St John’s Wort: Risky Combined With Heart Meds
You may have heard that the St. Johns Wort herb can help treat symptoms of depression, but be wary of drinking this tea if you have a heart condition. My biggest concern is that its not good with cardiac medications, says Steinbaum. She says the ingredient is “epically dangerous” if youre taking blood thinners or cardiac medications for heart failure, like digoxin, or if you require a stent or have atrial fibrillation.
If you’re considering drinking St. Johns Wort tea for depression, talk to your doctor instead, Steinbaum says. Theres such a close association between depression and heart disease. Its the kind of thing I wouldnt want anyone to treat on their own.
Green Teafor Blood Pressure
Green tea is a healthy and great option. For example, it is slightly more oxidized than white tea and ranges from floral and mellow to vegetal. High in minerals, antioxidants, and vitamins, green tea is fantastic for reducing damage caused to the blood vessels and heart. Moreover, it also acts as a great agent for lowering blood pressure. The caffeine content is half of that of black tea, and it is rich in polyphenols and catechins. These two are the most important antioxidants that help reduce blood pressure.
Researchers at the University of Maryland have found that the unfermented tea green tea leaves contain a large concentration of polyphenol antioxidants known to fight free radicals that cause damage to the DNA, which is responsible for cancer, premature aging, heart disease, and stroke. Further studies have shown that drinking green tea can help regulate blood pressure, reduce bad cholesterol, and reduce depression. Mixing green tea with ginger creates a potent healthy brew.
Herbs That May Help Lower High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure, also called hypertension, affects nearly half of all American adults .
Its the most common preventable risk factor for heart disease .
This article looks at the scientific research behind 10 herbs and spices that may help lower blood pressure.
- systolic blood pressure over 130 mm Hg
- diastolic blood pressure over 80 mm Hg
- both systolic and diastolic values above these levels
You can manage blood pressure with medications, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and calcium channel blockers.
Many dietary and lifestyle changes can also reduce your blood pressure and lower your risk of heart disease.
In fact, studies have shown that some herbs and spices may reduce blood pressure levels, so you may want to consider adding these to your diet, too.
Make sure to speak with your healthcare provider before using any of the following herbs.
Below are 10 herbs that may help lower blood pressure.
Summary
You can manage high blood pressure with medication, as well as dietary and lifestyle changes. Some herbs and spices may likewise help lower blood pressure.
Basil is a flavorful herb that comes in various forms. Its popular in alternative medicine because its rich in various powerful compounds.
Sweet basil is high in eugenol. Research has linked this plant-based antioxidant to many health benefits, including lowered blood pressure .
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Demographic And Anthropometric Factors
During a clinic visit, all participants completed a questionnaire, which collected information about age, smoking history, physical activity and residential postal code. Weight and height were measured, and the BMI was calculated in kg/m2. Smoking status was coded into nonsmoker, ex-smoker and current smoker. For physical activity, the women filled in a questionnaire that included the following question: Do you participate in any sports recreation or regular physical activity? Those who answered yes to this question were asked to list up to four activities and the duration that they engaged in each activity. Women who answered no to the activity question were classified as being sedentary and scored zero for activity. Activity levels in the active women were calculated in kJ/d using published energy costs of listed activities. Socioeconomic status was assessed using relative social advantage according to residential postal codes. This variable was divided into two levels: high and medium-to-low advantage.
It Adds Important Nutrients
Clove includes multiple vitamins, minerals and other healthy nutrients that work well with your overall health. You will be surprised to know that only 1 tablespoon of clove water contains many factors.
It has manganese, vitamin C, 1 gram fibre, vitamin K, Carbs, 21 calories only in 1 tablespoon of clove water. Vitamin K can prevent blood clogging vitamin C is good for the strength of the immune system.
Fibre and manganese are also important minerals for the human body and improve the digestive tract. Calories are jeopardy for a blood pressure victim and cloves are less in calories so you can have this without any side effects.
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Black Tea: It’s Both Good And Bad For Your Heart
Black tea is oxidized most extensively hence its black color, says Dr. Brill. Most of the benefits come from powerful plant chemicals knwn as polyphenols, as well as flavonoids. Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, the director of Women’s Heart Health at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, regularly advises her coffee-drinking patients to consider switching to black tea because it has roughly half the amount of caffeine as a same-sized cup of coffee. And results of a clinical trial published in the May 2012 Preventive Medicine journal indicated that people who drank three cups of black tea per day had, on average, 36 percent lower triglyceride levels and a 17 percent improvement in their cholesterol profiles.
All black teas are caffeinated, which is not great if you have high blood pressure or a fast heart rate it can make things worse, warns Dr. Steinbaum. For black teas, you may expect anywhere from 14 to 70 mg of caffeine, notes the Mayo Clinic.
Stimulants can trigger heart arrhythmias in some patients, says John Day, MD,cardiologist and heart rhythm specialist at the Intermountain Heart Institute in Murray, Utah. If any teas give you palpitations or a rapid heartbeat, you should stop drinking them and let your doctor know. And use caution if youre taking Coumadin , a commonly prescribed blood thinner, as black tea may decrease blood clotting and increase your chances of bruising and bleeding.
