-100 mg/kg (Vit E control and treated group) respectively for 1 month.

According to the results of the experiment of Vit E and Ws treated groups that were anesthetized subjected to 45 min occlusion of the LAD coronary artery followed by 60 min reperfusion on the 31st day,

* Postischemic reperfusion rats showed significant cardiac necrosis, depression of left ventricular functions (MAP, LVEDP, (+) and (-)LVdP/dt) and a significant fall in GSH (p < 0.01), SOD, CAT (p < 0.05).

* Postischemic reperfusion rats also demonstrated a fail in LDH and increased cardio stress markers and levels of  MDA, compared to the sham group. 

* In comparison tested, Ws and Vit E favorably modulated most of the hemodynamic, biochemical and histopathological parameters though no significant restoration in GSH, mean arterial pressure VAP.

* More importantly, chronic administration of Ws on markedly augmented antioxidants (GSH, GSHPx, SOD, CAT) compared to Vit E that does not stimulate the synthesis of endogenous antioxidants compared to sham.

Based on the evidence, researchers said, "Ws significantly reduced myocardial injury and emphasize the beneficial action of Ws as a cardioprotective agent".

Taken altogether, Ashwagandha may be considered supplements for the treatment of myocardial injury, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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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.

Sources
(1) Cardioprotection from ischemia and reperfusion injury by Withania somnifera: a hemodynamic, biochemical and histopathological assessment by Gupta SK1, Mohanty I, Talwar KK, Dinda A, Joshi S, Bansal P, Saxena A, Arya DS. (PubMed)