Hawthorn Extract Helps Maintain Healthy Blood Pressure in Type 2 Diabetic

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By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, August 20, 2006, abstracted from “Hypotensive effects of hawthorn for patients with diabetes taking prescription drugs: a randomised controlled trial” in the June 2006 issue of the British Journal of General Practice

In addition to the proven benefits of fiber1 and exercise2 to help patients manage their type 2 diabetes, other alternative methods are surfacing to helping manage type 2 diabetes, including pycnogenol,3 cinnamon,4 walnuts,5 quercetin6 and ginseng.7 Now a new study8 may have found another herb to help type 2 diabetics maintain normal blood pressure in the form of hawthorn extract.

In the study, researchers gave 79 patients with diagnosed type 2 diabetes either 1200 mg of Hawthorn Extract (dried flowering tops) or placebo for 16 weeks. In addition to measuring blood pressure, each participant completed a food frequency questionnaire to estimate nutrient intake, including sugar and fat intake.

The food frequency questionnaires showed that blood pressure-lowering drugs were used by 71% of type 2 diabetics, and each participant took between 4 and 5 prescription medications to help lower either blood sugar or blood pressure. They also found that although fat intake by the participants met current recommendations, sugar intake was higher and there were indications of “potential multiple micronutrient deficiencies.”

Regarding the hawthorn extract supplementation, they found “a significant difference” between the two groups in the average drop in diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number). While participants in the hawthorn extract group had an average drop in blood pressure of 3.6 mm Hg, researchers observed a drop in the placebo group of only 0.8 mm Hg. Finally, no herb-drug interactions were seen in the hawthorn group.

For the researchers, “this is the first randomized controlled trial to demonstrate a [blood-pressure lowering] effect of hawthorn in patients with diabetes taking medication.”

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Danville, CA. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at mailto:ChiroDocPSUalum@msn.com or visiting his website www.CompleteChiropracticHealthcare.com

Reference:
1 “Fiber supplements may lower cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetics” posted on the American Heart Association website April 30, 2005 http://www.americanheart.org/presen...ntifier=3030591

2 Exercise for type 2 diabetes mellitus. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006 Jul 19;3:CD002968

3 Liu, X., et al., Antidiabetic effect of Pycnogenol French maritime pine bark extract in patients with diabetes type II. Life Sci, 2004. 75(21): p. 2505-13

4 Khan A. Cinnamon improves glucose and lipids of people with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2003; 26(12): 3215-3218

5 Gillen LJ. Structured dietary advice incorporating walnuts achieves optimal fat and energy balance in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. J Am Diet Assoc. 2005 Jul;105(7):1087-96

6 Collado PS. Quercetin Decreases Oxidative Stress, NF- B Activation, and iNOS Overexpression in Liver of Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats. J. Nutr. 2005 135: 2299-2304

7 Wang H. Ginseng Extract Inhibits Lipolysis in Rat Adipocytes In Vitro by Activating Phosphodiesterase 4. J. Nutr. 2006 136: 337-342

8 Walker AF. Hypotensive effects of hawthorn for patients with diabetes taking prescription drugs: a randomised controlled trial. Br J Gen Pr 2006;56(527):437-43