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Varicose Vein Natural Treatments are Not a Joke ... Read the Latest Evidence-Based Medical Evidence
As a board certified vascular surgeon, when it comes to home remedies, I say show me the beef. Here it is!

In May 2011, in the Journal of Vascular Surgery, Peter Glovikzki MD wrote the definitive article which is widely accepted as the consensus article on the treatment of venous disease. It has been cited over 328 times by in the scientific literature. The article is entitled, “The care of patients with varicose veins and associated chronic venous diseases: Clinical practice guidelines of the Society for Vascular Surgery and the American Venous Forum.”
The topic that he about spoke this year was the nonsurgical, conservative treatment of chronic venous disease. Most of the discussion was based on the scientific evidence supporting the use and efficacy of venoactive drugs and specifically flavonoids.
The FDA and the European Food Safety officially classify flavonoids as food supplements. They are not approved as pharmaceutical drugs. They are derived mainly from plant sources such as citrus fruits and are the main source of the rich color in berries. They have known antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties when studied in vitro (outside of animals).
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How Do Flavonoids Work?
According to Dr Gloviczki’s review, flavanoids are claimed to increase venous tone and capillary permeability. Capillary permeability is the ability of fluid and molecules to pass through the wall of a blood vessel.
home remedies for varicose veins latest evidence based data.
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They are also said to work on white blood cells, which help fight infection and substances that your body recognizes as harmful or foreign to it. It can affect the inner lining of your veins, which is called the endothelium.
Flavonoids are used to treat pain from varicose veins. They decease swelling from the reflux of blood in veins and help in the healing of venous ulcers.
How Do You Get Flavonoids?
The only prescription supplement presently available in the United States contains the flavonoid called Diosmin. The medicine’s brand name is Vasculera. It is manufactured by Primus Dermatology in Arizona.
It has been used successfully in Europe and has been used in treating hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoids are varicose veins of the anal tissues. It can take four to six weeks for this to start working. The Relief study was conducted in twenty-three countries for over two years. It showed increased quality of life in those who completed this Relief trial. It was was published in 2002 in Angiology.
There are dozens of flavonoids available that you can order over the internet. Amazon has a multitude of choices in different price ranges that start at $12.97 for two months worth of this “food supplement”. Search under the generic term,diosmin.
Show Me the Evidence!
Much of the research and use of flavonoids comes from Europe where they have been used for over two decades. European countries use homeopathic supplements much more than we do in the United States.
The research that has been done on venoactive drugs includes 44 randomized controlled trials.
There were 4413 participants. Flavonoids were studied in thirty-four of these. These studies included a Cochrane Review from 2005 by Martinez, MJ et al. This Cochrane review found that Diosmin and Hesperidin were the most effective venoactive drugs that they studied.
This study also found that it benefits swelling due to venous disease and reflux. The committee that did the review classified their effectiveness as Grade 2B. In terms of evidence, based medicine that means the quality of evidence was moderate and further evidence is needed to positively affect the confidence of the findings.
The studies often had insufficient follow up for analysis. Therefore, the recommendations are weak with moderate quality evidence proving its efficacy.
Grading evidence helps provide confidence in recommending a treatment when considering the risks, benefits, burdens and costs. Confidence in studies is also based on whether the studies were blinded, whether they were compared to placebo, or possibly subject to bias.
Horse chestnut is a natural varicose vein remedyA more recent Cochrane review from 2012 demonstrated the efficacy of horse chestnut extract. There were 17 randomized controlled trials vs. placebo. Varicose vein itching and swelling from varicose vein disease was positively affected. One of these studies showed that it was equally effective to compression support stockings. The adverse effects were mild and infrequent.
In a recent article in the American Journal of Phlebology in 2014, quality of life using flavonoids was improved after thirty days when flavonoids were used. This was a randomized controlled trial or a double-blinded placebo-controlled trial considered of good design by many.
See ...
http://www.happellaser.com/varicose-vein-natural-remedies-the-latest-evi...
Natural remedies for varicose veins are not a joke !!!
Nuff said.