Acute coronary syndrome refers to any condition brought on by sudden, reduced blood flow to the heart causing chest pain during a heart attack or chest pain at rest or doing light physical activity (unstable angina).

Researchers at Shanghai Jiaotong University, School of Medicine, in China, tested berberine’s effects on ACS patients following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (aka angioplasty or stent placement). (more…)

Dr. Gayle Nicholas Scott at Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia, reviewed the evidence on Medscape . (more…)

Here’s a summary of a Cochrane review of herbals to treat stable angina — aka chronic angina.

In stable angina, chest pain occurs with activity or stress. The pain begins slowly and gets worse over several minutes before going away. (more…)

Researchers at the University of Warwick Medical School, in Coventry, UK examined the association. (more…)

Dr. James Levine from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota has reviewed the evidence. Here are the benefits. (more…)

 Researchers from Peking University People’s Hospital in Beijing reviewed studies concerning the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on the risk of dying in patients with coronary heart disease. (more…)

 Researchers from the University of Auckland in New Zealand tell us, “There is no consistent evidence… that calcium supplementation affects bone mineral density (BMD) in men, despite male osteoporosis being a common clinical problem.

Their study looks at the effect of 2 dosing regimens of calcium on BMD. (more…)

Here’s a summary of the Cochrane review of tongxinluo. (more…)

Suxiao jiuxin wan is a mixture of herbs that is used in China along with western medicine to treat angina.

This Cochrane review concluded that the evidence does not support its use. (more…)

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) from fish oil lowers triglyceride levels.

Now, a study in Japan reports that adding EPA to low-dose statin therapy lowers the risk for certain major coronary events, including nonfatal heart attacks, unstable angina and the need for revascularization procedures). (more…)

Yohimbine (sold by the names Yocon, Yohimar, and others) is used to treat impotence (aka erectile dysfunction).

This study suggests yohimbine’s ability to change baroreflex control of the heart might yield additional benefits in certain circumstances. (more…)

Isoflavones are one of the phytoestrogens found mainly in soybeans. Here’s a somewhat technical study from researchers at the Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong where isoflavones had beneficial effects on blood flow in people at risk for cardiovascular complications. (more…)

The Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study reports “Panic attacks are relatively common among postmenopausal women and appear to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in older women.”

Let’s review the study and then the CAM connection. (more…)

About 23% or 62 million Americans have some form of cardiovascular disease (CVD; eg, heart disease, stroke, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, angina, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, or heart failure).

The Women’s Antioxidant Cardiovascular Study concluded, “There were no overall effects of ascorbic acid [vitamin C], vitamin E, or beta carotene on cardiovascular events among women at high risk for CVD.”

But read on to see those who did benefit. (more…)

The standard of care for unstable angina (the intermediate state between stable angina and having a heart attack) starts with prompt treatment using aspirin, beta-blockers, and statins.

Here’s what happened when Quyu Xiaoban (QYXB) was given with the aspirin. (more…)

It’s is the third time this year the FDA has identified a “natural” product sold via the Internet for the treatment of impotence (erectile dysfunction) that was adulterated with the prescription drug tadalafil (Cialis). (more…)

Researchers from the Medical University of Vienna reviewed and reanalyzed the results from 25 studies of the treatment of the climacteric syndrome (menopause).

Their findings are not always clear-cut. (more…)

It’s always a good idea to get a second opinion when it comes to your healthcare. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) has been used, recommended, or studied for many conditions, but its use is controversial. Here are two websites that reviewed the literature and are ready to advise on the status of CoQ10 — MotherNature.com (MN) and MayoClinic.com (MC).

Here are comparative evaluations and ratings for three sample diseases.

(more…)

The good news is that all 36 products tested had the claimed ingredients. But the doses varied from 15 mg to 400 mg!

This isn’t surprising and has been discussed here before. Perspective on the value of CoQ10 to treat high blood pressure, angina, and Alzheimer’s disease is provided in this earlier post.

10/16/06 22:35 JR