Symptoms of Intermittent Claudication and Decreased Walking Tolerance in Patients Suffering from Peripheral Arterial Disease can be Improved with a Simple Herbal Supplement

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Author Info

Chook Ping Kwok Chi Yui Timothy Ping-Chung Leung Woo Kam Sang Yan Ping Yen Bryan

Corresponding Author

Ping-Chung Leung
Centre for Clinical Trials on Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

A B S T R A C T

Introduction: We have developed an innovative herbal formula containing two herbs of popular use for the supplementation of cardiovascular health. Three clinical trials, viz. on patients with coronary arterial obstruction, hypertension, and post-menopausal borderline hyperlipidaemia, have been done, all showing promising results detected in ultrasonography as diminished intima media thickness (IMT), a surrogate marker recommended for clinical trials related to cardiovascular health. 49+49 patients with known peripheral arterial disease (PAD) were treated with twin formula or placebo group for 24 weeks. Assessment using ultrasonography showed thinning down of the carotid intima (2.67%) only in the treatment group. Maximal walking distance also increased by 21.8% in the treatment group compared with 7.2% in the placebo group (p=0.499). Discussion: The positive results in the PAD study as well as in the other studies done previously demonstrated the effectiveness of the twin formula in the maintenance of cardiovascular health. It is safe and offers direct protection of the internal environment of the artery while at the same time carries the multiple roles of anti-inflammation, anti-oxygenation and anti-fibrosis, as were shown in in vitro and animal bioactivity studies. Conclusion and Outlook: The twin formula offers a good example of evidence-based medicinal supplements with specific functions. Its developmental process also offers a more comprehensive way to test traditional wisdom and practice through pragmatic clinical trials in the attempt to properly introduce it to modern health care practice.

Article Info

Article Type

Research Article

Publication history

Received: Wed 12, Feb 2020
Accepted: Mon 02, Mar 2020
Published: Mon 22, Jun 2020

Copyright

© 2023 Ping-Chung Leung. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.JICOA.2020.01.10