Heartrol™ and Other Measures To Help You Avoid Heart Attack, Stroke and Other Circulatory Ills

Anthony G. Payne, Ph.D.

It hardly needs saying that most of us are walking around with some degree of blood vessel blockage or hardening. The statistics on heart disease here in the U.S. indicate that few of us are truly spared its reach. We do, however, have some degree of choice when it comes to how far such blockage progresses. Which is to say, we can either do those things medical experts have shown can slow and even reserve blood vessel blockage. Or we can gamble that we are an “exception to the rule” when it comes to coronary artery disease, eat and live pretty much as we like, and hope our hunches or desires play out in real life (I hardly recommend this though. It’s akin to filling a gun with 3 bullets and then spinning the chamber, placing the barrel against your chest, and pulling the trigger).

One of the lynchpins of the plague-building process in people is blood viscosity. When blood is viscous -- think of Karo® syrup or oily sludge -- it scrapes against and otherwise damages blood vessel walls. The cells that line the injured arteries and veins will attempt to adapt to the assault and offset the impact by actually building up a protective layer of plague ("Atheromas" in medical parlance). The calluses on your hands or feet represent a similar adaptive response to repetitive friction against tissues. This adaptation mechanism with respect to blood vessels has been formally posited by researcher Kenneth Kensey, MD of Rheologics, Inc. Dr. Kensey's contentions are well argued, supported by lots of data, and are logical and forthright.

If you smoke, have high blood pressure, are diabetic, drink excessively, do drugs, have a high homocysteine level, etc. -- guess what? Your body begins churning out factors and engaging physiological mechanisms that increase blood viscosity. For example, both like fibrinogen and hematocrit go up. As does the risk of developing significant blockage in circulatory vessels that get the blunt of the movement ("shear stress”) of this sticky, viscous blood.

How can this viscosity be reduced so that the damage will slow or stop -- if not reverse?

Here are some of the things that should ably help:

Ø      If your LDL ("bad cholesterol") level is high, work with your MD or DO and/or an RD to reduce this. Also considering taking HEARTROL, an herbal blend that has been shown to lower serum lipids and impact peripheral artery disease in five( 5) separate double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trials HEARTROL BENEFITS The Heartrol™ blend is approved in Switzerland by the Swiss equivalent of the FDA for use in treating periperhal arterial occlusive disease (PAOD).

Ø      If your triglycerides or fibrinogen are high, ask your MD or DO about slow release niacin or other approaches to reducing this. Heartrol™ should also work well in this regard: HEARTROL BENEFITS

Ø      Consider taking coenzyme-Q10, as this has been shown to lower blood viscosity. This said, make sure to scout of a form that is optimally absorbed and utilized. CARDIUM contains a patented form of Q10 that is 300% more bioavailable than other Q-10s.     

Ø      If you are obese, get the excess weight off slowly under medical supervision. I personally recommend "The Paleodiet", something I anticipated while working on my master’s degree in physical anthropology (1985-87) and later witnessed obese folks readily lose weight on. This unsung hero of dietingis beautifully laid out in anthropologist Dr. Lorain Cordain’s highly informative book, “The Paleodiet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Food You Were Designed to Eat”)

Ø      If you smoke or use tobacco in any form, you should stop. Yes, quitting is difficult. Nicotine is probably as addictive as heroin. But the pluses of quitting far outweight the negatives. Weight gain? The average is 11 pounds. Don’t let this stand between you and better health. And besides, doctors can get excess weight off you one way or the other. Smoking-induced lung cancer, on the other hand, has a low 5 year survival rate. Do yourself a big favor,...toss those coffin nails or that pouch or can of chew into the nearest trash can.    

Ø      If you drink excessively or binge drink, you should curtail your intake or stop. If you need a medical helping hand, check out these 2 drugs in concert with your doctor: Topiramate (Topamax®) and naltrexone. Both decrease cravings for alcohol. To view a clip from the widely praised HBO documentary, “Addiction” concerning the response of hardcore alcoholics to a course of Topamax®, click this link: HBO Addiction Documentary

Ø      Check out any drugs you take with a physician or pharmacist concerning their impact on blood viscosity. If you are taking or using a drug that increases blood viscosity, then see if any alternatives exist and look into switching to this (or them). 

