High Blood Pressure
How Vitamins & Nutritional Supplements May Help
 

First of all, we would like to comment that doctors have been lowering blood pressure guidelines, and we think that it is simply under pressure by the drug companies who want to sell more blood pressure medications.*  For decades, if your blood pressure was 100 plus your age over 90 or lower, doctors were not concerned.  This means that if you are 60, for example, and your blood pressure is 160/90, you did not used to be considered as having high blood pressure.

Secondly, it is likely, in our opinion, that high blood pressure actually has a protective effect – i.e. it may occur when you are not getting enough blood circulated everywhere in the body, perhaps because you have arterial plaque.  If this is the case, then in our opinion, you want to get rid of the plaque or whatever problem you have so that your blood pressure comes down naturally, whether by changing your diet, adding nutritional supplements or making other lifestyle changes.  If you lower it artificially, also in our opinion, you may create more problems.

Lastly, we want to comment on salt intake.  For years, most doctors would recommend lowering salt intake for their patients with high blood pressure.  Now, however, studies have shown that it is not too much salt, per se, that causes high blood pressure, but perhaps too much salt in the absence of enough other minerals – potassium, magnesium and calcium - in your body.  You probably need to add these minerals to your diet rather than cut back in salt*.  However, anyone who is still using refined salt might want to switch to unrefined, high mineral sea salt instead, like Celtic sea salt or Premier Pink Salt*.
 

Common Symptoms of High Blood Pressure
 

Often none, but can have headaches, irritability, dizziness, fatigue and sleeplessness, frequent urination and depression.
 

Common Causes of High Blood Pressure
 

One cause is artheriosclerosis – this is a narrowing of the arteries that causes your heart to beat harder so the blood can still circulate where it is needed.  Also can be caused by insulin resistance and poor sugar metabolism, as in type II diabetes, obesity and lack of exercise, kidney malfunction, constipation and calcium deficiency.
 

Vitamins, Minerals and Other Nutritional Supplements
 

If your high blood pressure is caused by plaque forming on your arteries, you might want to look at the page on Heart Disease.  If you also have high blood sugar, diabetes or are gaining weight around your midsection, you might want to read the diabetes page.  In addition, increasing minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium seems to help some people.*    Calcium seems to be especially helpful for those with pregnancy induced hypertension*. 

In a series of studies at Tufts University in Massachusetts, researchers found higher blood pressure with lower levels of vitamin C, so vitamin C certainly seems to have a preventive factor regarding high blood pressure.  More studies need to be done to see if using vitamin C nutritional supplements or adding lots of vitamin C rich foods can also lower blood pressure in those who already have high blood pressure.

Co-Enzyme Q-10, or CoQ10, has been shown to especially help reduce diastolic blood pressure (the number on the bottom).*  Cod liver oil and flax oils, along with chromium, can combat insulin resistance, and hence blood pressure.*   Vitamin E can also be helpful.*  Nutritional supplements or foods containing garlic, chlorella, cayenne, green tea and Siberian ginseng, along with hawthorne extract, can all be useful as well.*

In addition, some of the “Super Juices” are a great way to add vitamins and minerals to your diet.  Mangosteen, Goji and Acai have all been used for heart and cardiovascular problems like high blood pressure*.  Mangosteen is high in anti-inflammatory antioxidants called Xanthones and Goji is high in natural vitamin C, beta carotene and zeaxanthin.  Acai is high in proteins and essential fatty acids.

Recommended Vitamins & Nutritional Supplements

• Coral Calcium (with Calcium & Magnesium in a 2:1 ratio)
• Vitamin C Complex, natural source
• Co-Enzyme Q-10
• Vitamin E complex
• Cod Liver Oil
• Nutritional yeast (a naturally-rich source of B vitamins and chromium)
• Chlorella
• Green Tea Extract
• Supplement with garlic, hawthorne & cayenne
• Mangosteen 100 Juice
• Goji 100 Juice
• Acai 100 Juice
   

Food Choices
 

In addition to taking vitamins and nutritional supplements, diet plays a very important role.  In fact, lots of people think they can keep their poor diet if they take nutritional supplements, but this is really not true.  When you have high blood pressure, you want to try to get plenty of vitamin C, magnesium and potassium-rich foods, like whole grains, citrus and other fruits and vegetables*.  Chlorophyll-rich green foods like wheatgrass and chlorella can help*. 

Excess coffee, alcohol, sugar and vegetable fats, epecially trans-fatty acids, can exacerbate the problem, so you want to cut them out of your diet.  Mushroom and celery can lower blood pressure, and carrots and spinach help prevent stroke.*  Algae such as chlorella and sea vegetables like kelp and wakame can also help to lower blood pressure.*  If you don't also have a problem with your blood sugar, bananas, dried fruits, potatoes and cherries can also add much needed fiber, potassium, and other vitamins and minerals to your diet.

Other Ideas
 

The old standbys of regular exercise and not smoking have proven to be beneficial in reducing your blood pressure.  So can losing weight.  In addition, if you make a lot of changes in your diet and add vitamin and other nutritional supplements, but still have a hard time reducing your blood pressure, you might want to do a heavy metal detoxification program, as heavy metals can cause high blood pressure.  Chlorella is especially good for pulling heavy metals out of your body.

* This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA.  This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Healthy Vitamins & Nutritional Supplements