Supplements That Lower High Blood Pressure

This was written 8/17/2011. To go back to sites that you were at before, you can right click the back button to choose which one to go back to.

Folic Acid

Folic acid is a B vitamin and is also known as folate. There was a study with this done with 2 groups of women. One group of women were 43 to 70. The other group was 23 to 44.

When they increased their intake of folic acid to 800 mcg with supplements and food, the younger group had a decreased risk of high blood pressure (hypertension) of 45%. The older group had a decreased risk of high blood pressure of 39%.

If people have a deficiency of folic acid, vitamin B-6 or B-12, it can cause homocysteine levels to rise. Homocysteine is an amino acid in the blood that is created by the liver. Elevated amounts of homocysteine in the blood put people at an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.

It sounds like these people were not eating enough food high in folic acid like dark green leafy vegetables that include kale, swiss chard, spinach, romaine lettuce or vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower. People should still make sure to eat organic green vegetables. They have nutrients in them that activate something inside the blood vessel called the Nrf2 mechanism that prevents plaque from binding to blood vessels and accelerates the rate at which fat melts away from the inside of the blood vessel.

Hesperidin

In my other article about foods that lower high blood pressure, I mentioned that it is the phytochemical hesperidin in the orange juice that lowered high blood pressure. You can buy supplements of hesperidin and they are allowed to claim that it nourishes and protects blood vessels. Webmd.com has an article that is about orange juice lowering high blood pressure.

L-arginine

L-arginine is an amino acid that is in some foods. Watermelon contains citrulline (a phytochemical) that is converted into arginine. Phytochemicals are chemicals in plant food that have an effect on the health of the body. This arginine then creates nitric oxide in the blood which relaxes the blood vessels so that blood pressure can go down.

You can buy supplements of arginine. The makers of these are allowed to claim that increased levels of nitric oxide in the body are associated with better cardiovascular health because it helps to keep your blood vessels dilated, promoting a healthy blood pressure.

Garlic

Garlic is a food but it is also sold as a supplement. It may be best to take fresh raw garlic but that can be an inconvenience. So they sell many supplements of garlic. Some of the garlic supplements also contain cayenne red pepper. This is a hot pepper. It is high in vitamin C and the hot peppers are very good for circulation. Garlic has been shown to reduce high blood pressure.

Ecklonia Cava

Ecklonia Cava is a brown seaweed. They sell a nutritional or dietary supplement of an extract of this seaweed. It is supposed to dissolve blood clots and lower blood pressure better than any drugs. In a controlled scientific study, it reduced high blood pressure levels by 40 points in 12 days-- from 200 mmHg to 160.

Dr. Haengwoo Lee and his team of M.D.'s and Ph.D.'s have spent over thirty million dollars on the research, from in vitro to animal and human studies on ecklonia cava extract (ECE). Much of the work was done in Korea, and some at the University of Washington.

Ecklonia Cava stimulates your body to burn more fat by increasing muscle mass. It improves circulation by regenerating cells that make up the critical inner lining of your blood vessels keeping the arterial wall dilated and relaxed.

The studies show that ecklonia cava is also good for many things like brain function, memory, arthritis, allergies and asthma. ECE can regenerate the vascular endothelium, the cells critical to the inner lining of the blood vessels. They generate nitric oxide (NO), which keeps the arterial walls relaxed and dilated that helps to lower high blood pressure and promote cardiovascular health.

It has also been used to help people with obesity and erectile dysfuntion (ED). When you help the circulation of blood to be easier, it can have benefits to everywhere in the body.

Green Tea

Green tea has many different studies showing many different benefits of drinking it. One of these benefits is lowering high blood pressure that is also known as hypertension. Green tea is a food but it is also sold as a supplement and is an ingredient in many supplements now. This benefit is not due to the caffeine in it.

This benefit comes from the phytochemcial and rare amino acid in it called theanine. Theanine also has other benefits that negate the bad effects of caffeine like having a calming effect. To learn more about the many benefits of green tea and the studies done on it, see Health Benefits of Green Tea.