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Originally published August 2, 2010.
Written by Roger Langford.
Garlic.
Researchers at Adelaide University in South Australia, led Dr Karin Ried, looked at eleven studies carried out to test the theory that garlic is beneficial for people with high blood pressure. The general consensus of these studies is that Yes garlic does help to normalise blood pressure. Those patients who started with the highest blood pressure had significant blood pressure falls. Patients in the studies usually took garlic supplements of between 600mg and 900mg of powdered garlic. Which provided the patients with 3.6mg to 5.4mg of allicin, the active ingredient in garlic.
A fresh clove of garlic usually contains somewhere between 5mg to 9mg of allicin. Fresh cloves are best eaten after being squeezed in a garlic press or they can be chewed. As stated above garlic "normalises" blood pressure this means that it will only lower blood pressure if your blood pressure in high. If your blood pressure is normal it will have no affect.
Garlic is also effective for lowering cholesterol levels.
Beetroot Juice.
A study by St Bartholomew's Hospital in London where healthy people were given a half litre of beetroot juice to drink. Found that within two hours their blood pressure had lowered and stayed low for several hours. Whether people with high blood pressure would benefit from drinking beetroot juice was not determined by this study.
Exercise.
A regular exercise program of one hour per day consisting of a mixture of aerobics, sprint-burst type exercises, and strength training can be a useful way to normalise your blood pressure.
Vitamin D.
Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to high blood pressure. So it will help if you get your vitamin D levels tested. Professor Robert Heaney, a well known expert of vitamin D, recommends that everyone should keep their blood levels of vitamin D at a minimum level of at least 32 ng/ml. If your vitamin D blood level is below this figure then it may help if you were to get more exposure to sunlight or take a vitamin D3 supplement.
Whilst it is known that taking high amounts of vitamin D over long periods can be toxic. Professor Reinhold Vieth has shown, referring to dozens of studies, that taking 2,000 units of vitamin D3 per day is not toxic. Other studies showed that 10,000 units per day was unlikely to be toxic.
This was proved by a study in Indonesia where doctors gave seventy tuberculosis patients 10,000 units of vitamin D per day for nine months. All 70 patients were cured of tuberculosis.
Classical Music.
According to Pietro A. Modesti, MD, PhD, an internal medicine specialist in the department of critical care medicine at the University of Florence, Italy. Listening to classical music for a half hour per day combined with slow, controlled abdominal breathing exercises can help to lower blood pressure.
Air Pollution.
According to a study carried out on rats, by Sanjay Rajagopalan at the Ohio State University Medical Center, pollution of the type people breathe while on the streets increase blood pressure over time.
Whilst it is difficult to avoid street pollution. In the home you have more control so take steps to reduce indoor pollution by not using air fresheners and other aerosols. Store products containing toxic chemicals such as household cleaners, paint, pesticides, solvents, etc out of the house in a garage or shed. If you have air conditioning keep it well maintained.
Celery Juice.
An old Chinese remedy for high blood pressure is to drink one or two glasses daily of celery juice, which you can make in a blender or juicer. Celery juice will help to normalise your blood pressure. Or you can just eat the celery without juicing it.
Sleep.
According to the NHLBI's Your Guide to Healthy Sleep, children of school-going age and adolescents need at least 9 hours of sleep every night. In fact most adolescents only get seven to seven and a half hours of sleep a night. When the hours of sleep fall below six and a half there is a risk of developing high blood pressure.
Quality of sleep is more important than the time asleep. Teenagers who had poor quality sleep were more likely to suffer from high blood pressure.
Tomatoes
In 2006, a study carried out at the Soroka Medical Center, Israel, Led by Dr. Esther Paran, found that the antioxidant lycopene can lower blood pressure. Lycopene is found in tomatoes. Patients, who had high blood presure, were given a daily supplement of tomato extract. After four weeks their blood pressure had dropped significantly. The supplement was equal to four tomatoes. If you like tomatoes and can eat four a day then this remedy could be useful.
Hibiscus Tea.
A researcher, Diane McKay, and her colleagues carried out a study on 64 patients who all had high blood pressure. Half were instructed to drink three cups of hibiscus tea per day. At the end of six weeks the blood pressure of the hibiscus tea group had dropped by 7.2 percent on average, the largest drop being 13.2 percent. Whereas the control group had a drop of 1.3 percent. The results showed that Hibiscus is now the most promising herb for treating blood pressure.
Grapes.
