High blood pressure should never be taken lightly as it can have some very serious effects on the well being of your body. There are plenty of commercial drugs available that will reduce your blood pressure by expanding your blood vessels, but these often come with unpleasant side effects. There are studies that suggest that capsaicin may be used as a natural treatment for high blood pressure and all of the nasty side effects that it causes. Consult your doctor before using capsaicin.
Blood Pressure
As blood passes through the 60,000 miles of veins and capillaries in the body there is a certain amount of force exerted on the walls of the blood vessels. The force that the blood exerts on the vessel walls is known as blood pressure. Your blood pressure varies directly to the rate at which your heart is pumping blood. When you are doing physical activities your heart will pump faster and your blood pressure will increase to a higher rate than what it was while you were resting.
Capsaicin
Capsaicin is located in hot peppers, and it is the ingredient that makes them hot. It is located in hot peppers in different quantities and that is why some peppers are much hotter than others. It can also be found in many health supplements and topical ointments.
High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure can cause a number of different damaging effects on your body. It speeds up the process of atherosclerosis or the hardening of the veins. It also damages the vital blood filtering functions of the kidney and after extended periods it can lead to a stroke or a heart attack. These effects can be prevented with yearly checkups that look for signs of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension.
Lower Blood Pressure
Enough studies have not been completed to say that regular ingestion of capsaicin will lower your blood pressure. Capsaicin has been shown to lower blood pressure in some patients, and major drug companies have reported that capsaicin has improved cardiac blood flow in animals as well as reducing blood pressure. Chinese researchers fed capsaicin to rats with high blood pressure for 7 months and report that over those 7 months the blood pressure of the rats was reduced substantially.
Reducing Damage Done
Capsaicin has been shown to help reduce blood cholesterol levels reducing the damage that high blood pressure causes in the blood vessels. By reducing the level of cholesterol in your blood capsaicin reduces the chances of several different cardiac problems, such as heart attacks and strokes.
Warnings
When capsaicin is taken for the first time, either orally or topically, it should be taken in small doses. The small doses will help you acclimate to the hot effects of the capsaicin and will help avoid a severe reaction if you end up being allergic to the compound. If capsaicin is taken in very high doses it can also lead to ulcers but most people will have a very hard time ingesting enough capsaicin to have to worry about that.