Stimulate The Immune System
As we said before that cloves are the rich source of natural antioxidants and vitamins. A strong immunity can save your precious health, and a weak immune system can invite several diseases without any hint.
The poor lifestyle, any disease, excess usage of drugs or antibiotic pills, junk food, lack of exercise and heredity are the basic reasons of poor immunity.
The regular usage of cloves can stimulate your immune power again that protect your body from infections and allergies.
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Drinking Tea For Heart Health
Is it possible that a daily cup of tea can protect you against cardiovascular disease? Lets learn more about drinking tea for heart benefits.
Recent studies have shown that regular tea drinkers have a lower risk of developing arterial stiffness in the heart, which has been linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. Further studies have indicated with evidence that drinking tea helps reduce high cholesterol consequently cutting down the risk of possible heart diseases.
The Flavonoid Flavour
Tea is a major source of flavonoids, which act as potent antioxidants that neutralize the bodys naturally occurring, but cell-damaging free radical molecules. Research has shown that tea flavonoids may help promote heart health by improving blood vessel and endothelial function, and by improving cholesterol levels.
High blood cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. It can lead to a build-up of plaque in the artery walls and narrow the arteries. Black tea may help reduce the risk of heart disease by helping maintain healthy function of the endothelium, the inner lining of blood vessels. Phytochemicals in tea may increase the arterys ability to dilate thereby improving coronary vessel function.
Black or Green?
Health Hazards Related To High Blood Pressure
Not in vain, its called The Silent Assassin.
Because there are serious health risks associated with this disease, there is no question that we need to lower blood pressure.
Key impacts include, but are not limited to:
Damage to the inner organs, such as increasing the size of the heart. It can cause an accumulation of cholesterol in the arteries .
You are more susceptible to developing renal failure. It is linked to the expansion or rupture of the aortic artery, which may lead to death.
The symptoms are hypertension or high blood pressure. As mentioned earlier, hypertension can go undetected.
However, a certain unease of unknown cause may arise from high pressure.
Potential signs of hypertension include:
- Headache.
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Medications For Treatment Of High Blood Pressure
-
Thiazide diuretics
These medications are also known as water pills, they meant to act on the kidneys to help your body remove salt and water. In that way, diuretics help to reduce blood volume.
-
Calcium channel blockers
These medications include amlodipine , iltiazem . Calcium channel blockers help you to relax the muscles of the blood vessels. This result in a lower heart rate.
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Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors
These drugs help you relax your blood vessels by blocking the creation of chemicals that help the body to narrows blood vessels.
People with chronic kidney disease most likely benefit from Ace inhibitors as one of their key drugs.
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Vasodilators
These medications work on the muscles on the walls of the arteries, preventing the muscles from tightening and your arteries from narrowing.
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Central-acting agents
These medications work on the brain by signaling the nervous system to increase the heart rate and to constrict your blood vessels. Examples of central-acting agents include guanfacine , clonidine and methyldopa.
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Alpha-blockers
The work of these medications is to reduce the nerve impulses on the blood vessels, blocking the effectiveness of natural chemicals responsible for narrowing blood vessels.
Examples include prazosin , doxazosin and others.
Tip: Coconut oil, krill oil and garlic can help you manage high blood pressure too.
Do Coffee And Tea Influence Your Blood Pressure
The daily high intake of caffeine has been associated with the increase in CVD risk factors. However, the long-term moderate intake of coffee or tea does not have any detrimental effect on healthy individuals. In fact, an epidemiological data suggests that black and green tea may reduce the risk of both coronary heart disease and stroke by between 10% and 20%.3
So, what is responsible for the CVD protection exerted by these beverages? Research studies are not yet able to identify the compounds which are capable of it. One factor could be the phytochemicals in them, which may influence the endothelial function, resulting in vascular relaxation. The improved glucose metabolism or the inhibition of oxidative stress may also contribute to it.4 The direct effect of tea components on endothelial-dependent vasodilation, which increases the blood flow, thus, reducing blood pressure, has also been suggested in another study.5
The 2015 edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans came out with a good news for coffee lovers. According to their recommendations, the consumption of coffee within the moderate range is not associated with increased long-term health risks among healthy individuals.6 Moreover, they point out that consistent evidence relates coffee consumption to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease in healthy people.7 But, the exact causes behind these benefits are still not proven. It could be either caffeine or any other compound present in the coffee.
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High Blood Pressure: Drinking This Tea Every Day Could Lower Your Reading
HIGH blood pressure rarely shows any major symptoms in the early stages, but if left untreated it could lead to irreversible damage to ones health. There is a tea, however, that has been proven to help with blood pressure readings and if drunk everyday could lower readings. What is it?
High blood pressure means a persons blood pressure is consistently too high which in turn means the heat needs to work harder in order to pump blood around the body. While the condition doesnt pose any serious health risks in the beginning, overtime, a consistently high blood pressure reading could lead to potentially life-threatening conditions including heart and circulatory diseases like heart attack or stroke.
Diet plays a decisive role in lowering ones blood pressure.
