This Research Topic is part of a series with:
Efficacy and Mechanism of Herbal Medicines and Their Functional Compounds in Preventing and Treating Cardiovascular Diseases and Cardiovascular Disease Risk FactorsAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are one of the major health challenges globally. Principally, these conditions include heart failure, hypertension, stroke, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral arterial disease, rheumatic heart disease, congenital heart disease, etc. CVDs are the leading cause of death globally. In 2015, an estimated 17.7 million people died from CVD-related conditions, representing 31% of global deaths. It is estimated that almost 23.6 million people will die from CVDs by 2030. Hence, the prevention and management of CVDs are essential for health care systems. Several risk factors, including hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, hypertension, overweight, obesity, and inflammation, are suggested to play substantial roles in the onset and progression of CVDs. In this regard, pharmacological and lifestyle modification approaches are recommended for modifying CVD risk factors. However, many effective pharmacological agents cause side effects, and adhering to lifestyle modifications is difficult for many people. Given the financial burden of CVDs and the side effects of synthetic substances used for CVD treatment, the discovery of new and efficacious treatments for CVD and CVD risk factors is urgently needed.
Herbal medicine has been widely used to treat and prevent various diseases for thousands of years worldwide, with some Asian traditions being particularly well documented. Over the past three decades, the use of herbal medicine preparations or formulations derived from these materials has increased rapidly worldwide. Currently, the curative effects of medicinal plants are becoming more widely discussed, for example, in Europe and North America, especially as they relate to preventive remedies. The application of herbal medicine has been continuously increasing as an element of adjuvant therapies and remains important in many traditional and indigenous medical systems. However, the evidence on the beneficial therapeutic effects and underlying mechanism of action of herbal medicine among people with CVD and CVD risk factors is still inconclusive.
This Research Topic is the second in the series, and the goal is to provide a forum to advance research on the efficacy and safety of herbal medicine for CVD and CVD risk factors, as well as the pharmacological effects and possible underlying mechanisms. By focusing and testing on these areas, we can provide further evidence for the potential use of herbal medicine for treating CVD and CVD risk factors and therefore improving the prognosis of patients.
We invite previous authors as well as new contributors to submit manuscripts. The subtopics to be covered within this issue are listed below:
• Clinical studies evaluating the evidence of the potential usefulness of herbal medicine in managing CVD and CVD risk factors.
• Basic original research on the underlying mechanisms of herbal medicines in managing CVD and CVD risk factors.
• Reviews or meta-analysis on the efficacy of herbal medicine on CVD and CVD risk factors and their underlying mechanisms.
• Protocols of clinical research aiming to test the potential therapeutic effect of herbal medicine on CVD and CVD risk factors
Note:
(1) CVD and CVD risk factors include heart disease, stroke, pulmonary arterial hypertension, hematological disorders, atherosclerosis, hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, obesity, etc.
(2) For manuscripts dealing with plant extracts or other natural substances/compounds, the composition and the stability of the study material must be described in sufficient detail. In particular, for extracts, chromatograms with the characterization of the dominating compound(s) are requested. The level of purity must be proven and included. All the manuscripts submitted to the collection will need to fully comply with the
Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology (you can freely download the full version
here).
(3) You need to check your MS using ‘
https://ga-online.org/best-practice/’ and include a PDF in your submissions with the relevant tables of the tool filled (1 and 2a).