Hardly any technical device can keep up with the performance of the human heart – in the course of an average lifetime, it beats about three billion times and thus transfers more than two million liters of blood through the body. The cardiovascular system ensures survival. However, cardiac insufficiency, high blood pressure and heart attacks; have been the most frequent causes of death worldwide for many years. Researchers around the globe are therefore working to further reduce cardiovascular diseases.
The focus of science is, for example, on chronic heart failure (CHF). The heart can then no longer pump sufficient blood through the body. Those affected feel that even a short walk is a marathon run, and even taking a shower is a feat of strength. In the industrial nations, an estimated 20 million people suffer from heart failure.
But high blood pressure is also damaging for the heart: In cases of arterial hypertension, the pressure in the arteries increases. High blood pressure often develops unnoticed – those affected feel nothing for years, while organs and vessels are damaged. Up to 50 percent of the entire global population is affected by chronically elevated blood pressure. However, people with chronic high blood pressure are also at risk for arteriosclerosis – a pathological change in the inner walls of the arteries. In this situation, substances from the blood, such as calcium, fats or cholesterol have accumulated over a long period of time.
In the case of heart diseases and their therapies, however, it is often not enough to just look at the heart organ. Doctors and researchers also need to look at comorbidities in other organs, such as the kidneys and lungs. In Central Hessen, Germany, researchers have dedicated themselves to the specialty area of the German Center for Lung Research at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen, specifically the area of pulmonary hypertension . This pathologically increased blood pressure in pulmonary circulation leads to breathlessness and reduced physical efficiency. In the long run it results in heart muscle weakness and ultimately death by heart failure. Study results show that while this disease cannot be cured, it can be alleviated.
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Natural therapy approach for pulmonary hypertension – A breathing aid from the sea
Patients with pulmonary hypertension live with constant shortness of breath. Currently, this disease is not curable; patient symptoms can only be alleviated. But a team of researchers in Giessen, Germany, examined Fucoidan, a brown algae extract, for pulmonary hypertension treatment, and they have come to promising results.