Natural remedies are not all created equal

ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS, NOV. 30-DEC. 2--HIV positive since 1981, Michael Deighan, co-owner of the print shop Nightsweats & T-cells, displays his mid-day pills that he takes daily to battle his illness, in Kent, Ohio, Nov. 21, 2001. Deighan takes 47 pills each day to combat the disease. His shop employs only HIV and AIDS infected people. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS, NOV. 30-DEC. 2--HIV positive since 1981, Michael Deighan, co-owner of the print shop Nightsweats & T-cells, displays his mid-day pills that he takes daily to battle his illness, in Kent, Ohio, Nov. 21, 2001. Deighan takes 47 pills each day to combat the disease. His shop employs only HIV and AIDS infected people. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

Published Jun 7, 2015

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London - Nikki Chapman wasn’t too concerned when a routine check-up showed her blood pressure was much higher than usual.

“I was very active and I ate a healthy low-salt diet,” says the 51-year-old from Ditchling, East Sussex.

The previous year her blood pressure had been 120/80 – almost perfect – but now it was sky-high, 154/91. The nurse told Nikki to keep an eye on her readings, so she bought a monitor to check her blood pressure at home.

But instead of Nikki’s blood pressure dropping back to its previously healthy reading, it remained bafflingly high. A few weeks later, she started having night-time palpitations. “These culminated in me waking up with a prominent blue vein in my temple and blood pressure of 220/110 – its highest ever.”

Around 10 million adults have high blood pressure – defined as readings of 140/90 and above – which is the leading cause of strokes. The top number, the systolic blood pressure, refers to the pressure in the arteries when the heart contracts. The bottom number, diastolic, is the pressure when the heart relaxes.

Nikki’s GP prescribed ramipril, a form of ACE inhibitor; a type of drug which helps relax constricted blood vessels. But Nikki woke in the night feeling feverish and dizzy, with a headache, sickness and diarrhoea.

The doctor switched her to a different ACE inhibitor – lisinopril – but this gave her constant headaches.

Within a week Nikki had taken herself off the pills and began looking for drug-free alternatives. A wide array of natural remedies purport to treat high blood pressure. But as Nikki discovered, some natural products can actually cause high blood pressure. A peppermint and liquorice tea blend she’d been drinking since giving up caffeine eight months earlier was the source of her problem.

“I read that black liquorice can cause both palpitations and high blood pressure – especially in people over 40,” Nikki says.

“My new favourite tea contained pieces of black liquorice root – and I’d been drinking five cups every day.”

Black liquorice contains the compound glycyrrhizin, which is 50 times sweeter than sugar. It also mimics the effects of the hormone aldosterone, as Gareth Beevers, professor of medicine at City Hospital Birmingham and spokesman for the Blood Pressure Association, says.

“At high levels, aldosterone increases the level of sodium in the blood and reduces potassium – causing blood pressure to rise.”

Studies show that taking glycyrrhizin daily for two to four weeks can raise systolic blood pressure by up to 14.4mm Hg.

Nikki immediately gave up the tea – and over the next fortnight her blood pressure fell back to normal. A year on, it remains a healthy 120/63.

Liquorice isn’t the only natural remedy that can cause blood pressure to rise. Arnica taken in oral form for bruising, St John’s wort for depression, and senna for constipation can also raise blood pressure or interfere with medicines treating it, says Sultan Dajani, of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

“Gingko, ginseng, guarana and ephedra, and bitter orange (all taken to stimulate and improve energy levels) can cause the same problems,” he says.

Just because something is natural, doesn’t mean it’s good for you, he adds. “Caffeine is natural, but it’s another common cause of hypertension – it causes blood vessels to constrict so the heart has to work harder to pump blood through them.”

However, the first step is to reduce your salt intake – excess amounts increase the weight of your blood and forces the heart to work harder to pump it.

”Reducing intake to below 3g can cut systolic pressure by 10-12mm Hg within two weeks,” says Beevers.

For those with mildly raised blood pressure, there are several natural remedies that may bring it down, without the need for drugs. Here, Beevers examines the evidence for 10 of them:

 

Beetroot juice

Claim: Drinking 250ml of beetroot juice every day can cut systolic pressure by 10mm Hg, studies suggest.

Expert opinion: Beetroot juice can help lower blood pressure, says Beevers. “But it can have a dramatic laxative effect.”

 

Fish oil

Claim: Omega-3 oils – found in sardines, mackerel and salmon – may reduce the pressure needed to force blood through blood vessels.

Expert opinion: “It seems fish oil may slightly lower blood pressure – but you need to consume a lot to get a small benefit,” says Beevers.

 

Hawthorn tincture

Claim: One small study found people on blood pressure medication saw an average 2.6mm Hg reduction in diastolic blood pressure after 16 weeks taking 1 200mg of hawthorn.

Expert opinion: “The evidence suggests that hawthorn can have a very small effect on blood pressure,” says Beevers.

 

Arginine tablets

Claim: Arginine, an amino acid found in nuts and chocolate, is thought to increase levels of nitric oxide in the blood. A study in the American Journal of Hypertension in 2000 found it could slightly reduce blood pressure.

Expert opinion: There’s no question that nitric oxide dilates blood vessels, says Beevers. “However, there are too few studies to substantiate the claims about arginine.”

 

Potassium pills

Claim: Increasing the potassium in your diet can lower your systolic blood pressure by 3-4mm Hg, according to the Blood Pressure Association.

Expert opinion: “You’d need to eat six or seven portions of fruit and vegetables a day to achieve this,” says Beevers.

 

CoQ10 supplement

Claim: CoQ10 is a vitamin-like substance made naturally in the body which helps cell growth. A deficiency can cause high blood pressure.

Expert opinion: Beevers says: “The highly respected Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews supports the view that CoQ10 deficiency is often associated with hypertension so this seems reliable evidence.”

 

Vitamin C

Claim: Vitamin C can increase nitric oxide in the blood.

Expert opinion: “The best research was done by Johns Hopkins University, which has a very good reputation, so vitamin C could well be helpful,” says Beevers.

 

Hibiscus tea

Claim: Drinking tea brewed from 3.75g of hibiscus petals – which have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties – can reduce mildly raised blood pressure, a 2008 study by Tufts University in Boston found.

Expert opinion: Hibiscus seems to work like a very low-dose ACE inhibitor and diuretic, says Beevers. “But any effects shown in the study were small.”

 

Garlic pills

Claim: Compounds in garlic have been found to help blood pressure by increasing nitric oxide and also working on the angiotensin system that regulates blood pressure.

Expert opinion: In a 2010 study at the University of Adelaide, some people taking four capsules a day saw a “slight” reduction in their blood pressure, says Beevers.

 

Macca tea

Claim: The amino acid theanine is found in tea, and particularly in Macca tea. It has been shown to increase nitric oxide production.

Expert opinion: “It seems a bit of a long shot,” says Beevers.

 

Daily Mail

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