Lemon balm is great for cardiovascular health

Lemon balm was recently validated to be an effective complementary therapy in promoting cardiovascular health in a paper published in the Journal of Herbal medicine. To wit, lemon balm was observed to improve cardiovascular serum biomarkers and blood pressure among patients with chronic stable angina (a form of chest pain).

• The double-blind clinical trial involved 80 patients with chronic stable angina.
• Participants received either 3 grams per day of lemon balm or placebo for two months.
• Researchers measured various anthropometric factors before and after the intervention. Additionally, participants were subjected to an exercise stress test and echocardiography.
• Serum biomarkers such as lactate dehydrogenase and nitric oxide were likewise measured.
• The treatment group displayed significant improvements in ejection fraction, maximum workload, blood pressure, and cardiovascular serum biomarkers.

This suggests a potential use of lemon balm in treating patients with certain heart conditions.

Read the full text of the study at this link.

Lemon balm is a nutrient-dense herb whose use in folk medicine dates back to the ancient Greeks and Romans in 300 B.C. In the Victorian language of flowers, the herb was meant to signify the pleasant company of friends. Interested to learn more about lemon balm? Herbs.news is a rich source of articles that talk about many healing foods.

Journal Reference:

Javid AZ, Haybar H, Dehghan P, Haghighizadeh MH, Mohaghegh SM, Ravanbakhsh M, Mohammadzadeh A, Bahrololumi SS. THE EFFECTS OF MELISSA OFFICINALIS ON ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY, EXERCISE TEST, SERUM BIOMARKERS, AND BLOOD PRESSURE IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC STABLE ANGINA. Journal of Herbal Medicine. March 2018;11:24–29. DOI: 10.1016/j.hermed.2017.10.002