Platelet Inhibitors – Heart Healthy Herbs and Spices
The principal pathology underlying the occurrence of cardiovascular disease is atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Initially this process causes blood vessel narrowing but the subsequent rupture of an atheromatous deposit into the lumen of a coronary or cerebral artery usually results in a heart attack or thrombotic stroke respectively.
Although the precise mechanisms associated with plaque development have not been fully elucidated some of these processes, and their associated risk factors, are well understood. Central to the atherosclerotic process are two principal factors:
- The oxidation and deposition of lipids in the endothelial lining of blood vessels
- An insidious inflammatory process that leads to calcification of the atheromatous deposits and the eventual rupture of these plaques into the lumens of blood vessels.
Specific factors known to accelerate atherosclerosis are generally well-known and include smoking, a diet rich in saturated fats, obesity, lack of exercise and a minimal intake of appropriate phytonutrients. Unfortunately the last factor has not really received the attention that it deserves as we are often (quite rightly) too busy eliminating the adverse factors from our diet to focus on the foods that can help to negate many of the environmental risk factors to which we are exposed.
Apart from food-derived substances such as omega-3 fatty acids, other unsaturated fats and dietary fibre there are a number of compounds found in plant foods that are potent inhibitors of atherosclerosis. There are also several categories of phytonutrients that inhibit platelet aggregation – the abnormal clotting process that aggravates thrombus formation in heart attacks and thrombotic strokes.
How spices help prevent cardiovascular disease
Culinary herbs and spices probably contain the widest, most effective cardiovascular-protective compounds of all food categories – their specific actions are summarized here:
- Blood pressure control: Garlic, fenugreek
- Lower LDL (bad) cholesterol: Caper, coriander, cinnamon, fenugreek, garlic, ginger
- Raise HDL (good) cholesterol): Fenugreek
- Lower homocysteine levels: Mustard, wasabi, horseradish
- Anti-inflammatory: Bay leaf, garlic, ginger, oregano, rosemary, thyme, turmeric
- Inhibit platelet aggregation: Clove, ginger, onion, oregano, rosemary, thyme
Eat a variety of heart healthy spices
One can see that the above list includes at least 10 different culinary herbs and spices – some of which have more than one action. That is why it is important to eat as many of them as possible. Many people make the mistake of assuming that, by eating large quantities of a single spice (garlic, quite rightly, is well-known as a heart-friendly spice), they will protect themselves against cardiovascular disease. While this is true up to a point it is far more important to eat a range of spices as their actions often complement one another through the synergistic relationships that often exist between these valuable foods.
To benefit from the cardio-protective effects of herbs and spices we should eat as many of those mentioned in this article as possible. In addition it would be wise for us to include a range of other herbs and spice in our recipes.
Safety note:
Although spices are very safe, if you are planning to substantially increase your intake of these foods and are on medications such as coumadin (warfarin) and others, it is important to check with your health care provider before doing so.
Keith Scott is a medical doctor with an interest in the healing properties of herbs and spices. He has written several books including “Medicinal Seasonings, The Healing Power of Spices”. Download a free pdf copy of “Medicinal Seasonings” and read more about the health benefits of spices at: => http://www.medicinal-herbs-and-spices.com Watch the VIDEO: Spices – A Health Mystery Solved => http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqIM6QB3wt4
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You have had a stroke. Hopefully, you went to the hospital when you developed your symptoms of weakness, numbness, altered speech or visual impairment. Your hospital care enabled you to limit the damaging effects of the loss of circulation to a portion of your brain. You’ve made it through the acute phase of stroke management. Now what?
You will want to obtain the best achievable outcome from the impairments you already have. If you have “motor” impairments (weakness or clumsiness) you can rest assured that randomized, controlled trials — the gold-standard method for determining a treatment’s effectiveness — have shown that physical therapy can improve your level of functioning. If you have speech impairment, then speech therapy might be beneficial, though this has never been proved by means of randomized, controlled trials.
While it is important to focus on rehabilitation following a stroke, there are also other issues to attend to. As a survivor of a stroke you are at increased risk for another.
Researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Columbia University in New York studied 655 people who suffered first ischemic strokes. (Ischemic strokes are due to plugged blood vessels and not bleeds, and comprise 85-90% of all strokes.) Publishing their results in a March 2006 issue of the journal “Neurology,” the investigators found that in the first five years following the stroke there was an 18% likelihood of another. Over the same time period the research subjects also had a 5% likelihood of a heart attack.
Can you improve your odds? Absolutely! The process of using information from the first stroke to help prevent another is called “secondary stroke prevention.” The idea is that if there is something that can and should be done to reduce one’s risk, now is the time to do it. There is no point in waiting for yet another attack to occur before getting started.
A blue-ribbon panel from the American Stroke Association and American Heart Association reviewed the state of knowledge concerning secondary stroke prevention for patients with ischemic strokes and published their results in a March 2006 issue of the journal “Circulation.” They found that use of blood-pressure-lowering medications has a powerful effect in reducing the risk of a second stroke — ranging from 24-43% in better studies — and this benefit might even extend to patients who have normal blood pressure to start with.
If you have diabetes, then it is especially important to control high blood pressure. Using a medication from the groups of drugs known as “angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors” (ACEIs) and “angiotensin receptor blockers” (ARBs) will not only help control blood pressure, but will additionally help protect the kidneys. If you have diabetes, then it is also important to consider use of cholesterol-lowering medication, especially from the class of drugs known as “statins.” Statins can additionally benefit people without diabetes and even those without elevated cholesterol levels. Of course, in diabetes it is also important to keep the blood-sugar levels as close to normal as is humanly possible.
Quitting smoking is also pivotal in preventing another stroke, and it is never too late in the game to benefit from this difficult but important change. Consumption of more than two standard drinks of alcohol per day also increases the risk of stroke and should be avoided. If you are obese, then it is in your best interests to lose weight through a combination of calorie reduction and sensible exercise.
The carotid arteries are a pair of pulsating blood vessels in the front of the neck that carry blood to much of the brain. If your hospital studies showed that a carotid artery is 70-99% narrowed (severe stenosis) and your recent stroke was downstream from this blood vessel, then you are much less likely to have another stroke if you have a surgical clean-out (endarterectomy) by an experienced surgeon whose complication rate is less than 6%. If you have severe narrowing, but because of some medical or surgical problem the surgery is considered too risky, then insertion of a stent into the narrowed artery can serve as a substitute for endarterectomy.
If the carotid artery on the same side of the stroke is 50-69% narrowed (moderate stenosis), then an endarterectomy can be considered, but the benefit of surgery in these circumstances is much less clear-cut. If the narrowing is less than 50% (mild stenosis), then you are better off leaving the artery alone.
The above recommendations are based on studies in people with atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) which is the most common cause of strokes and, for that matter, heart attacks. But not every stroke is caused by atherosclerosis. That’s why medical testing is important in stroke patients — so that treatment can be tailored to individual circumstances.
What about blood-thinners? If you have atrial fibrillation (a specific pattern of irregular heartbeats) then you are at particular risk to have a stroke due to a blood clot being thrown into the circulation from the heart. In this case warfarin (Coumadin) is the blood-thinner of choice. If for some reason the warfarin cannot be tolerated or is considered too risky, then aspirin is a second-best choice.
If your stroke was due to atherosclerosis, then studies support the use of an “anti-platelet” drug. Platelets are the building blocks from which blood clots are made, and anti-platelet drugs interfere with the ability of the platelets to clump together to form a clot. Antiplatelet drugs of first choice include aspirin by itself, aspirin in combination with extended-release dipyridamole (Aggrenox), and clopidogrel (Plavix).
It’s important to realize that patients who address every risk factor for a second stroke are likely to have the best outcome and the lowest chances of another attack. Handling some risk factors and not others is better than doing nothing at all, but in fighting off a second stroke, you want to use every weapon in your arsenal.
(C) 2006 by Gary Cordingley
Gary Cordingley, MD, PhD, is a clinical neurologist, teacher and researcher who works in Athens, Ohio. For more health-related articles see his website at: http://www.cordingleyneurology.com.
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September 19 2010 04:48 am | General
