Research Proves High Blood Pressure Reduced With Celery

Simple self-help measures go a long way to reducing blood pressure and if you have already undertaken daily walking and stress reduction then it might be an idea to adding celery to your diet.

The health-giving benefits of celery are not new: the original Father of Medicine was Hippocrates who prescribed drinking celery juice to patients suffering from nervous tension and Chinese medicine has long recognized celery juice as able to reduce high blood pressure. However, now science has got in on the act to ‘prove’ whether it works, and I am happy to report that all those millions of people who have tried it over the centuries were absolutely right.

Blood pressure is the force exerted by blood pushing against the walls of the arteries and if the pressure rises significantly and remains there for an extended period of time, it can cause serious damage to the body. A blood pressure reading is measured by two numbers. The systolic (higher) number is the measure of pressure the blood exerts while the heart is beating and the diastolic (lower) number is the measure of pressure the blood exerts while the heart is relaxed. The ‘norm’ if there is such a thing is to aim for an optimal blood pressure of 120/80.

The University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) is credited with carrying out one of the first scientific studies of celery’s effects on blood pressure. In one of the reported results, the father of a scientist at UCMC experienced a drop in his blood pressure from 158/96 to 118/82 after just one week of eating about four stalks of celery a day. It has this effect because it contains active compounds named phthalides which naturally relax the muscles in and around the walls of the arteries. This causes those vessels to dilate, creating more space inside the arteries that permits the blood to flow at a lower pressure.

Phthalides also have been reported to lower blood pressure and promote a healthy circulatory system by reducing the level of stress hormones in the body by their high content of the minerals magnesium, potassium, and calcium. These all have calming effects on the nervous system, and that naturally helps balance stress levels.

If you want to try it then please juice or eat around four sticks a day – wonderful though baked celery in cheese sauce is, it just won’t give you the same benefits.