Ø      Take a B multiple. This will help the body deal with artery-damaging homocysteine. One of the better ones that contains the best utilized forms of various homocysteine-lowering nutrients in time-release caplets isNUTRACENE

Ø      Take a comprehensive or full-spectrum antioxidant supplement (Antioxidants help the body deal with the cell damaging free radicals generated by viscous blood). As an alternative to popping pills or tablets, look into the many drink powders on the market that furnish a wealth of food-derived antioxidants. One which I like and personally use on a daily basis is Superior Purples.

Ø       Eat food low in saturated fat. Zero in on omega-3 rich foods over those high in omega 6 fatty acids. (Check out the paleodiet Living Longer - The Paleodiet)

Ø      Clean up dental infections and inflammation in the body. Make sure your MD or DO monitors your serum C-reactive protein level. This protein is churned out as part of the inflammatory process and actually is a pretty good predictor of future circulatory problems. If your level is high, there are ways to bring it down. One way is to use compounds that interfere with the activity of Nuclear Factor-Kappa alpha. NK-ka is one of the lynchpins in inflammation and genesis of c-reactive protein (CRP). There is an herb called Jiaogulan (Gynostemma pentaphyllum) which contains compounds called gypenosides which interfere with NF-ka. There compounds tend to be concentrated in standardized Jiaogulan preparations. I use and recommend Paradise Herbs Jiaogulan, which is a 12:1 extract (12 parts herb to generate 1 part extract) standardized to contain 30% gypenosides.   

Ø      If you are stressed out or depressed, consider stress management courses and/or Cognitive Therapy. Strapped for money or time? Then do yourself a favor and invest $12 or so and get this hands-on workbook:

Scientists have fingered many players in the genesis and progress of arterial blockage, among which are oxidized low density lipoprotein (LDL), fibrinogen, triglycerides and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL). They have also conducted studies on drugs such as statins that able reduce some of these. Even certain forms of vitamin E and niacin have been shown to help reduce artery-blocking lipids in various controlled studies. You have probably read about some or most of this in your daily newspaper. The odds are your primary care doctor is aware of these as well. But can the same be said of PADMA28 – sold in various incarnations including Heartrol™? Probably not.

The Heartrol™ blend of 28 herbs is rather unique in that it enjoys both a long history as a treatment for vascular disorders, and has been proven effective (for peripheral artery disease) in no less than five double-blind, placebo-controlled studies. In fact, the scientific evidence is so compelling that the Swiss equivalent of the (American) Food and Drug Administration has approved the Heartrol™ blend as a drug for the treatment of peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAD).

The PADMA 28/Heartrol™ formula enjoys a rich and colorful history, having been originally created by Tibetan monks and preserved by five successive generations of the Badmaev family, one member of which was a personal physician to Russian Csar Nicholas the II (Who apparently successfully treated the Csar’s angina with the herbal drug). The name given the formula by the Badmaev family was a derivative if their name actually – Badma – which later was changed to Padma. Today, one of the Badmaev family, Vladimir Badmaev, MD actually oversees the blending of the herbs that go into Padma 28 in its various commercially bottled versions including Heartrol™ 

Note: Heartrol™ as used below refers to the PADMA28/PADM28 blend. This was the original name used in the studies cited and such. 

When arteries in the lower part of the human body narrow with plaque (cholesterol and calcium deposits), oxygen and blood flow is hampered. As this condition, called Peripheral Arterial Occlusive Disease or PAOD, progresses, sufferers begin experiencing the onset of leg pain whenever they walk short distances. This is known in medical parlance as intermittent claudication.

In three separate double blind clinical trials (most carried out at Polish institutions), medical researchers tested the effects of Heartrol™ on PAOD. What they discovered upheld the herbal drug's longstanding reputation as a powerful vasoactive (circulatory system influencing) natural agent.

In a double-blind study, the drug or product to be tested and a sham version called a placebo, are dispensed to participants. Bottles are coded by persons having no contact with anyone involved in the study. Neither those who hand out the pills and/or compile data nor the participants knows who received which. At the conclusion of the trial, the code is broken and the data analyzed. The results indicate whether the drug or product was truly effective compared to the placebo.

