Epidemiological research and clinical research have shown that the main risk factor to acute ischemic cerebral disease (AICD) and coronary heart diseases is arterial sclerosis (AS). Among the factors which form arterial sclerosis, lipid metabolic block is very important. Most experts think decreased HDL-c and increased TG have a close relation with the occurrence of arterial sclerosis and cardio-cerebro-vascular diseases. Clinical observations have shown that bamboo leaf flavone is effective in curing hyperlipidemia. Researchers at the Shanghai First People's Hospital chosed 78 cases of people with abnormal lipid metabolism aging from 35 to 80 (blood serum cholesterol ≥ 5.98mmol/L, triglyceride≥2.2mmol/L or HDL≤1.04mmpl/L). They were randomly divided into two groups – one took one capsule of bamboo leaf flavone twice a day and the other took two capsules of gingko extracts three times a day. The contents of cholesterol, triglyceride and HDL in serum were measured, respectively before the treatment, after six weeks treatment and after 12 weeks treatment. The research found that after three month's treatment with bamboo leaf flavone, the content of triglyceride in serum lipid had been reduced by 33.3% in the people with abnormal lipid metabolism, which was much lower than the level before the treatment, and the content of HDL-c had been raised by 27.3%, which was much higher than that before the treatment. The flavone was shown to have better effect on controlling blood lipid than gingko extracts (Table 7-2). After the flavone treatment, no obvious negative reaction occurred and the flavone didn't cause any negative effect on blood, urine, blood sugar and functions of liver and kidneys. The clinical research once again proved that bamboo leaf flavone had definite curative effect without any toxic and side effect, didn't contain any toxicity and could be applied to various abnormal lipid metabolism cases. It can be developed into safe and effective medicine to regulate lipid and it has a great clinical prospect in the prevention and treatment of cardio-cerebro-vascular diseases.

Table 7-2 Lipid level of single component before/after bamboo leaf flavone treatment

* Significance of statistics: * P<0.05 (obvious difference) compared with that before the treatment.

1. The healthcare effects of Guozhen Lophatherum Essence

Guozhen Lophatherum Essence, which is effective in blood lipid regulation, has been developed from the extensive researches of bamboo leaf flavone by New Era Health Industry Group. This product is made from bamboo leaf growing in Anji, Zhejiang Province and modern biotechnologies have been applied to its purification. It contains flavonoids, coumarins lactonev, botan-polysaccharide, chlorophyll, amino acid and trace elements, vitamins and other bio-active materials and nutrients. Guozhen Lophatherum Essence is the first high-tech product based on bamboo leaf flavone in the world. The effects of Guozhen Lophatherum Essence in preventing cardio-cerebro-vascular diseases are as follows (Chart 7-1):

Chart 7-1 The healthcare effects of Guozhen Lophatherum Essence

1. Elimination of active oxygen free radicals:Usually, oxygen free radicals don't affect the body. Because the body produces free radicals while it has a system against active oxygen free radicals to balance the endoenvironment of the body. When the anti-oxidation function in the body goes down or the physical condition of the body is poor, free radical dominates. For example, presby-anaplasia is caused by the negative effects of free radicals as one gets older. It has been proven by researches that more than 70 human diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases are related to free radicals. For instance, in the case of cardiovascular diseases, there is a surplus of free radicals. When the free radicals meet LDL in blood and are transformed into LDL oxide, which is bad for health, aggregations would occur on vessel walls, forming blocks and causing AS.

2. The anti-oxidation function of bamboo leaves does not only controls peroxidation of lipids, but has a positive effect on the anti-oxidation protective system by raising endogenous antioxidase's activity, effectively fighting against active oxygen's damage to biomacromolecule, protecting the the cell membrane's function, preventing genetic material losses caused by DNA oxidative damages, prevents AS caused by LDL oxidation and contains age pigments' production.

