Considering A Natural Remedy For High Blood
Pressure?
You are not alone. Most people prefer the gentler
action of herbal medicines. It’s known
that herbal remedies can be gentler on your body and are less likely to
have nasty side effects.
No medicine ever materialized, whole, out of thin air. If no
one had bothered to ask “What’s this mold on my
bread?” penicillin would never have been
discovered. Although modern drugs and medications are
nowadays manufactured in laboratories, their active ingredients
originated in natural herbs: plants, stems, bark, seeds, leaves and
roots. The best example of this kind of natural remedy is
“digoxin,” the drug of choice for heart maladies,
made from the foxglove plant.
However, when considering a natural remedy for high blood pressure you
should always
talk with your doctor to ensure that the alternative treatment is right
for you. Herbal medicines can be slow-acting (hence, their
perceived gentleness) and their benefits can take weeks or months to
fully manifest. If you have uncontrolled serious hypertension
that needs fast action, using a natural herbal remedy may not be wise.
What
Natural Remedies Are Used For Treating High Blood Pressure?
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.
Coleus
Forskohlii is a perennial herb used in Ayurvedic and
Asian medicine. It is not the colorful-leafed annual familiar
to most Americans. Coleus Forskohlii is a member of the mint
family and can be found growing wild in Nepal, India, Thailand and Sri
Lanka. The plant’s roots contain the active
constituent forskolin, a chemical that relaxes vascular muscles and as
a result lowers blood pressure. Coleus is not only a natural
remedy for high blood pressure, it’s also used to treat
allergies, asthma, eczema, psoriasis and angina. Do consult
your physician before trying coleus; it should not be used in
combination with prescription medications for hypertension.
Nor should it be used if you’re taking warfarin.
Coleus should not be taken by pregnant women as it is reported to cause
uterine bleeding and miscarriage.
Hawthorn
is very popular among herbalists as a natural remedy for high blood
pressure. It’s also used to treat heart disease and
angina. Hawthorn contains a complex mix of chemicals that, together,
improves the heart’s pumping ability. Heart action
is directly related to hypertension. Consult your physician
before using Hawthorn; it may take several weeks to take effect and
this may not be time you can afford to wait if your high blood pressure
needs to be lowered very quickly to prevent a heart attack or
stroke. If your physician approves, try Hawthorn capsules,
100-300 mgs two or three times daily. To use a tincture of
Hawthorn as a natural remedy for high blood pressure, take one teaspoon
three times daily. Caution: a tincture is a preparation of
herbs mixed and stabilized with alcohol. If you’re
in recovery from alcoholism, do NOT use a incture.
The savory and highly-medicinal olive
leaf is used as a natural remedy for high blood pressure,
infections, herpes, colds, and hepatitis. Olive leaves
contain oleuropein, a chemical that has been demonstrated to kill
bacteria and lower blood pressure. For more than 6,000 years, olive
leaves have been prized for their medicinal properties. To
the best of our research, they have no known side-effects. Try one 250
mg capsule twice a day for hypertension.
Stevia
leaves are not only natural sweeteners, they are also used as a natural
remedy for high blood pressure and high blood sugar levels in
diabetics. Herbalists believe that more research on stevia
must be completed before it becomes a “standard”
treatment. The active ingredient in stevia is stevioside, a
super-sweetener that contains no calories. For hypertension,
stevia can reduce blood pressure too quickly, and you should use it
only with a physician’s approval. Use no more than
1,000 mgs daily.
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.
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