This plant with beautiful flowers can give you a heart attack: expert
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New York: Popular garden plant Foxglove with trumpet-looking flowers can give you a heart attack, says a report.
Foxglove, native to Europe and Asia but now a favourite garden plant around the world, contains a type of cardiac glycoside called digoxin, which ‘has a powerful effect on the heart’, NDTV reported.
The flower, scientifically known as Digitalis, has long been figured in popular sayings for claims including its capacity to give a person a heart attack.
Now an expert Dr Zhen Wang says that the flower contains cardiac glycosides which can impact function on the heart muscles.
"Foxgloves contain extremely potent compounds called cardiac glycosides - 'cardiac' for their function on the heart muscle and 'glycosides' to indicate that these compounds have sugar molecules... to help the body absorb them,"Live Science quoted Dr Zhen Wang as saying.
Pumping of blood by the heart takes places through thousands of cardiac cells as they contract, according to the report.
The report by Live Science said that membrane cells have different ion channels and transporters, which permit charged particles like sodium, potassium and chloride.
The flow of ions produces electrical current and the sodium-potassium pump maintains the electrical balance, according to the report.
"All foxglove species produce some amount of these cardiac glycosides, such as digoxin, and they bind very, very tightly to the sodium-potassium pump, inhibiting it so the transporter cannot pump those ions anymore," Dr Zheng Wang was quoted as saying.
Deactivating this pump can lead to chemical problems inside cardiac cells, making the heart ‘suddenly beat much harder and much faster.’
The change in heart’s natural rhythm can potentially lead to cardiac arrest and then even to death.
Digoxin, however, is also prescribed for heart failure when other drugs failed, according to Dr Wang.
Dr Wang also warned that in the event of somebody accidently ingesting any part of the plant should immediately get medical help.
