Lowering blood pressure. A sugar with no calories ...

[herbsandhelpers]

Lowering blood pressure. A sugar with no calories, contained in a plant

The plant is Stevia rebaudiana. It's a member of the daisy family. A compound extracted from the leaves is called stevioside. It's much sweeter than table sugar. But it has no calories.

A team of researchers undertook a two-year investigative study in Taiwan. It took place at the Department of Medicine at Taipei Medical University. The researchers worked together with Wan Fang Hospital in Taipei City, Taiwan. The results of the study were published in Clinical Therapeutics.

The researchers investigated the "efficacy and tolerability of stevioside in patients with mild essential hypertension." 

A Drop in Both Types of Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by blood against the inner walls of the arteries. It's measured in terms of two numbers. The top number is the systolic pressure. It measures the pressure when the heart contracts. The bottom number is the diastolic pressure. This measures the pressure when the heart is at rest. "Normal" is less than 120 systolic and less than 80 diastolic.

The researchers worked with 174 patients. They were between the ages of 25 and 70. Half of the patients were given 500 mg of stevia three times a day. The other half were given a placebo.

After two years of study, the results were clear. The stevia group had significant decreases in both systolic and diastolic blood pressures compared to the placebo group.

The study supported earlier findings by researchers. A previous study looked at 106 patients with hypertension. One group was given 250 mg of stevioside. The other received a placebo. Both were delivered three times daily for a year. Follow ups were done monthly. 

After just three months, systolic and diastolic blood pressures had dropped in the patients consuming stevia.

"This study shows that oral stevioside is a well tolerated and effective modality that may be considered as an alternative or supplementary therapy for patients with hypertension," the researchers concluded.