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Can Herbs or Supplements Treat Hypertension? Hypertension, or more commonly known as high blood pressure, is a condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is getting higher. About 77 million of American adults or about 34 percent of the United States population are affected by hypertension. Blood pressure is measured in millimeter mercury pressure (mmHg) and is represented by 2 numbers: systolic (upper) and diastolic (lower) readings. Systolic reading is the number when the heart beats, pumping blood in the arteries, and diastolic reading indicates the number when the heart is at rest between beats. Reading at or below 120/80 mmHg is considered normal. A person is considered to have hypertension when the reading is persistently at or above 140/90 mm/Hg. Hypertensive patients are often given medications to bring their blood pressure to the normal range. This is because prolonged hypertension could lead to many other diseases including kidney failure, heart disease (heart attack, heart failure) and stroke. Nevertheless, hypertensive medications do have some side effects. Since all hypertensive medications affect the heart and blood vessels, it is possible that certain patients might have changes in their heartbeat. Some drugs might cause the heart rate to slow while others might cause erratic or fast heartbeat. Other likely side effects include fatigue, swelling of the hands, feet, ankles or lower legs, headache, stomach pain and depression.
Therefore, more and more people have turned to alternative medicine for help. Alternative medicine refers to any healing practice that does not use conventional medicines. Alternative medicines are mainly herbs or supplements. They are not based on scientific evidence but rather on historical or cultural traditions. In the September 2011’s issue of the ‘Journal of Clinical Hypertension’, researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center reported that there is good evidence that some of the nondrug healing practices work and besides taking medications, hypertension might be controlled with lifestyle changes for some patients. Supplements that are available over the counter can play their part in the treatment plan too. 9 dietary supplements including calcium, fish oil, garlic, soy protein and Vitamin-D were examined in the study. Strong evidence showed that Coenzyme Q10 and potassium supplements had the best effectiveness on lowering blood pressure. While the findings indicated that both worked better than a placebo at lowering blood pressure, they need to be studied further. The other supplements might help very little to treat hypertension but there is no harm in trying them. On the other hand, the effectiveness of herbal supplements, like hawthorne, mistletoe and forskolin, an Indian plant, was doubtful. Researchers found minimal evidence that herbal supplements might work for reducing blood pressure and more importantly their safety has not been well studied. None of these herbs showed ability to lower blood pressure. Some are even harmful, for instance, mistletoe is toxic at high concentrations. There are, of course, other alternatives to medications available. But patients wishing to adopt them should use them under the supervision of their doctors. In fact, the study also studied devices claiming to improve blood pressure. Being designed to stimulate nerves to lower blood pressure, Rheos device and Symplicity catheter involve surgery to implant in the body. RESPeRATE can help patients slow their breathing using headphones and a respiration sensor, and Zona Plus is a set of handgrips that a patient can squeeze. Rheos and Symplicity are in clinical trials. Though RESPeRATE and Zona Plus cannot hurt, the mechanism to help lower blood pressure has not yet been understood. The researchers quoted diet changes as the best nondrug way to treat high blood pressure. They suggested DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) plan, which includes lowering sodium intake and eating whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products. Most lifestyle changes are reasonably safe. However, patients who try to control blood pressure without medications would have to combine multiple lifestyle changes. For instance, besides changing diet, one should also increase exercise and take potassium supplements. For people with severe cases of hypertension, it seems that only prescribed medications could bring the readings down to a safe range.
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