Natural Options for the Treatment of High Blood Pressure

Natural Options for Prevention and Treatment of High Blood Pressure

“Health is the thing that makes you feel that now is the best time of the year”

Franklin P. Adams

Important: Before including any natural foods or extracts in your diet to reduce your blood pressure be sure to check with your doctor to see if they may interfere with your medication and if they are safe for you.

Natural foods and extracts have been used for medicinal purposes since the dawn of man.

Do not assume that if it is all natural it can’t hurt you. There are many natural products available that if taken in large quantities, in certain combinations or when combined with the medication your doctor has prescribed that can be harmful to you or could reduce the effectiveness of your medication. For example, grapefruit should not be taken with certain hypertensive medications. Therefore I cannot stress enough the importance of checking with your doctor or pharmacist about foods and extracts to avoid.

There are many natural foods and homeopathic remedies that are thought to be beneficial in reducing blood pressure and increase overall health. Personally I introduced green tea, linden tea and lemon juice into my daily intake during the time when I was reducing my blood pressure and continue to consume them today. I believe they helped me reach and maintain my goal. Many of the items listed in this chapter contribute to overall good health not just your blood pressure.

Green Tea:

The loss of arterial elasticity is one cause of high blood pressure. Youthful arteries expand and contract effortlessly with each heart beat. Aging causes a loss of arterial elasticity. As noted above, green tea inhibits thromboxane production, which is one cause of arterial constriction. A more significant cause of hypertension is an enzyme secreted by the kidneys called angiotension-converting enzyme (ACE). Popular drugs such as Capoten, Vasotec and Zestril function as angiotension-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors). By blocking the effects of ACE, blood pressure is reduced significantly in most hypertensives. Green tea is a natural ACE inhibitor. Published studies show lowered blood pressure in animals and humans given green tea extracts.

If you are going to use green tea to treat hypertension, do so only under the supervision of a competent medical professional who can evaluate whether it is working for you. Regular blood-pressure testing is mandatory.

Linden Tea:

The relaxing effect of linden is particularly felt on the cardiovascular system, especially when there is arteriosclerosis or hypertension (high blood pressure) present. ₍Linden is hypotensive; it lowers blood pressure.) The British herbalist, Simon Mills, author of Out of the Earth, the Essential Book of Herbal Medicine, points out that linden blossoms have a healing and restorative effect upon the blood vessel walls — one that extends even to the improvement of varicose veins.

A leading French authority on phytotherapy, Henri Leclerc described the effect on the blood as rendering it more fluid, less viscous (thick) and less likely to coagulate. Linden also prevents adherence of plaque to the blood vessel walls, along with the whole list of complications that result from that process. Other French authorities on phytotherapy, Drs. Duraffourd and Lapraz, assert that the flowers act as a plaque anti-aggregant, and Bezanger-Beauquesne gives clinical evidence of mild coronary vasodilation. This means that the arteries inside the heart which provide the heart muscle’s vital supply of blood are less likely to become blocked. In this way, linden prevents constriction of the blood, making strokes less likely.

Hundreds of tonnes of linden flowers are consumed in France each year. Along with the widespread consumption of garlic, olives and red wine in the Mediterranean countries, Lindenis a likely contributor to the lower occurrence of heart disease in this region.

Of course, caution is needed by anyone taking blood thinners, conventional medicine for high blood pressure, or other heart medications, because linden can potentate (amplify) the effects of those pharmaceuticals. Careful monitoring would be needed by your cardiologist if you wanted to drink linden tea regularly. But as a preventive, there is probably no better herb for maintaining the smooth inner lining of the blood vessel walls and assuring that stress does not affect the even flow of circulation of the blood.

Papaya is a common Caribbean home remedy for hypertension, used by Cubans, Trinidadians, Haitians and Jamaicans. While the fruit is not widely known as a natural remedy for high blood pressure, a small study conducted in 2000 by the University of Calabar, Nigeria seems to indicate that the juice of unripened or green papaya lowered blood pressure in lab animals. Traditional Surinamese medicine also uses boiled papaya leaves as an antihypertensive. Obviously more research is needed before papaya is recognized as an alternative treatment for high blood pressure. This should not stop you from including the delicious papaya in your diet. Papaya is loaded with nutrients, including vitamins A, C, B complex, amino acids, calcium and iron. One-half of a papaya has more vitamin C and potassium than an entire orange, with half the calories of a large banana and 5 percent of the folate our bodies need for good health. Potassium and folate are key nutrients in heart health.

Garlic is well-known among herbal medicine practitioners to be effective in treating a large variety of health problems such as heart disease, infections, inflammations, and hypertension. Many people take a garlic supplement every day to increase their overall good health. Research indicates that three chemicals in garlic are helpful in treating hypertension: alliin, allinase, and allicin. These three chemical “cousins” appear to have many beneficial effects on blood circulation explaining why garlic is a natural remedy for high blood pressure. Caution: do not use garlic if you’re taking a blood-thinning drug such as warfarin; garlic will interfere with its action. Herbalists generally recommend 300 mgs of garlic (in capsules) three times a day. To use fresh garlic, try one clove per day.

Lemon: Must be fresh lemon juice and not pasteurized. An average lemon contains potassium 48.3, calcium 29.9, phosphorus 11.1, and magnesium 4.4. This makes it a perfect way to increase your lowered levels. Lemons are also natural diuretics. The liver can make more enzymes out of fresh lemon juice than any other food element. Lemon helps fix oxygen and calcium in the liver because it regulates blood carbohydrate levels which affect the blood oxygen levels.

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)

There is some evidence that the supplement CoQ10 may help to reduce high blood pressure.

A 12 week double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 83 people with systolic hypertension examined the effect of CoQ10 supplements (60 mg twice daily). After the 12 weeks, there was a mean reduction in systolic blood pressure of 17.8 mm Hg in the Coq10-treated group.

Another study conducted at the University of Western Australia looked at the effect of CoQ10 on blood pressure and glycemic control in 74 people with type 2 diabetes. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either 100mg CoQ10 twice daily, 200mg of the drug fenfibrate, both, or neither for 12 weeks.

CoQ10 significantly reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure(mean reduction 6.1 mm Hg and 2.9 mm Hg respectively). There was also a reduction in HbA1C, a marker for long-term glycemic control.

Hawthorn

The herb hawthorn is often used by traditional herbal practitioners for high blood pressure. In a randomized controlled trial conducted by researchers in Readng, UK, 79 patients with type 2 diabetes were randomized to receive either 1200 mg of hawthorn extract a day or placebo for 16 weeks. Medication for high blood pressure was used by 71% of the patients.

At the end of the 16 weeks, patients taking the hawthorn supplement had a significant reduction in mean diastolic blood pressure (2.6 mm Hg). No herb-drug interactions were reported.

By Cathy Henry