An Apple A Day

A new study discovered some very unexpected and consequently extremely interesting findings. Examining the hearts of runners who had completed 25 or more marathons in the past 25 years, investigators found that the marathon runners’ coronary arteries were much more calcified than other people. This was the opposite of what was expected. Also, the people in the comparison group were not all healthy, some having the test to evaluate symptoms suggestive of heart disease. That fact would imply that the runners’ hearts should be WAY better then the comparison group. What’s the deal? Maybe too much stress on the heart? Other studies have shown that competitive endurance athletes are more prone to long term electrical disturbances of the heart. Some have shown chemical changes as we see with heart attacks following triathlons. While those chemical changes appear to not indicate meaningful heart damage, maybe this is an indication that pushing ourselves too much can be harmful. Seems common sense but then common sense is far from common.

A classic study was recently released warning heart patients to avoid essentially all herbal medicines. One commentator recommended that instead of buying herbs patients should save their money and “buy a pair of shoes”. As this publication walks all over herbal medicine with callous regard, the shoes seem to be on the other pair of feet. As the “study” is at best extremely poor, a better use of the shoes might be to deliver a kick to the backsides of the authors of the report and the editorial board of the journal that published it.

Having read several articles about the study, I have yet to find any data contained in the study. That is bizarre. Reviewing the complexities of the data obtained, especially how they were obtained, almost always tells me if the study is decent, in this case the absence of data in the commentary articles is even more revealing. The articles simply gush warning phrases and lists of “dangerous” herbs.

Reading between the lines, this “study” is apparently really just a warning that many patients with heart disease use herbs and take prescription medication at the same time and they can interact with one another. Okay, go on.

Of course prescription medications and herbs can interact. Research has shown that for decades and common sense told us the same right from the beginning. How can two things directly effect the same organ and not interact in some way? At the same time, the authors regurgitate conventional hype about interactions, overlooking considerable research evidence that contradicts those “old doctors tales” as for example, garlic and blood thinning medication.

Instead of this Chicken Little overreaction, a better use of medical journal pages would have been to urge physicians to learn about common herbs and ask patients about their use of herbs. You should be reminded that using prescription medication means you have to be careful about other things you might take and that you should purchase herbs that have been tested for purity, potency and identity.