Celery and High Blood Pressure: Can It Really be Effective?
A vegetarian’s diet usually has plenty of vitamins A and C, magnesium, calcium, fiber polyunsaturated fat, complex carbohydrates and potassium. The presence of all of these may be the key why vegetarians have lower incidence of hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
A significant part of their vegetarian diet is celery, wherein scientific researches support its ability to control elevations in blood pressure. Can celery really be that effective?
How Celery Helps in Managing High Blood Pressure
Celery has been a long time favorite of oriental medicine practitioners for treating high blood pressure. This was proven in laboratory animals, when celery extract was injected in their system. Blood pressure accordingly became lower. In human beings, the stalks are found helpful as a diuretic and can enhance the effectiveness of the medication for this medical problem.
Other than potassium and other ingredients, celery was noted to have a compound known as phthalide that releases its unique taste and aroma. Phthalide allows the smooth muscles of the arterial vessel walls to relax and let the blood to flow in without difficulty.
Further, phthalide lessens the manufacture of catecholamine, a stress hormone, by blocking the action of tyrosine hydroxylase enzyme. The latter enzyme is a component of stress hormones that causes constriction of the blood vessels resulting to blood flow restrictions.
Based on some medical studies, eating four stalks of celery a day can reduce the blood pressure by almost twelve percent. However, dietitians caution that celery contains sodium, hence, intakes of large doses can also raise blood pressure. Thus, there are still reservations against celery, if to be consumed on a daily basis.
As of now, celery can remain to be a part of the dietary plan but caution should be exercised regarding its sole use for hypertension in the absence of further medical studies. What may show remarkable results to some may not be applicable to others under different conditions.
Others contend that the studies on celery were conducted under a controlled environment while under the strict supervision of researchers. Accordingly, a more acceptable result should be based on tests where the participants were to take celery while performing their normal daily activity with the same diet and lifestyle.
This way, the critics lambasting the “celery-for-hypertension theory” can be convinced, that celery does produce significant beneficial results to control high blood pressure.
Alvin Hopkinson is a leading health researcher in the area of natural remedies and high blood pressure treatment. Discover how you can get rid of your high blood pressure for good using proven and effective home remedies, all without using harmful medications or drugs. Visit his site now for more useful articles/reviews such as: ** Hyperexol Review**
Alvin wrote for HealthCentral as a patient expert for High Blood Pressure.