Health

Turmeric For High Blood Pressure: How The Golden Spice Can Help

Your blood pressure goes up as you get old. It’s usually caused by obesity, high sodium intake, alcoholism, smoking, physical inactivity, sleep disorders, kidney disorders, race, genes and family history.

Hypertension is often accompanied by elevated cholesterol and blood glucose levels. This makes the metabolic syndrome, and increases the risk of heart failure, heart attacks, stroke and kidney failure.

Individuals with high blood pressure don’t really have any other symptoms, and keeping their blood pressure under control is really important.

Physical activity and medication can help you regulate your blood pressure, but we strongly suggest that you add turmeric to your diet, too.

According to Ayurveda, turmeric is helpful in the treatment of rheumatic pain, vision issues, skin diseases and other health problems.

Turmeric can also help those struggling with hypertension. It keeps your blood pressure under control, and relieves your problems.

Here’s a few different ways in which turmeric can help:

1. Curcumin

Curcumin is the active ingredient in turmeric, and it’s a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent. Hypertension is usually caused by age-related endothelial dysfunction. Endothelial cells are found in the inside lining of the blood vessels. They release chemicals to control the contraction and relaxation of blood vessels.

In other words, these cells have an important role in the control of your blood pressure. Oxidative stress affects these cells as you grow old, and you end up dealing with inflammation, plaque deposition and atherosclerosis. Plaque inhibits blood flow, and causes stiffness in arteries. This contributes to the progression of hypertension.

Turmeric fights the inflammation and reverses endothelial dysfunction. It inhibits the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) which is released by endothelial cells.

Your body needs this enzyme to produce angiotensin II, a chemical that narrows blood vessels. Inhibiting ACE helps in widening and narrowing blood vessels, and your blood pressure drops low. The medication you take for your blood pressure works on the same principle.

Animal studies have confirmed that curcumin protects against blood pressure and vascular dysfunction even when these are caused by a toxin and other chemicals. However, experts need to conduct more research to determine the effect of turmeric on human health.

There are a lot of different opinions on the topic. A study on patients with diabetes showed that 10-week application doesn’t affect blood pressure.

Another study showed that it lowers blood pressure in patients diagnosed with kidney disease. In postmenopausal women, curcumin stimulates blood flow and dilates blood vessels after workouts. It also caused a drop in systolic blood pressure.

2. Kidney disorder

Kidney malfunction elevates blood pressure even more. Kidneys filter out toxins and balance fluids in the system. High blood pressure also affects the function of your kidneys.

A group of patients diagnosed with lupus nephritis took 1.5 grams of turmeric every day, and it helped them lower systolic blood pressure and improves the excretion of protein and blood through urine.

Curcmin prevents free radical damage and optimizes the function of your kidneys. It’s often used as adjuvant therapy for patients diagnosed with chronic kidney disease.

3. Arterial damage

Turmeric lowers blood pressure and mitigates damage caused by hypertension. Plaque buildups narrow blood vessels, and slow down the flow of blood to your heart and the rest of your body.

When your blood pressure is high, the friction triggered by the flow of blood damages tissues in your arteries. LDL cholesterol accumulates in the tiny tears in your artery walls, making your arteries narrow and elevating your blood pressure even more.

4. Platelet changes

Hypertension changes the small blood cells that take part in the blood clotting process. High blood pressure makes platelets hyperactive, and they may form deadly clots in your arteries.

This blocked the food supply to your heart and other body parts, increasing your risk of heart attack and stroke.

5. High blood pressure and high cholesterol

Hypertension is the leading cause of death in the US. Turmeric regulates it, and also helps in treating other health complications linked to blood pressure, such as blood sugar and cholesterol.

Cholesterol deposits in arteries forming plaque which later affects the flow of blood and elevates blood pressure. Turmeric regulates blood glucose and also fights the metabolic syndrome.

Caution

You can use turmeric in your cooking. Have you ever tried turmeric tea or milk? There are so many ways to use it, but you have to be careful in some instances.