Can herbs and spices lower blood pressure?
From the Medical News Today websi
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly half of adults in the U.S. have hypertension.
Untreated hypertension increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, such as heart attack, stroke, heart failure, kidney disease, vision loss, and damage to blood vessels.
Dietary guidance on reducing blood pressure includes reducing salt intake. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend using herbs and spices instead of salt to flavor food.
Experts know less about the health effects of herbs and spices than they do about those of salt. However, some studies have shown that herbs and spices can reduce lipemia — the excess of lipids in the blood — hyperglycemia, and oxidative stress.
To dig a little deeper, researchers at Pennsylvania State University recently conducted a randomized controlled trial investigating the effect of longer-term consumption of herbs and spices on risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
They found that a higher level of herbs and spices in food reduced 24-hour blood pressure readings.
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