| Dietary Supplement,
Exercise Improve Heart Failure |
NEW YORK (Reuters
Health) -- People with chronic heart failure can benefit
from a combination of exercise and a dietary supplement known
as L-arginine,
researchers report.
The combination appears to help correct the abnormal functioning
of blood
vessels seen in chronic heart failure (CHF), a condition characterized
by an
enlarged heart that pumps blood inefficiently, resulting in breathlessness
and fluid accumulation in the limbs and lungs.
People with heart failure often have blood vessels that fail
to dilate in
response to certain drugs -- a sign that the inner blood vessel
wall, or
endothelium, is malfunctioning.
In a new study, Dr. Rainer Hambrecht and colleagues from the
University of
Leipzig, Germany, assigned 40 heart failure patients to one of
four
treatment groups. The patients either continued their usual treatment,
took
L-arginine, performed forearm exercises, or performed the exercises
in
conjunction with L-arginine treatment, according to the report
in the March
issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Patients treated with L-arginine had a fourfold increase in
blood vessel
dilation -- from 2.2% to 8.8%. Regular forearm exercises increased
the
dilation response by the same amount.
However, the combination of L-arginine and exercise training
resulted in an
even greater response, with an improvement from 2.9% to 12.0%,
the report
indicates.
The study is the first clinical trial to show that exercise
and taking
L-arginine improves blood vessel dilation more than either factor
along,
Hambrecht and colleagues report.
The results suggest that the combined treatment may improve
blood vessel
functioning in patients with chronic heart failure and, thereby,
enhance
their exercise capacity beyond what can be done by improving
their heart
function alone, the authors conclude.
SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2000;35:706-713
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