Herbal Bearberry Leaf Normalizes High Blood Pressure in Vitro, Scientists Find

Herbal Barberry may be considered as a functional food and natural alternative in the prevention and treatment of high blood pressure quickly with no adverse effects, some scientists suggested.
High blood pressure or hypertension is a medical condition characterized by abnormally high blood pressure.

Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps out blood.

The normal range of blood pressure is 120 over 80. The number in the top is systolic blood pressure, and the bottom is called the diastolic blood pressure.

Researchers do not know the exact causes of hypertension. However, researchers do know that certain preventable risk factors such as smoking, overweight or obese, physical inactivity,.... and excessive alcohol drinking are associated to increase risk hypertension.

Prolong period of raising the pressure of the hear can lead damage of the body in many ways.

Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to stroke heart disease by damaging and weakening your brain's blood vessels, a blood clot in the arteries.

An unhealthy diet high in salt, sugar, process products, genetic mutation, aging, family history,... and long-term stress also have a substantial impact on the onset of hypertension.

Dr. Kim EJ, the lead author in the study of the dietary effect in patients with borderline hypertension, suggested, " a short-term (12 weeks) lifestyle intervention had positive effects on blood pressure control and weight reduction in the subjects, but not on their blood levels of adipokines. It is interesting that the blood level of baseline leptin was negatively associated with the changes in blood pressure after this short-term intervention"(3).

The results showed that long-term dietary intervention should have a strong impact on keeping blood pressure in check.

Adipocytes found in the obese population may contribute to the high prevalence of hypertension.

Leptin, a chemical compound in the blood plays a critical role in regulation and arterial hypertension
Conventional blood pressure medications have undoubtedly prevented many deaths from heart disease in the past 30 years, but they can induce serious side effects, including common gastrointestinal discomfort and psychological symptoms,

Lifelong intake of hypertension medicine can cause erectile dysfunction.

If you take the medicine in a long-term, please make sure you discuss the side effects with your doctor.

Bearberries are 3 species in the genus Arctostaphylos, belongings to the family Ericaceae, native to northern North America, Asia, and Europe.

The herbs have been used in traditional medicine as diuretic agents and to treat urinary problems, including bladder infections, kidney infection, kidney stone,.... and pelvic pain.


The Chemicals Ingredients
It contains arbutin, ursolic acid, tannic acid, gallic acid, some essential oil and resin, hydroquinones tannins, phenolic glycosides,..... and flavonoids.

With the aim to find the possible hypotensive activity of aqueous extract of Vaccinium Arctostaphylos leaves, the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences conducted an experiment of rats with two-kidney, one-clip hypertension.

All Rat were subjected to a sham operation of the placement of Plexiglass clip on left renal arteries.

After four weeks of surgery, renal artery clipped rats were either injected intravenously with different doses of the extract at 10, 25, or 75 mg/kg or normal saline.

The mean blood pressure and heart rate were measured before and 20, 40 and 60 minutes after vehicle or drug administration, researchers found that

* Group given normal saline has a significantly higher mean blood pressure, heart, and right kidney weights, lower left kidney weight and significantly indifferent heart rate.

* Treatment group with the injection of the extract at 75 mg/kg exerts a reduction of the mean blood pressure at 20, 40 and 60 minutes after administration without changing the heart rate.

* However, groups treated with doses of but 10 or 25 mg/kg show an insignificant change of mean blood pressure compared to group administrated with the extract at 75 mg/kg.

These results suggested that bearberry leaf extract has potential in reduced blood pressure in a dose-depended manner.

Dr. Khalili A, the lead author at the final report, wrote, "... at a higher dose the extract did have hypotensive activity without changing the heart rate".

Truly, the Laboratoire de Pharmacognosie study of Arctostaphylos uva-ursi and hydroalcoholic extracts suggested that the test substances may process a pharmacological effect in reduced blood pressure through increasing urine flow and urinary sodium excretion in vitro.


Taking all together, herbal bearberry and its extract may be considered a functional food for treatment of high blood pressure.


However, further data collection on large example size and multi-centers studies performed with human consumption of the herbal leaf extract during the course of the disease will be necessary to complete the picture of bearberry hypotensive possibilities.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blog, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.
References
1. The effects of aqueous extract of vaccinium arctostaphylos leaves on blood pressure in renal hypertensive rats. by Khalili A, Khosravi MB, Nekooeian AA. (PubMed)
2. Effect of extracts of Orthosiphon stamineus Benth, Hieracium pilosella L., Sambucus nigra L. and Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng. in rats by Beaux D, Fleurentin J, Mortier F.(PubMed)
(3) Effects of a 12-week lifestyle intervention on health outcome and serum adipokines in middle-aged Korean men with borderline high blood pressure by Kim EJ1, Cho SW, Kang JY, Choi TI, Park YK(PubMed)