In February all our attention focuses on love-affairs of the heart. I like to focus on the heart all year round-specifically heart health.

There are several nutritional herbs that will help strengthen the heart of yourself or your loved one:

Hawthorn Berries (Crataegus oxycantha)

Hawthorn is one of our most valuable remedies for the heart and circulation. It is a bushy, spiny shrub or small tree that produces brilliant red clusters of berries which are harvested in the fall. The berries are often used in marmalades and jellies and as additive to flour in some parts of Africa. Herbalists also use Hawthorn as a heart tonic, using the flowers, leaves and berries.

History
Native to the Mediterranean region including northern Africa and all of Europe and central Asia, the Hawthorne tree was known to the ancient Greeks and mentioned by Dioscorides in his writings. African tribesman used the berries as a food until the 19th century.

Folk medicine holds hawthorn berries in high esteem for its effectiveness in treating both high and low blood pressure, rapid pulse and arrhythmic heartbeat, as a prophylactic against angina pain and in atherosclerosis. It is also valuable to treat spasm of the arteries for example Reynaud's disease and insomnia if caused from a nervous origin.

And, the Native Americans used hawthorn to treat rheumatism and in Chinese medicine, another species of hawthorn was used as a digestive aid.

Usage Now
Hawthorne's active properties, flavinoids, act slowly on circulatory and cardiac problems by causing dilation of the blood vessels, especially the coronary arteries, and by causing some reduction in blood pressure.

Also, it increases coronary blood flow and myocardial metabolism, allowing the heart to function with less oxygen; and is used to treat hypertension, coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, and blood clots. In fact, a report in the British Medical Journal showed that the berries reduced high blood pressure caused by hardening of the arteries. I have seen a strong decoction of hawthorn used for heart failure.

Hawthorn does not appear to be cardio-toxic and seems to have no cumulative effect. It should be taken with or immediately after a meal in order to avoid nausea. Toxicity has been noted only with extremely high dosages. Very high in selenium, a mineral often taken with Vitamin E, Hawthorne is good by itself or in formulas with Gingko - as a circulatory stimulant.

Personally I have used Hawthorn to strengthen my heart after a difficult time, death or divorce to help put positive energy back to my heart and strengthen it and prevent future a future weakness in the future.

Typical dosage -
Fresh berries: 2-6 teaspoons
Dried berries: 1-3 grams
Extract: 1-2 teaspoons a day
Capsules: dried berries - 2 - 4 capsules per day is typically recommended as a starting point.

Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus, Rubus strigosus)

Everyone has eaten delicious fresh raspberries and preserves made from its fruit. But do you know that Red Raspberry leaf tea is one of the most renowned herbal teas? It has a reputation as a female tonic for relieving excessive menstrual bleeding, and during pregnancy, relieving nausea, preventing spotting, toning the uterus in preparation for childbirth and reducing childbirth pain. I took this through my whole pregnancy and often recommend for many women. It has also been used in mother's milk formulas to enrich and encourage the flow of mother's milk.

History
Red raspberry is a member of the rose family and is native to England. The roots were formerly boiled and eaten like turnips. It is now cultivated widely in all temperate climates of the world including Canada and parts of the United States. Its leaves are collected immediately after fruiting, dried in the shade and broken into granulations a little finer than black tea.

Usage Now
Both the leaves and the berries contain iron citrate. This mineral gives Red Raspberry its remarkable blood-making and regulating properties as well as the astringing and contracting action on the female genitalia, heart and circulatory system.

It is also very high in iron, manganese, magnesium and Niacin. The heart and the uterus are muscles and manganese and magnesium help to feed muscles. In fact, when looking at the nutritional profile of red raspberry leaves, it is twice as high in any other herb - making it the richest source of manganese available. The manganese complexes may play a role in the red color of the fruit. It is perfectly safe under all circumstances, and is a good general tonic for the circulatory system and the heart. It can be made into a pleasant tasting tea and enjoyed often knowing you are nourishing your circulatory system.

Teas - 1 teabag or tsp per 1 cups of water, steep for 5-10 minutes
Extract - 1-2 teaspoons a day
Capsules - 2-4 capsules a day

Capsicum (Capsicum annum)

Do you like spicy food? While you're enjoying its flavor, you may not realize that the spicy pepper you are eating is good for you in many ways.

History
The earliest evidence of chili peppers in the human diet is from Mexico where excavations at Tamaulips and Tehuacan contain chile seeds. History books credit Christopher Columbus with discovering the chile pepper in the West Indies. Thinking it was another variety of black pepper, he misnamed the plant and brought seeds back to Europe after his first voyage. Explorers who followed soon learned that the pungent pod was an integral part of the Indian's culinary medical and religious lives.

