HOW TO LOWER YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE NATURALLY

Part 15 : Food Supplements for healthy blood pressure

In theory it is possible to get all the vitamins and minerals you need to help your blood pressure from a healthy diet – possible but very difficult to achieve in practise. So few of us have the time or inclination to ensure we are eating exactly the right combination of food in the right quantities every day.

So supplements may be useful to ensure you get enough of the minerals and vitamins which help maintain a healthy heart and circulatory system.
A prime example of a supplement you might want to take and which we already talked about in an earlier part of this series is fish oil. Fish oil contains important essential oils which help lower your blood pressure but not everyone likes fish! In that case it may be worth taking a supplement.
And there are also some supplements of substances you would find difficult to get in sufficient quantities through a normal diet but which are very helpful in lowering blood pressure.

Be aware that supplements are not a way to avoid eating well – in most cases you will get better absorption of vitamins and minerals from eating healthy food and supplements just don't work as well. This may be because nature has a way of including a multitude of micro-nutrients in natural food which the supplements just can't mimic.

Having said that you may find the following supplements useful.  Always check with your doctor before taking supplements if you have high blood pressure or other health problems and don't exceed the recommended dose on the packaging.

Most people start with a good multi-vitamin and mineral supplement as this helps fill the gaps from your diet. However it's important not to overdo it. Some substances which are good for you in the right amount are toxic if you have too much. While the antioxidant Vitamins A, C and E are important to maintain good blood circulatory health, for example, Vitamin A is toxic if you get too much of it so any supplement you take should have no more than 1,500 IU per day allowing you to still eat food which might contain the vitamin.

The minerals selenium, calcium and magnesium are particularly important for those with high blood pressure so check that the product you use contains these. Selenium is an antioxidant mineral which seems to work together with vitamin E to help protect arteries from free-radical damage while research has linked a diet lacking in calcium and/or magnesium to a greater risk of high blood pressure and stroke.

If you prefer not to use supplements you can find good sources of these minerals in food

selenium	seafood, meat, eggs, dairy products
calcium	dairy products, green leafy vegetables, salmon, nuts, seeds, pulses, eggs
magnesium	soy beans, nuts, brewer's yeast, whole grains, brown rice, seafood, meat, eggs, diary products, bananas, green leafy vegetables.

Supplement Co-enzyme Q10 seems to help protect against hardening of the arteries and reduce the risk of heart disease. After the age of 20, this vitamin-like substance is absorbed less easily by the body and natural production falls too. This decrease in availability seems to play a part in age-related illnesses of the heart and circulation.

In a study involving 18 patients with hypertension (high blood pressure), 100mg of co-enzyme Q10 a day was shown to reduce blood pressure while a placebo (a similar pill with no active ingredients) had no effect. In the group taking Q10 co-enzyme, systolic blood pressure fell by an average of 10.6 and diastolic blood pressure by 7.7. The effect is thought to be due to an increase in elasticity of the arterial walls. As the optimum dose of co-enzyme Q10 has not been established yet you should always take this under medical supervision. However no serious side effects have been reported to date at the doses recommended on approved products.

Recently new foods (in the form of yogurts, margarines and spreads) have appeared on the market containing phytosterols (plant sterols and stanols) which help block the absorption of cholesterol from the food you eat. A daily supplement of 2 to 3g  a day may lower harmful LDL cholesterol levels by 10%, reducing the risk of arterial damage (which leads to high blood pressure) and heart disease.  Phytosterols occur naturally in vegetable oils, soy beans and wheat germ but it would not be possible to get the recommended dose through normal consumption.

Flaxseed (or linseed) oil contains Omega-3 type essential fatty acids as well as Omega-6 and is especially useful for vegetarians who do not want to eat fish or take fish oil supplements. Flaxseed oil has anti-coagulant properties, helping blood to flow more easily, prevent hardening of the arteries and control high blood pressure. If you choose to use supplements of flaxseed oil, it's important to take the oil itself and not capsules. As you need 1 to 3 teaspoons once or twice a day to have a beneficial effect, you would need to use too many capsules. Alternatively you could sprinkle your food with 1 to 2 tablespoons of the flaxseeds (linseeds) twice a day.

These are the most common natural substances used to help reduce high blood pressure although a number of other natural remedies are used in alternative therapy. We will look at these in a later part of this series.

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