Crataegus as a herbal cardiac

Abstract: The most important constituents of Hawthornextracts are the flavonoids and flavoneglycosides respectively, procyanidines derived from catechin and epicatechin and aromatic carboxylic acids. Evaluation of the pharmaceutical quality of Hawthorn extracts requires the analytical determination of flavonoids and oligomer procyanidines. Pharmacological investigations have shown, that the special Hawthorn extract L1132 improves the perfusion of all areas of the peripheral vessels. In the course of the Crataegus Symposium the results of four clinical placebo-controlled trials with the target parameters "changes in stress tolerance" and "anaerobic threshold" were presented. Alltogether the clinical trials with the Hawthorn extract LI132 showed that the efficacy is dependant on dosage and duration. While dally doses of 300 mg/die on the whole diminish the subjective complaints of patients suffering from heart failure stage II (NYHA), an increase in stress tolerance by higher doses of Hawthorn extract could be demonstrated also by means of ergometric test procedures. In one study the equivalence of Hawthorn extract and the ACE-inhibitor captopril with respect to the effect on stress tolerance could be demonstrated.

Keyword(s): Hawthorn

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