By Bonnie Jenkins
It’s the little things in life that count. And when it comes to keeping your heart healthy, every little bit helps. Case in point: new research suggesting that hibiscus tea can significantly lower your blood pressure. In fact, drinking just 24 ounces of tea brewed from these lovely flower buds appears to lower systolic blood pressure—the top number in the blood pressure reading—by an average of seven points in people with prehypertension or mildly elevated blood pressure.
Tea’d Off
While a seven point drop in blood pressure might not seem like much, studies have shown that even small changes in blood pressure, when maintained over time, will reduce the risk of stroke by eight percent and heart attack by five percent. And this, combined with the other heart healthy habits I’ve listed below, can really pay off.
The study, which was spearheaded by the Jean Mayer USDA Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 65 men and women between the ages of 30 and 70. The participants all had systolic blood pressure readings of 120 to 150 mm Hg and a diastolic (bottom number) blood pressure of < 95 mm Hg. The subjects were randomized to receive either three 8-ounce servings of hibiscus tea or a placebo every day for six weeks.
On average, most of the people taking part in the study experienced a 7.2 point drop in their systolic pressure and a 3.1 point drop in their diastolic pressure. They also experienced a 4.5 point drop in their mean arterial pressure. Your mean arterial pressure is a mathematical average of the systolic and diastolic blood pressures that doctors use as one indicator of overall health. It also helps them estimate your risk for developing various cardiovascular diseases.
The news was even better for a subgroup of the participants who had a systolic reading of 129 mm Hg at the beginning of the study. It turns out that drinking hibiscus tea reduced their blood pressure by almost 14 mm Hg after 6 weeks—double that of everyone else in the study. They also saw significant reductions in diastolic and mean arterial pressures.
This isn’t the first time researchers have noticed hibiscus tea’s blood pressure lowering benefit. According to a 2004 study published in the journal Phytomedicine, drinking hibiscus tea is just as effective as taking hypertension medication. The study included 70 people—half of whom drank 16 ounces of hibiscus tea before breakfast daily. The other half took 25 mg. of an antihypertensive medication (captopril) twice daily. After one month, the hibiscus tea drinkers’ diastolic blood pressure was reduced at least 10 points in 79 percent of the participants. The blood pressure in the medicated group was reduced at least ten points in 84 percent of the participants. Statistically speaking, this means that both had about the same level of effectiveness. But the tea had one major benefit over the drug—there were absolutely no side effects.
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Hibiscus tea may also have a talent for lowering your cholesterol. Scientists reported in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine that hibiscus may help control cholesterol, and thereby reduce the risk of heart disease. The study, which involved 60 diabetics, found that drinking hibiscus tea regularly boosted HDL (good) cholesterol levels while lowering total and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. The tea drinkers also experienced a reduction in their triglyceride levels. Other studies show that hibiscus tea also prevents the oxidation of LDL cholesterol
So how can you get these benefits? Simply replace your coffee with at least three cups of hibiscus tea every day. Hibiscus tea is packed with flavonoids and polyphenols, which may be responsible for these blood pressure and cholesterol busting results. It’s also widely available in both health food stores and grocery stores, and is often mixed with other flavorful herbs like lemon or rosehip. Brew a hibiscus tea bag in boiling water for six minutes and lightly sweeten if desired.
If you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels or both, it’s also important to adopt these other easy heart healthy strategies:
- Reduce the amount of sodium you eat.
- Exercise daily—even if all you can manage are short 10-minute bursts.
- Chill out. Stress ages your arteries, but you can keep a lid on stress with meditation, yoga or tai chi.
References:
Herrera-Arellano A, et al. Effectiveness and tolerability of a standardized extract from Hibiscus sabdariffa in patients with mild to moderate hypertension: a controlled and randomized clinical trial. Phytomedicine. 2004;11:375-382.
McKay, D. L. et al., Abstract 3278: Hibiscus sabdariffa L. tea (tisane) lowers blood pressure in prehypertensive and mildly hypertensive adults. Circulation. 2008;118: S1123.
Mozaffari-Khosravi H, et al. Effects of sour tea (Hibiscus sabdariffa) on lipid profile and lipoproteins in patients with type II diabetes. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 2009;15:899-903