3.  Reduction of blood lipids and cholesterol: clinical research shows that Guozhen Lophatherum Essence can obviously lower triglyceride, LDL-c and raise HDL-c. Its effect is better than that of gingko extracts. Now it is recognized in the medical academia that HDL is the core to guarding against AS and coronary heart diseases, which is called 'Anti-arterial sclerosis lipoprotein' and 'Protective factor of coronary heart diseases' by experts. When HDL increases by 1mg, the probability of having coronary heart diseases will decrease by 2%-4%. Through a series of precise mechanism, it transports cholesterol on the arterial walls to the liver to be decomposed. Superfluous chelosterol is cleared away through the gall bladder. It can also fight for getting lipoprotein receptors on the surface of cells with LDL, preventing cellular metabolism from being damaged and preventing AS from occurring. LDL is the lipoprotein that causes AS and the more of them there is, the more serious coronary heart diseases becomes.

4. Coronary artery dilation: compared with compound Salvia Miltiorrhiza, it obviously dilates the artery, which increases blood volume to the heart.

5. Mitigation of myocardial ischemia: compared with salvia miltiorrhiza, it obviously improves myocardial ischemia and reduces the extension of myocardial infarction. It has a protective function for patients with heart ischemia and cerebral ischemia.

6. Medium and high dosage of bamboo leaf flavone can increase the heart's contraction force.

7. Anti-coagulation: compared with gingko, medium and high dosage of bamboo leaf flavone can restrain the process of coagulation and blood platelets' gathering, improving micro-circulation.

8. Animal experiments (small mice): it has a good resistant function on anoxia and it improves the tolerance of the body to anoxia and ischemia and lengthens the survival time.

In a word, bamboo leaf flavone, with its strong ability of anti-oxidation and eliminating free radicals, is highly emphasized. It has small molecular weight and is easy to be absorbed by the body. It can go through blood-brain barrier and enter into fat and damaged tissues; therefore, it can have such functions as anti-fatigue, reducing blood lipids and cholesterol, protecting blood vessels, preventing arterial sclerosis, dilating coronary veins and capillary vessels, smoothing micro-circulation, preventing thrombus from occurring, improving myocardial ischemia, improving the brain and other viscera cells, and strengthening the function of the heart and brain.

Besides, Guozhen Lophatherum Essence can improve immunity, act as antagonist to aging, radiation, virus and bacteria, stop cough, dispel phlegm and whiten the skin.

2. Guozhen Lophatherum Essence's usage, dosage and points for Attention.

1. Target group: people who have low immunity, high blood lipid level, high blood pressure, obesity, and light fatty liver; young and middle-aged people who need more anti-oxidants, anti-aging and anti-radiation medicine; middle-aged and senior people who have cardiovascular diseases and need prevention and auxiliary treatment; people whose families have a history of cardiovascular diseases.

2. Group not targeted: children

3. Dosage: WHO suggests that each person take 1g flavone per day. Chinese experts recommend that each person take 100-300mg flavanoids (including fruits, vegetables, cereal and juices) per day. In terms of Guozhen Lophatherum Essence, it is suggested to take twice a day and 2-3 tablets each time – 70-105mg per day. (Each tablet contains 17.5mg flavone in total.)

4. Patients should not interfere with their therapy plan. People having serious cardio- cerebro-vascular diseases should not stop taking the medicine they have been having. Guozhen Lophatherum Essence is a non-medical option for treatment.

5. People who have just started taking Guozhen Lophatherum Essence may have stomachache and more gastric acid may be produced in the stomach. This is common in taking Guozhen Lophatherum Essence, and people can continue to take it or take it after meals.

6. Some people may feel internal heat. This is a typical symptom after taking Guozhen Lophatherum Essence, which clears blood waste and spurs blood circulation. People can continue taking it.

7. People who have gastritis, gastric ulcer or gastric cold should be careful when they use Guozhen Lophatherum Essence. It is suggested to take a smaller dosage and more times a day.

8. People who have high blood pressure, high blood lipids and fatty liver at the same time should take Guozhen Lophatherum Essence and Guozhen Pine Pollen at the same time for a better effect.

