Tuesday, April 23, 2002; Page HE01

Cutting Heart Risk, Eastern Style

The idea that lifestyle measures alone – diet, exercise and stress reduction – can reduce cardiovascular disease is not new. A small study published in 1998 by diet evangelist and physician Dean Ornish showed that patients could reduce arterial blockage by such nonmedical means.

New support for that approach came this month from a less traditional source: the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, leader of the Transcendental Meditation movement.

A study in the American Journal of Cardiology found that a natural regimen of diet, exercise, an herbal supplement and stress-reduction techniques advocated by Maharishi Vedic Medicine (MVM) outperformed two alternatives – a health education regimen involving diet, exercise and a multivitamin, and routine medical care with no added intervention – in reducing hardening of the arteries and arterial plaque. Both conditions can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

Fifty-seven seniors with an average age of 74 took part in the study. MVM patients saw their carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) readings decrease 10.6 percent, compared with a 5 percent average reduction for the other groups.

The study was funded by the Retirement Research Foundation and the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

James S. Gordon, a psychiatrist and director of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, said he was impressed that the MVM study tested an integrated treatment approach rather than simply looking at meditation or diet or exercise by itself. While relaxation techniques are gaining recognition as an important component of cardiovascular treatment, said Gordon, who was chairman of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy, it's unknown whether one form of relaxation is better than another.

(c) 2002 The Washington Post Company