Almost one-third of adults in the United States have high blood pressure, a condition that puts you at risk for heart disease, strokes and kidney disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many people try to treat their high blood pressure with supplements like stevia leaf, a plant ordinarily better known as a sugar substitute in foods. Although you shouldn't rely on stevia alone, it may be a safe addition to a healthy heart-protective diet.
Identification
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, often causes no symptoms until you have a heart attack or stroke. A normal resting blood pressure is considered to be less than 120/80 mmHg, with the first number representing your systolic pressure, or the pressure against the artery walls when your heart contracts. The second number is your diastolic blood pressure, which is the pressure against your artery walls between heart beats. You have high blood pressure when your systolic is above 139 and your diastolic is above 89.
Stevia Benefits
Stevia is a compound derived from the leaves of a Latin American herb that is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar, with a bitter licorice aftertaste in its pure form. Although there are many stevia species, Stevia rebaudiana is the one used most often. It contains stevioside and rebaudioside, two types of organic compounds known as glycosides, which have antioxidant properties that help your body fight off damage caused by harmful free radicals that attack cells. Stevia also contains vitamins A, B, C, iron, zinc, calcium, sodium, potassium and proteins.
Stevia's Potential
Research in Taiwan that was spread out over several centers during a two-year period investigated the long-term efficacy and tolerability of stevioside in patients with mild hypertension. When the results were published in November 2003 in "Clinical Therapeutics," they showed that the subjects consuming stevia had significant decreases in blood pressure compared to baseline and placebo, with mean systolic readings dropping from 150 to 140 and diastolic from 95 to 89. The effects were noted just one week after treatment and lasted throughout the two-year study.
Study Showing No Effects
However, a much shorter 24-week study in Brazil gave capsules daily to patients with high blood pressure that contained either a placebo or stevioside of up to 15 mg per kilogram of body weight. When the results were reported in 2006 in "Phytotherapy Research," there were virtually no differences between stevia and placebo, with both causing a small decrease in both systolic and diastolic readings.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; High Blood Pressure Facts; March 2011
- MayoClinic.com; High Blood Pressure; March 2011
- "U.S. News and World Report"; The Zero-Calorie Sweetener Stevia Arrives; Adam Voiland; July 2008
- "Clinical Therapeutics"; Efficacy and Tolerability of Oral Stevioside in Patients with Mild Essential Hypertension; M.H. Hsieh, et al.; November 2008
- "Phytotherapy Research"; Investigation of the Antihypertensive Effect of Oral Crude Stevioside in Patients with Mild Essential Hypertension; L.A. Ferri, et al.; September 2006
- Drugs.com; Stevia; 2009
