Although the heart-healthy and cholesterol benefits of garlic have been long-known, it has now been revealed that ginger could prove as good.

A major cause of Atherosclerosis, a major cause of coronary heart disease, happens when the fatty cells and bad cholesterol stick to the artery walls, leading to inflammation, preventing blood circulation. Ginger reduces the stickiness of blood platelets, while also promoting circulation.

Dr. Isaac Mathai, Medical Director, Soukya International Holistic Health Center, say that ginger has the property of reducing cholesterol absorption in Liver and blood, thereby reducing cholesterol levels.

To add to this, research has proved that herbs like ginger are much safer and better than non-steroidal-anti-inflammatory drugs. The February 2006 edition of ‘Alternative and Complementary Therapies’ reveal that herbal anti-inflammatories work on multiple-target mechanisms in the body, making it less potent than pharmaceuticals. In the process, the side-effects linked to drugs are also limited.

Eating small quantities of ginger a day, say as much as 50gms, would be sufficient, say experts. However, to achieve maximum benefits, add a little water, mash it with a metal object in a steel or brass cup. Drop the mashed pulp into boiling water and use the decoction for tea or in curries while cooking.

Source: http://www.blogcatalog.com

Department of Experimental Medicine & Biotechnology, Chandigarh-160012, India.

Terminalia arjuna (TA) is a medicinal plant used as a cardiotonic in ayurveda. Besides others, scientific evidence dictates its strong hypolipidemic and antioxidant properties. However, anti-inflammatory and antiplatelet aggregatory properties of TA are not known. The present study demonstrates in vitro effects of its ethanolic bark extract (TAE) on platelet function indices. Twenty patients of angiographically proven coronary artery disease (CAD) were included in Group I and 20 age and sex-matched controls were included in Group II. Platelet activation was monitored by determining P-selectin (CD62P) expression, intracellular free calcium (Ca(2+)) release and platelet aggregation. In vitro effect of TA on platelets function indices was determined by incubating the platelets with TAE in a time and dose-dependent manner in presence/absence of ADP. TAE was able to significantly inhibit platelet aggregation both in patient and control groups. Significant attenuation in Ca(2+) release and expression of CD62P was also observed with TAE. Our data clearly demonstrates that the bark extract of TA decreases platelet activation and may possess antithrombotic properties. The possible mechanism of action could be by desensitizing platelets to the agonist by competing with platelet receptor or by interfering with signal transduction. Thus, TA can be exploited for its therapeutic potential in CAD and related cardiovascular disorders.

PMID: 19437336 [PubMed - in process]

Article reference here

Ten-Year Follow-Up of Ischemic Strokes in the Copenhagen Stroke Study.

This is some interesting research which correlates with my own research into Cardiovascular Diseases in Ayurveda. Have a look at the research abstract at: http://stroke.ahajournals.org

It is interesting to see such studies now being published to counter to strong move for the use of statin to reduce the serum cholesterol in our body.