Which Supplements Are Shown to Lower Blood Pressure?
Hypertension strikes 90% of individuals in their lifetimes, causes 7.6 million premature deaths globally on an annual basis, and leads to a loss of 92 million disability-adjusted life years. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension and Mediterranean diets complement pharmacotherapy to prevent cardiac outcomes in both the general and hypertensive populations. Hypertension’s diet-driven etiology includes vitamin deficiencies, high salt and alcohol consumption, and low fruit, vegetable, dairy food, and oily fish consumption. A multitude of studies has focused on dietary supplements and nutraceuticals—generally antioxidants with highly positive tolerability and safety profiles. Now, a team of researchers has reviewed the available research on nutraceuticals’ effects on blood pressure in a new study published online in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology . The study collated English-language randomized, controlled trials and meta-analyses published between 199...