9. People who have prostatitis and swollen prostate should take Guozhen Pine Pollen along with Guozhen Lophatherum Essence for a better effect. Experts in the experiments have found that Guozhen Lophatherum Essence has good effect on controlling seven common pathogenic viruses in the urinary system. Meanwhile, it has obvious effect on curing prostate's accessory lobes and diuresis, containing hyperplasia and clearing away heat. This is a new non-medical option for patients with prostatitis.

10. When taking Guozhen Lophatherum Essence and other health foods, people should not consider it as medicine and be anxious to gain instant effect. Being neither composed nor accumulated within the body, flavonoids can only be supplemental. Guozhen Lophatherum Essence repairs damaged tissues mainly through vitalizing one's own rehabilitation ability and restores the normal physical rhythm of internal organs, preventing people from illnesses. This, however, demands time to happen. Experts consider it more effective to take Guozhen Lophatherum Essence in a small dosage for a long period.

As lifestyle changes and environmental pollution worsens, the body's burden of oxidation becomes heavier and heavier. Oxyradical caused by external factors such as radiation, fertilizers, chemical additives, alcohol and smoking, is known as external oxyradical. Meanwhile, in the process of normal human metabolism, 2% of the oxygen intake from the air turns into active oxygen, whose chemical property is very active and is called internal oxyradical. Free Oxyradical's chemical nature is very active and aggressive. It attacks biomacromolecules, such as unsaturated fatty acids on cell membranes, causing serious damage to the cells' function. If peroxidized lipids stay inside cells, they will cause damage to cell membranes, which is bad for nutrition supply and waste clearing. If there is too much peroxidized lipid in the blood, arterial sclerosis will occur. In another case, skin will lose its natural elasticity, wrinkles and speckles will appear due to the declining abilities of the skin's metabolism and fat-secreting sebaceous gland and sweat gland. According to research, bamboo leaf flavone has anti-lipid peroxidation functions in the following three aspects:

1. Bamboo leaf flavone has a relatively good effect against lipid peroxidation induced by anti-hydrogen peroxide.Hydrogen peroxide can be produced in superoxide anion free radical's metabolic process. It can also be produced in REDOX of phagocyte. The hydrogen peroxide free radical can reach every part of the body through the cell membrane, which will expand the damaged area. Research has shown that bamboo leaf flavone has a strong effect against lipid peroxidation system induced by hydrogen peroxide. This effect is positively correlated to the dosage of bamboo leaf flavone.

2. Bamboo leaf flavone has relatively good effect against LDL-C peroxidation.Research has shown that bamboo leaf flavone has an obvious protective effect in the model of human LDL-C oxidation induced by copper ion and that its effect typically depends on dosage. Cupric chloride solution with certain density is needed in the experiment to induce LDL-C oxidizing reaction because the existence of Cu2+ can accelerate the occurrence of fluorescence production, produce a large number of conjugated double bonds and raise gelatin electrophoresis' mobility. Bamboo leaf flavone can control the formation of fluorescence production and conjugated double bond, reduce gelatin electrophoresis' mobility and control lipid peroxidation.

3. Bamboo leaf flavone has relatively good effect in raising the activity of GSH-px and SOD.Superoxide dismutase (SOD) can clear away active superoxide anion free radicals but their outcome hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is still harmful to the body, which needs glutathione peroxidase (GSH-px) to decompose it to harmless water (H2O) and oxygen (O). Besides, GSH-px is an enzyme containing selenium, which can also clear away the hydroxy radical. Its importance lies in its great function against oxidation activity, 50-500 times better than vitamin E. So it's of significance to the body. The experiment with mice as its objects was made--a group of old mice, a group of young mice and a group taking gingko flavone and three groups with different dosage of bamboo leaf flavone. And the experiment lasted four weeks. Its result showed that lipid peroxidation was obviously reduced and the activity of SOD and GSH-px were raised in the groups with different dosages of bamboo leaf flavone, compared with the old-mice group. The groups with medium and high dosage of bamboo leaf flavone showed the same result, compared with the young-mice group. Bamboo leaf flavone has similar effect on raising SOD's activity with gingko flavone but has a better effect on anti-lipid oxidation and raising the activity of GSH-px.