Certain foods and drinks can either help or hinder the condition and recent research has come down squarely on the side of a particular hot beverage.
Tea has enjoyed a healthy reputation for years as a heart protector and one particular tea comes up tops especially for blood pressure.
Drinking as little as a half-cup of green tea per day may lower the risk of high blood pressure by nearly 50 percent, according to a new study of Chinese tea drinkers.
Researchers found that men and women who drank tea on a daily basis for at least a year were much less likely to develop hypertension than those who didnt and the more tea they drank, the bigger the benefits.
What makes green tea so healthy
What the study says
Effects Of Rooibos Tea On Blood Pressure
Rooibos tea may treat hypertension in some cases. The identities of the compounds in rooibos tea that are attributed to this reduction are unclear. However, a study in the the December 2006 edition of “European Journal of Nutrition” presents the blood-pressure lowering capabilities of rooibos tea extract. In addition to lowering blood pressure, rooibos tea was shown to reduce the activity of angiotensin converting enzyme in the May 2010 issue of the journal “Public Health Nutrition.” This enzyme constricts blood vessels, which raises blood pressure. These results suggest that rooibos tea is good for overall cardiovascular health.
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Natural Ways To Lower Your Blood Pressure
Reducing high blood pressure without drugs is easier than you think.
May 26, 2013 — intro: High blood pressure is one of the most preventable conditions. But it plays a contributing role in more than 15 percent of deaths in the United States, according to a new Harvard study. Although it causes no symptoms, high blood pressure boosts the risks of leading killers such as heart attack and stroke, as well as aneurysms, cognitive decline, and kidney failure.
Twenty-eight percent of Americans have high blood pressure and don’t know it, according to the American Heart Association. If you haven’t had yours checked in 2 years, see a doctor. While medication can lower blood pressure, it may cause side effects such as leg cramps, dizziness, and insomnia. Fortunately, most people can bring down their blood pressure naturally without medication.
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quicklist: 1category: Natural Ways To Lower Your Blood Pressuretitle: Go for Power Walksurl: text: Hypertensive patients who went for fitness walks at a brisk pace lowered pressure by almost 8 mmhg over 6 mmhg. Exercise helps the heart use oxygen more efficiently, so it doesn’t work as hard to pump blood. Get a vigorous cardio workout of at least 30 minutes on most days of the week. Try increasing speed or distance to give your heart a better workout.
Delicious Ways To Lower Your Blood Pressure
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Oolong Tea For Hypertension Is It Recommended
Oolong tea which combines the qualities of dark and green teas offers some interesting health benefits.
A research study done in China reported a 39% lower risk stroke in those that take about 480ml of oolong tea.
In addition, regular consumption of oolong tea per day may reduce the persons risk of high blood pressure by up to 46%.
Its important to note that oolong tea does contain caffeine , which can raise blood pressure, so it should be taken moderately.
The caffeine content in oolong is just a quarter of that in coffee, so its effect on hypertension is likely to be small too.
Remember, drinking above 4 cups of coffee a day could increase your blood pressure.
Tip: Here are the best coffee creamers for diabetics.
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How Fast Can Green Tea Burn Belly Fat
Although there are no specific guidelines when you should take your tea, the best time might be before or 30-60 minutes after the meal. To get the most benefits, studies usually suggest 3-5 cups of green tea per day, depending on the type and the amount of EGCg. Learn how to choose the tea with the most EGCg.
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Adcocks, C., Collin, P., and Buttle, D. J. Catechins from green tea inhibit bovine and human cartilage proteoglycan and type II collagen degradation in vitro. J Nutr. 2002 132:341-346. View abstract.
Agarwal, A., Prasad, R., and Jain, A. Effect of green tea extract in reducing oxidative stress seen in patients of pulmonary tuberculosis on DOTS Cat I regimen. Phytomedicine. 2010 17:23-27. View abstract.
Ahmed, S., Wang, N., Lalonde, M., Goldberg, V. M., and Haqqi, T. M. Green tea polyphenol epigallocatechin-3-gallate differentially inhibits interleukin-1 beta-induced expression of matrix metalloproteinase-1 and -13 in human chondrocytes. J Pharmacol.Exp.Ther. 2004 308:767-773. View abstract.
Al-Sowyan, N. S. Difference in leptin hormone response to nutritional status in normal adult male albino rats. Pak.J Biol.Sci. 1-15-2009 12:119-126. View abstract.
Alemdaroglu, N. C., Dietz, U., Wolffram, S., Spahn-Langguth, H., and Langguth, P. Influence of green and black tea on folic acid pharmacokinetics in healthy volunteers: potential risk of diminished folic acid bioavailability. Biopharm.Drug Dispos. 2008 29:335-348. View abstract.
Alexopoulos, N., Vlachopoulos, C., Aznaouridis, K., Baou, K., Vasiliadou, C., Pietri, P., Xaplanteris, P., Stefanadi, E., and Stefanadis, C. The acute effect of green tea consumption on endothelial function in healthy individuals. Eur.J Cardiovasc.Prev.Rehabil. 2008 15:300-305. View abstract.
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