Arjuna

Arjuna is the cardiovascular panacea of Ayurveda and its bark has been prized as a treatment for heart disorders for more than 3000 years. It is indicated for the treatment of the leading single cause of disease burden and death in Australia, coronary heart (or artery) disease (also known as ischemic heart disease), which is heart problems caused by narrowed arteries usually due to the build-up of plaque. There are two major clinical forms: heart attack (also known as acute myocardial infarction) and angina. Arjuna may also prove to be useful for the treatment of any associated disorders of cardiac rhythm and it appears to favourably modify some of the known coronary risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and possibly obesity.

Arjuna rivals hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) which is the best-known herb for the heart in Western herbal medicine. Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa, one of North America's foremost experts on holistic medicine and Ayurveda, says they are essentially interchangeable. “The only difference that I would really say between hawthorn and arjuna is that arjuna really excels at regulating heart rhythms. Especially for tachycardia, which is rapid uncontrolled heartbeat, arjuna is really a champion. I think it’s a little better than hawthorn in that case. Otherwise, they’re more or less the same. Indications are the same. The dose is the same. They’re both sour and astringent…because of the same polyphenols that are in there,” he says.

Statins are a group of medicines that can help lower the level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in the blood. LDL cholesterol is often referred to as "bad cholesterol" and statins reduce the production of it inside the liver. One study found that arjuna bark powder, along with statins for three months, resulted in a 15% decrease in total cholesterol, 11% in triglycerides and 16% in LDL-cholesterol which suggests that arjuna may work synergistically with statins in high cholesterol. Information about interactions with long-term statin therapy is lacking.

References

Coronary Heart Disease. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare c2022. (updated 23 Jul 2020; accessed 17 May 2022). Available from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/coronary-heart-disease

Bone K. Cardiovascular Herbs from China and India. Professional Review Dec 1991;25 Mediherb c1991.

Khalsa KP. Relax, Part 4: Cardiovascular System and Inflammation. LearningHerbs.com c2019 (accessed 17 May 2022). Available from https://herbmentormedia.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Courses/Relax/Relax-KP-Khalsa-Part-4-Transcript.pdf

Priya N, Mathur KC, Sharma A, Agrawal RP, Agarwal V, Acharya J. Effect of Terminalia arjuna on total platelet count and lipid profile in patients of coronary artery disease. Adv Hum Biol2019;9:98-101 (PDF) Effect of Terminalia Arjuna on total platelet count and lipid profile in patients of coronary artery disease. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330150544_Effect_of_Terminalia_Arjuna_on_total_platelet_count_and_lipid_profile_in_patients_of_coronary_artery_disease [accessed May 17 2022].