Herbs That Lower Blood Pressure
Can Work For You

But few people know which herbs that lower blood pressure can be effective and how much to take. Don’t waste your efforts. Read this physician’s guide...

How Many Are There?

There are about fifteen supplements and herbs that lower blood pressure.

Definitions:

An herb is derived from a leafy plant that doesn’t have a woody stem.

Dietary supplements. Congress defined the term "dietary supplement" in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. A dietary supplement is a product (other than tobacco) taken by mouth that contains a dietary ingredient intended to supplement the diet. Dietary ingredients may include vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids, and substances such as enzymes, organ tissues, and metabolites. Dietary supplements come in many forms, including extracts, concentrates, tablets, capsules, gel caps, liquids, and powders. They have special requirements for labeling. Under DSHEA, dietary supplements are considered foods, not drugs.

As you can readily see, an herb is just one form of a dietary supplement. The herbs can be used for other purposes such as skin preparations. We will confine ourselves to herbs that lower blood pressure.

Discussion:

According to the Natural Medicines Database there are fifteen supplements including herbs that are rated "Possibly Effective" in lowering blood pressure: Only stevia, garlic, green tea and oolong tea tea are herbs. The others are naturally occurring substances. All fifteen are listed here with comments:

1. Alpha-linolenic acid: Reduces risk of hypertension by about one third. Good preventive effect. Some safety concerns.

2. Blond psyllium: Reduces by 8 mm systolic and 2 mm diastolic. Good effect. Do you recognize this? It's Metamucil. Bulky.

3. Calcium: Very modest reductions. May not be worth the effort. Important in osteoporosis and should be taken in regard to this consideration. Bulky.

4. Cod liver oil: Modest effect. Bulky.

5. *Coenzyme Q-10: May get up to 17 mm reduction in systolic and 10 mm in diastolic. 26% reduction in isolated systolic hypertension. Takes about 12 weeks to obtain full benefit. Excellent effect.

6. Fish oil: A modest effect, similar to cod liver oil. Bulky.

7. Garlic: A 2 to 7% reduction. Modest effect. A food and bulky.

8. *Green tea and Oolong tea: One half to two cups a day for a year cuts the risk of developing high blood pressure by 46%. 600 ml a day (2 ½ cups) cuts risk by 65%. An excellent preventive effect Very bulky but available as an extract.

9. *Olive or olive leaf extract: Some lowering effect. Has other benefits such as cholesterol lowering, reducing heart attacks and heart disease, and reducing risk of breast cancer and colorectal cancer and, oddly, rheumatoid arthritis.

10. Potassium: Reduces systolic 2-4 mm and diastolic 0.5 to 3.5 mm. Modest effect. Controls cardiac rhythm Both high and low levels are serious! We won’t meddle with this.

11. *Pycnogenol (pine bark extract): Affects only systolic, reducing Stage One hypertensives (140-159) to about 133 mm Hg. Very good effect.

12. Stevia (stevioside: Reduces systolic by 10-14 mm and diastolic by 6-14 mm. Very good effect. Bulky.

13. Sweet orange (juice): Rich in potassium so the effect is that of potassium. Drink some orange juice. A food and bulky.

14. Vitamin C: Works only in conjunction with antihypertensive medication, otherwise has no effect. Does it work in conjunction with herbs that lower blood pressure? A study to this effect was not found. Why not try it and see?

15. Wheat bran: Modest effects, but how much bran can you eat? A food and bulky.

A number of these are “foods”, are bulky and therefore can only be taken separately, meaning they can’t be combined in a capsule with other agents. They are listed here:

• Blond psyllium
• Calcium
• Cod liver oil
• Fish oil
• Garlic. Can be extract.
• Green and Oolong teas. Can be extract.
• Olive oil. Can be extract.
• Stevia. Can be extract but still too bulky.
• Sweet orange
• Wheat bran

These must be considered singly because of their bulk except for the ones that can be made into extracts or concentrates of their active ingredients.

Whenever I imagine choosing two or three of these and eating them every day my stomach rebels. For instance if I had to drink two cups of green tea every day I might last a week. And that is one of the more pleasant ones.

How nice it would be to have a combination of supplements or herbs that lower blood pressure all in one capsule. This is not available right now but I'm working on it.

Let’s look at the remaining ones, listed here:

• Alpha-linolenic acid.
• Coenzyme Q10.
• Potassium.
• Pycnogenol.(pine bark extract).
• Vitamin C.

There are two here suitable in effectiveness and lack of bulk, they are Coenzyme Q10 and Pycnogenol (pine bark extract).

If we combined these with Olive leaf extract and the preventive Green tea extract from the other list we would have a very nice preparation of herbs that lower blood pressure and prevent future elevation.

After weeks of part-time research a similar preparation could not be found. The formulas that were found had either inappropriate and ineffective ingredients or were woefully inadequate in dosage or, in most cases, both. You will have to buy them separately.

This was my current personal regimen; one of each daily. Now I have been forced to move on to a stronger regimen of prescription drugs.

Doctor’s Practical Guide:

Let’s face it. A regimen of Dietary change, Exercise, Weight loss and Salt reduction seems like a monumental task. Of these, Salt reduction is by far the least difficult.

If you couple that Salt reduction with Herbs that lower blood pressure you have an relatively easy program and you might do very well. So start reducing the salt and get the above herbs.

While you are at it you should measure your own blood pressure. It is so easy now with the modern digital monitors, they practically do it for you!