Heart Herbs for Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke

Although the best heart herbs and spices for cardiovascular disease and stroke are garlic, ginger, cloves,mustard, bay leaf, caper, oregano and thyme, most culinary herbs and spices have protective effects against these diseases.

Atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of cardiovascular disease, is characterised by the deposition of cholesterol plaques in the lining of the arteries that may rupture and result in a heart attack or stroke.

Cardiovascular disease is associated with a range of factors including raised cholesterol and triglyceride levels, high blood pressure, sticky platelets, obesity, smoking, diabetes and chronic systemic inflammation.

Herbs and spices are powerful preventative agents against cardiovascular disease, as they modify most risk factors as well as other illnesses and pathological processes associated with this condition.

Risk factors for cardiovascular disease and stroke

The most important of these are elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels, high blood pressure, sticky platelets, smoking, obesity, raised homocysteine levels, genetic predisposition, and related illnesses such as diabetes.

To complicate matters, many of these factors are interlinked and exacerbate one other. Smoking, for instance, also raises blood pressure; obesity increases the chances of developing diabetes and high blood lipid levels, both of which are also associated with a genetic predisposition to these conditions.

Aging on its own and, more so, when associated with weight gain and reduced exercise, is also a major risk factor.

Cholesterol and other blood lipids

Similarly triglycerides are not dangerous as long as their blood levels remain normal, and it is only in excess that these lipids become threats to our health.

Raised levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, as well as imbalances in their lipoprotein carrier proteins, have all been directly implicated as major risk factors underlying cardiovascular disease. These lipid imbalances can, in turn, be caused by a number of factors, including genetic predisposition, high dietary fat intake and liver disease.

Of the blood lipids, cholesterol – a major constituent of atheromatous plaques – is the one most closely linked to cardiovascular disease.

Blood levels of cholesterol may become abnormally high for a number of reasons. Usually the imbalance can be attributed to either a genetic predisposition or a diet high in saturated fats commonly found in animal products.

Once ingested, dietary cholesterol is broken down in the intestines and then re-synthesized in the liver before being released into the blood stream.

Although the cholesterol in our blood is not exactly the same as that found in the food that we eat, an excessive dietary intake may increase the risk of high blood cholesterol levels. Irrespective of whether diet or genes are ultimately responsible, high levels of cholesterol and other lipids dramatically increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Blood lipid imbalances contribute directly to the development of atherosclerosis which, in turn, can lead to a heart attack or stroke.

Atheromatous plaque formation

As these lipids are insoluble in water, they need to be transported in the blood by water-soluble lipoprotein carrier molecules.

The most important of these “molecular suitcases” are low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) which shuttle cholesterol and triglyceride back and forth between the liver and other tissues.

HDL and LDL are both cholesterol transporters, but they have different functions. LDL carries cholesterol to the tissues, and arteries whereas HDL carries it back from these areas to be processed by the liver and excreted in the bile.

Chronic Systemic Inflammation

Spices like garlic, ginger, oregano, rosemary, thyme and others contain anti-inflammatory phytonutrients that inhibit this abnormal inflammatory condition.

Antioxidants present in most spices also play a major role in preventing the oxidation of LDL cholesterol.

Atherosclerosis

The oxygen starvation associated with the reduced blood flow is responsible for the often lethal damage that occurs during these events.

Although the precise mechanisms associated with the development of atherosclerosis have not been fully elucidated, some of these processes, and their associated risk factors, are well understood.

Its formation typically begins during the teenage years, but the process may be accelerated by poor lifestyle habits. In Western countries today it is not unusual to for atherosclerosis to start in young children, resulting in these unfortunate individuals developing the symptoms of cardiovascular disease in early adulthood.

Consisting mainly of calcified, cholesterol compounds, atheromatous plaques cause a gradual narrowing and hardening of the arteries.

This restricts blood flow to tissues, and places extra strain on the heart which has to work harder to pump blood through stiff, narrow blood vessels. Once the plaques occlude more than 50 percent of the lumen of the arteries, cardiovascular disease begins to manifest itself in the form of angina, heart attack and stroke.

"Sticky Platelets"

Platelets can, however, become a health liability if they are too “sticky” and adhere to one another even when there is no bleeding. If this abnormal aggregation involves a significant number of platelets, a clot may develop.

Clot formation may also be precipitated by the rupture of an atheromatous plaque into the lumen of a blood vessel. The more “sticky” the platelets are, the more likely they are to aggregate on the ruptured plaque.

Heart Attack and Thrombotic Stroke

Plaque rupture stimulates platelet aggregation and clot formation at the site of the plaque, and this causes further narrowing of the vessel and aggravation of the already impeded blood flow.

This process occurring in a coronary artery is the fundamental cause of a heart attack. The same event taking place in a cerebral artery may cause a thrombotic stroke, either by blocking an artery at the point of rupture, or by causing a blockage elsewhere in the brain after a piece of the clot becomes dislodged and travels to a smaller, more distant, blood vessel.

Protective properties of key herbs and spices

LDL cholesterol lowering:
Caper, coriander, cinnamon, ginger,fenugreek,garlic

LDL antioxidant:
Ginger, oregano, rosemary, star anise, thyme

Slow platelet aggregation:
Clove , ginger, onion, oregano, rosemary,thyme

Lower homocysteine levels:
Mustard and other brassicas

Anti-inflammatory:
Bay leaf, garlic, ginger, oregano, rosemary, thyme, turmeric

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