1. Home
  2. Health
  3. Alternative Medicine
Cathy Wong
Alternative Medicine Blog

By Cathy Wong, About.com Guide to Alternative Medicine

Hawthorn Eases Heart Failure Symptoms

Wednesday February 6, 2008

A review of 14 previously published studies has found that the herb hawthorn is helpful for symptoms of chronic heart failure. Compared to a placebo, hawthorn was found to be better at improving exercise endurance and strengthening heart muscle contractions. Side effects were infrequent and mild and included nausea, dizziness and heart and digestive complaints. In most of the studies, hawthorn was used alongside conventional care and didn't replace it.

Unfortunately, none of the studies examined whether hawthorn had any effect on mortality. A large study, whose results were released last year, found limited benefit. It wasn't included in this analysis because it hasn't been published yet.

Related Articles: Pittler MH, Guo R, Ernst E. Hawthorn extract for treating chronic heart failure. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 1.

Comments

No comments yet. Leave a Comment

Leave a Comment

Line and paragraph breaks are automatic. Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title="">, <b>, <i>, <strike>

Explore Alternative Medicine
About.com Special Features

8 Ways to Cut Drug Costs

Learn how to save money on medications with these recommendations. More >

Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds

Keep yourself, and your family, happy and healthy this season. More >

  1. Home
  2. Health
  3. Alternative Medicine

©2009 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.