Researchers, at the University of Michigan Cardioprotection Research Laboratory, fed black, red and green grapes to rats that were eating either a low-salt or high-salt diet. Other lab rats were given a diet, without the grapes, but containing the blood pressure medication hydrazine.
After eighteen weeks, the cardiovascular health of these lab rats were compared. The results were that rats in the high-salt group had significantly lower blood pressure. Both the drug hydrazine and the grapes were found to work equally well in lowering blood pressure.
There were other advantages found in the rats fed grapes. They had significantly better heart function and less inflamation. Does that mean we should all eat plenty of grapes. Grapes are known to be a healthy food so why not.
Yellow Peas.
A study conducted by researchers, led by Rotimi E. Aluko, from the University of Manitoba, Canada, found that.
A protein extract (pea protein hydrolysate) from the yellow garden pea, when fed daily to rats with kidney disease, reduced their blood pressure by 20 percent after eight weeks. The rats urine output increased 30 percent, achieving normal levels.
People with high blood pressure and kidney disease could find this protein very useful as the protein could help them reduce their blood pressure and so help them to live longer. Of course it may also help to prevent kidney disease in those people with high blood pressure who are susceptible to developing kidney disease.
Potassium.
Potassium is a crucial mineral for restoring healthy blood pressure balance in your body, and when you don't have enough potassium, symptoms can start to emerge that may eventually be diagnosed and labelled as "high blood pressure." The recommended intake of potassium is 3.5grams (3,500 mg) a day. The best sources are fresh raw fruits, and fresh raw and cooked vegetables. Root vegetables including potatoes, parsnips, beets, rutabagas and turnips are the highest in potassium.
Brown Rice.
An endocrine protein known as angiotensin II can, when it is produced in excess, increase blood pressure and make the heart work harder by constricting, thickening and stiffening the arterial walls.
A specific natural compound found in a layer of tissue surrounding grains of brown rice is able to inhibit this angiotensin II, thus neutralising its effects.
Olive Leaf Extract.
A group of 40 people with Prehypertension were divided into two groups of 20. Group A were given a daily dose of 1000mg (one gram) of olive leaf extract. Group B was given lifestyle advice on how to lower blood pressure. After eight weeks all 40 people were checked for changes in blood pressure.
Group A showed a substantial lowering of blood pressure and also lower levels of LDL cholesterol. Group B had a small improvement in LDL cholesterol but no significant changes in blood pressure.
As other research has shown that a daily dose of 500mg of olive leaf extract has no beneficial affect on blood pressure it is logical to assume that at least 1000mg of olive leaf extract is necessary in order to obtain a lowering of blood pressure.
Chilli Peppers.
Scientists at the Third Military Medical University in China carried out research into how feeding rats, who had hypertension, with a diet high in capsaicin, from chilli peppers, would effect their blood pressure. It was noticed that over time the rats high blood pressure did, in fact, become lower. The chilli peppers increased the production of nitric oxide which is known to protect blood vessels from inflammation and dysfunction.
This increase in nitric oxide production probably explains what other researchers have discovered. That people who eat chilli peppers on a regular basis are less likely to suffer from hypertension.
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).
Dr Diana Jalal, of the University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center, led a team looking into the effects of the increasing use of HFCS in the typical American diet.
The study looked at the health of 4,528 people over 18 years of age who had no history of high blood pressure.
The results of the study, which were published in the Journal of the American Society Nephrology, showed that people who ate more than 74 grams of fructose a day greatly increased their risk of developing high blood pressure. The risk of developing blood pressure above 134/85 went up by 26 percent. The risk above 140/90 went up by 30 percent. The risk of very high blood pressure 160/100 went up by 77 percent.
The largest source of fructose in the standard American diet is high fructose corn syrup. By reducing the amount of food, (and drinks), you consume that contain HFCS it should be possible, over time, to reduce your blood pressure.
Lifestyle Changes.
If the natural remedies for high blood pressure as listed above do not appeal to you then changing the way you live life generally is one way to treat Hypertension. Such as:
- weight loss (if you are over weight),
- get regular exercise,
- cutting back on salt intake,
- reduce your consumption of alcohol. (A study published in the "Journal of Human Hypertension" showed that alcohol consumption raises blood pressure.)
- eat healthy food including plenty of fresh raw fruit and fresh raw and cooked vegetables.
Eating plenty of fresh raw fruits and fresh raw and cooked vegetables will also help you to normalise your weight.
© Copyright 2010, Roger Langford, All rights reserved.
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