ABSTRACT
Botanical medicines have a long history of use in treatment of cardiovascular symptoms. In the modern era, investigations into pharmacologic effects and specific mechanisms of action have often demonstrated activities supporting the logic of traditional use.
This chapter discusses botanical medicines in terms of use for risk modification, prevention, or treatment of hypertension, dyslipidemia, heart failure, peripheral artery disease, and coronary artery disease. Basic information on the disease states provides a framework for comparison of the botanical therapies. The botanicals included were chosen based on their clinical evidence support for efficacy, their popularity of use regardless of positive or negative scientific evidence for clinical use, or their theoretic utility based on unique mechanisms of action.
