Many people don’t understand that there are ways of lowering blood pressure with tea. Studies have found that drinking as little as one half-cup of green tea or oolong tea daily can lower the risk of hypertension or high blood pressure by as much as 50 percent. The most recent study was done on Chinese drinkers of tea. Fortunately, tea is the second most popular beverage consumed in the world behind water. Lowering blood pressure with tea is important for those at risk for diseases like strokes and heart disease. Researchers discovered that both men and women who consumed green tea daily for a minimum of one year were considerably less likely to come down with high blood pressure than non-tea drinkers and they found that the more tea a person drank, the greater were the benefits of drinking it.
High blood pressure is a form of heart disease and is the most common form of the disease. It seems to affect about 20 percent of the total adult population in most countries. If left untreated, it is associated with heart failure, heart attack, kidney failure and stroke. It is considered a major risk factor for heart disease related deaths.
In recent times, there have been researchers showing a growing interest in the role of the antioxidant components of green tea called flavonoids—chemicals found in tea that carry the chance of protecting against heart disease. Lowering blood pressure with tea may have a lot to do with these flavonoids and their effect on hypertension.
There have been studies on the long-term effects of drinking green tea on the effects of high blood pressure that have had conflicting reports. The most recent study was the first to use a great many people and to gather detailed data on tea consumption and other lifestyle and other factors (like dietary) that also have an effect on hypertension.
The most recent study on lowering blood pressure with green tea involved studying 1507 Chinese women and men who had never had high blood pressure. The researchers determined whether or not the study participants used green, black or oolong tea, recognizing that each type of tea actually comes from the same tea plant. The flavonoid content is determined by the type of processing each type of tea undergoes. The study revealed that about 40 percent of drinkers were considered habitual drinkers and drank at least a half cup of tea daily for at least a year. It was determined that more than 96 percent of tea drinkers consumed oolong tea or green tea.
In the study on lowering blood pressure with green tea, it was found that tea drinkers were usually young men who had a higher educational status than those who didn’t drink tea. Incidentally, however, the tea drinkers tended to be heavier, smoke more cigarettes, consume fewer vegetables and had a higher sodium intake than non-tea drinkers. This would put them at higher risk for high blood pressure theoretically.
Drinkers of tea had a 46 percent lesser risk of developing high blood pressure. Those who consumed up to two and a half cups of tea per day had their risk of developing high blood pressure reduced by as much as 65 percent. Based on the study of lowering high blood pressure with tea it was felt that the minimum requirements to show a good benefit was only a half cup of green or oolong tea consumed for at least a full year.
How does tea reduce symptoms of high blood pressure? It basically relaxes the blood vessels as long as you use a caffeine-free blend. Green tea contains about 25-30 percent flavonoids, plant pigments that are known to reduce blood pressure. Flavonoids are scavengers of free radicals and are thus antioxidants. Besides lowering the blood pressure with tea, flavonoids are known to lower the total cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the body.
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