The most common use of capsicum by the South Americans was as a condiment, since their vegetable diet made them develop flatulence that capsicum helped correct.

The plant is a perennial, small shrub that grows in warm climates, but in most places it is cultivated as an annual. Capsicum is a popular condiment. Many cultivated varieties have been developed. Some of the mildest forms are called paprika. Hungarian paprika is of particular note because of its delicate aroma. The most pungent pepper is C. frutescence from which Tabasco sauce is made.

Usage Now
The most common medicinal use of capsicum is as a catalyst herb in nearly every herbal combination conceivable. As a rule of thumb, capsicum is added to nearly all formulas except nerviness. Its stimulant effects circulation speed causing it to enhance digestion, absorption and the effectiveness of nearly any herbal formula.

Capsicum is used in formulas for pain relief of arthritis, female complaints, infections, heart, laxatives, diuretics, ulcers, thyroid balance, male tonic, cleansing, respiratory ailments, strengthening the heart and circulatory system and preventing strokes. It also stimulates the stomach and digestion, helping with ulcers and other stomach problems.

It is also helps to kill infection in the circulatory system and with its volatile oils provide a stimulant effect to a variety of mucous membranes in the body. Since improved digestion helps in weight loss, I know of several people who have taken it for that reason.

Samuel Thomson (1790-1860) physician, incorporated capsicum into his system of medicine. According to Thomson, illness is the result of loss of heat. Treatment of an illness required ridding the body of toxins and restoring the life heat. Capsicum was often his herb of choice.

Capsicum is a phenolic chemical, making it an antibacterial agent. Its been used in poultices as an irritant and counter-irritant. Exposure to the pungent principle causes pain. Prolonged exposure deadens the nerves of any pain. I have seen it used creams for shingles for this purpose - to deaden the nerve endings. It is also often in formulas for muscle relief, again to deaden the nerve endings causing the initial pain.

It can also stop bleeding. I know first hand of an Amish herbalist who saved a boy's life when his arm was severed by pouring capsicum over the wound till they could get to a hospital. It wasn't pretty and it probably hurt, but it stopped the bleeding - and prevented any infection entering the wound as well.

This isn't an herb typically taken in tea or liquid form because of its spicy nature. It can be consumed with your food. Or, to avoid the taste, it is best taken in capsules - 2-4 a day or as recommend by your health care professional.

Garlic (Allium sativum)

If the saying is true, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," then garlic must be an apple. It is a strongly scented herb, and its medicinal virtues are published worldwide in both folk and scientific literature. In fact, there is so much history and literature written about garlic, that it would take a large book to document all the stories and uses recorded for the past 2000+ years.

In spite of its strong odor, garlic is used widely in food. The pungent, acrid volatile oils are generally driven off during cooking by various methods. The remaining fixed oils provide a distinct pleasant taste to many entrees.

Garlic has been widely studied by chemists. Many antibiotic, hypocholsterolemic, hypotension, and antithrombotic principles have been isolated form the bulb. Unlike many herbs, there is a near consensus of opinion on the value of garlic in the diet from both culinary artists and medical practitioners.

The only disagreeable thing about Garlic is its odor. In order to overcome the disagreeable odor of garlic, various methods have been proposed, tested and marketed These focus on removing or modifying allicin and related sulfur-containing compounds in garlic. Most American manufactures of odorless garlic products use various extraction and complex processes to rid garlic of its unpleasant, bitter odor and taste. Many attempt to complex the allicin with ascorbic or citric acids. These products work by releasing allicin in the stomach so the odor is not concentrated on the breath. However, hard gelatin capsules or enteric coatings will give the same effect.

Despite the claims, proven or unproven, two facts remain. First alliin, allicin and other sulfur-containing compounds have been shown to kill microbes, help kill parasites & fungus, help to lower blood pressure, help the bodies clotting mechanism within the blood and help lower cholesterol. However, they smell!

Many people take chlorophyll to absorb the odor of garlic on the breath after a meal. Italians traditionally use chlorophyll rich parsley sprigs after an entrée of garlic-rich foods.

Again garlic can be taken in your food; or if those close to you don't care for the smell, you can take garlic in capsules or enteric coated capsules (the capsule doesn't open until it reaches your small intestine). Some companies even make capsules with garlic covered with chlorophyll.

With these herbs in mind, even though Valentine's Day is another year a way, you can take care of you and your loved ones hearts all year round!