In one particular study, carried out by Dr. Ruke Schraeder at the University of Berne and published in the Swiss Weekly Medical Review (115:752-6, 1985), 43 patients tested Heartrol™ vs. a placebo over a four week period. Prior to commencing the study, patients were given a treadmill ergometer test to see just how far they could walk before the onset of pain; the average was 250 meters. Those who took Heartrol™ (three capsules twice daily) experienced a 100% increase in pain-free and maximal walking distances. Those who received the placebo experienced no significant change in their condition.

Another study, headed by L. Samochowiec at the Pharmacological Institute of Szczecin, Poland and published in Herba Polonica (33:219-22. 1987) and Polbiopharm Reports (22:15-19, 1987), involved 100 patients with indisputably diagnosed peripheral arterial occlusive disease with intermittent claudication. The maximum average walking distance of the participants on a treadmill ergometer was less than 150 meters. After four months on Heartrol™, patients experienced a 98% increase in maximal walking distance; a statistically significant decrease in triglycerides and those lipid fractions (cholesterol components) involved in the genesis of artery-blocking plaque; and a 100% increase in platelet aggregation threshold(thus decreasing the likelihood that the disc-shaped platelets in the blood will stick together forming clumps that can attach to and/or suddenly block blood vessels). The decrease in platelet aggregation is noteworthy, because this is precisely what doctors give patients aspirin to bring about. However, unlike aspirin, Heartrol™ does not cause side effects such as erosion of the stomach lining or ringing in the ears with prolonged use.

The placebo group experienced only a very minor increase in maximal walking distance and no significant improvements in blood chemistry.

All-in-all a total of 19 trials have been done involving 2084 patients to-date, 444 of whom were involved in six controlled clinical studies on PAOD. A meta-analysis of five of these clinical trials showed that the Heartrol™ herbal formula increased walking distance by >100 meters in 18.2% of the patients versus 2.1% with the placebo

When arteries to the heart get clogged with plaque, the amount of blood and (hence) oxygen reaching the heart is reduced. As the plaque building process continues, sufferers invariably begin to experience chest pains (angina pectoris) upon exertion. When this occurs, doctors typically prescribe a drug to help increase blood flow to the heart. The drug most often selected is nitroglycerine.

Given Heartrol™'s established circulatory benefits and properties, many European doctors felt that it might prove of value in the treatment of angina. Those who put patients on the herbal drug reported that they experienced a sharp reduction in the frequency and severity of angina attacks. What was needed was definitive scientific proof.

In the mid-eighties, the scientists who had carried out the Polish studies on Heartrol™ and PAOD decided to test its effects on angina. A six week double blind study was designed in which each participant would take a placebo the first two weeks, Heartrol™ for the third and fourth weeks, and a placebo for the final two week period. (Neither the participants nor those who handed out the capsules would know which was being administered or when.)

There were 50 patients, with a mean age of 51.2 years, a clear history of angina upon exertion that dated back at least one year, and without high blood pressure or any evidence of heart enlargement or failure. During the study, patients were required to keep a record of their daily consumption of nitroglycerine tablets, as well as the number of angina attacks.

When the study was completed, Heartrol™’s effectiveness was indisputable. The mean number of angina attacks during the initial two weeks on the placebo was 37.5. This figure fell to 11.5 during the two weeks of Heartrol™ use (a 69% drop). Simultaneously, the mean number of nitroglycerin tablets taken during the initial placebo phase was 27.7, which fell to 7.9 during the two weeks of Heartrol™ consumption (a 77% decline). When the patients went back on the placebo in the final two weeks, the number of angina attacks experienced and nitroglycerin tablets taken shot up; even though not to the levels seen during the initial 2 weeks .a phenomenon researchers attributed to the long-lasting effects of Heartrol™.

The only side effects noted during all the clinical trials involving Heartrol™ were minor: a handful of participants experienced periodic mild stomach upsets and a small number developed a skin rash. None of these experienced side effects severe enough to warrant their dropping out of the clinical studies.

In the world of science we cannot speak of anything as being absolutely proven; that is, the tools and methods of the scientific enterprise yield knowledge which can be modified or overturned by new evidence. However, when the proof supporting a particular theory or drug accumulates, we can speak of it as being substantially proven. Heartrol™'s vasoactive properties have been conclusively demonstrated in at least four well designed double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trials. As such, calling it a proven natural drug is certainly in order.

Scientific studies - Heartrol Blend of Tibetan Medicinal Herbs