Hawthorn is a small tree native to Europe, North Africa and parts of Asia that bears a distinctly bright red berry. Traditional herbal medicine uses the stems, flowers and fruit of hawthorn to treat a variety of ailments. Recent scientific research has supported the use of hawthorn for some conditions. Consult a health care professional to determine the most appropriate course of therapy for your individual needs before supplementing with hawthorn.
Post-Surgery
Hawthorn prevents arteries from becoming re-blocked after surgery to remove blockages, according to a study conducted at the University of Munich. In the procedure, known as balloon angioplasty, surgeons inflate a balloon within a blocked artery to restore blood flow and this can prompt an immune response in which the muscular lining of the artery overgrows, reversing the surgery's benefits. Authors of the study, published in the August 2010 "Atherosclerosis" journal, reported that laboratory rats that were supplemented with hawthorn and subsequently underwent balloon angioplasty showed 44 percent less reproduction of arterial muscle cells than rats that underwent the surgery but did not receive hawthorn.
Better Than Simvastatin
Hawthorn was more effective than the statin drug Simvastatin for lowering cholesterol in a study conducted at Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. In the study on laboratory mice, published in the "American Journal of Chinese Medicine," both hawthorn and Simvastain lowered triglycerides and improved the LDL/total cholesterol ratio. However, hawthorn also lowered levels of LDL -- the bad cholesterol -- whereas Simvastatin did not. The researchers concluded that hawthorn can be useful for lowering cholesterol and preventing atherosclerosis.
Synergistic Effects
Extract of mango bark has a synergistic lipid-lowering effect when combined with hawthorn berry, according to a study conducted at the University of Madras, India. In the study, published in the October-December 2008 "Vascular Pharmacology" journal, laboratory rats fed a high cholesterol diet showed decreased lipids in the blood and also in the heart, liver and aorta. The plant extracts also had powerful antioxidant effects, restoring the status of the antioxidants superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione to near-normal levels.
Polyphenols
Antioxidant compounds known as polyphenols are responsible for hawthorn's cardiovascular benefits, according to a study conducted at the Pasteur Institute, Lille, France. Polyphenols decrease the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, one of the precipitating events in arterial plaque formation, and hawthorn contains high levels of polyphenols, reported the authors of the study, published in the August 2003 "Pharmazie" journal.
Short-term Results
A review of literature on hawthorn, conducted at University Hospital, Stony Brook, New York, reported that it reduces body weight, body fat and blood lipids. The meta-analysis, published in the October 1999 "Family Practice" journal found that after one month on hawthorn, participants' average cholesterol decreased by 15 percent, triglycerides decreased by 9 percent, and levels of oxidized lipids decreased by 22 percent. The authors attributed their results to a strong antioxidant effect of hawthorn.
References
- PubMed.gov: The Crataegus extract WS 1442 inhibits balloon catheter-induced intimal hyperplasia in the rat carotid artery by directly influencing PDGFR-beta
- PubMed.gov: A study of the comparative effects of hawthorn fruit compound and simvastatin on lowering blood lipid levels
- PubMed.gov: Synergistic effect of tincture of Crataegus and Mangifera indica L. extract on hyperlipidemic and antioxidant status in atherogenic rats
- PubMed.gov: Hawthorn extracts inhibit LDL oxidation
- "Family Practice": Selections from current literature: Effects of Hawthorn on the cardiovascular system
