37 replies to this topic

[blood]

... a study showing the blood pressure lowering effect of flax seeds, which is covered in this recent video from nutritionfacts.org

Interesting video - thanks for posting that. Hopefully that huge treatment effect size will be confirmed in future studies.

How does one consume 30 gm of ground flax? Mix it into yoghurt or oats?

[timar]

Most of the time, I allow my teas to brew for 3-4 minutes. That being said, I've found that this causes my resting systolic blood pressure to reach between 131 - 140 - diastolic is usually 80 or slightly less. On most days, I'll usually have 4 teas, each being ~ 200 ml. 

 

If I stop having tea, BP goes back down to ~ 120/80. 

 

This is cetainly most unusual. You seem to be particularly sentitive to coffein. Most sutides have found a net blood pressure lowering effect from green tea.

 

How does one consume 30 gm of ground flax? Mix it into yoghurt or oats?

 

I wouldn't recommend consuming 30 g at once, unless you don't mind rushing to the toilet. How did they manage that dose in the study? Well...

 

In this prospective, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized trial, patients (110 in total) ingested a variety of foods that contained 30 g of milled flaxseed or placebo each day over 6 months.

 

This is exactly what I would recommend. Milled flaxseed, with its sweet and nutty taste, can easily be incorporated into a variety of foods. I add a tbsp (~10 g) to my morning müsli (this is the largest dose I would recommend to eat at once). It's delicious sprinkled over yogurt or porridge or added to homemade breads and pastries (breads made with lots of sunflower and flax seed are quite popular here, so fortunately I don't have to bake my own). Because of the mucilage in the seed coats, you can even use it as an egg substitute in doughs - just replace one egg with 20 g of milled flaxseed and 4 cl of hot water blended in the mixer (I often use flaxseed instead of eggs when baking the luscious chocolate-nut cake that scared you so much). Oh, and of course you can add them to your smoothies, giving them a nice, viscous consistency. Just make sure not to overdose on them when you don't have a toilet nearby

Edited by timar, 22 April 2015 - 08:41 AM.

[chipdouglas]

Timar : I have to agree with what you wrote, as it's also what I've found through looking at the literature. I'm experimenting with matcha. Though it has more caffeine than most Japanese sencha teas, it also has more L-theanine. So far, it looks like I'm doing ok on matcha, but it's too early to say for sure. I'm being careful with this, since elevation of BP in the pre-hypertensive range is risky.

 

Assuming you're a tea drinker, how long do you brew yours for ?  

[FrankEd]

Would like to ask a question for experts here. I have only one kidney. 

 

Lost my left kidney due to an incredibly surgery error (kidney stones).

 

Actually I´m using Taurine to low by 50% my blood pressure meds. 

 

As a bonus, according to PubMed, Taurine is good for kidneys too.

 

I asked my Cardio if I can take Arginine together and he answered that arginine can raise potassium levels, which will be bad for my kidney.

 

Is that really true? Never read nothing about it.

[axonopathy]

What about clonidine? I've taken it for ADHD/insomnia and its pretty innocuous substance that can also lower blood pressure. I think its an alpha adrenergic agonist in the CNS. 

[nhenderson]

 Additional suggestions:

 

Beets

Isometric Hand grip exercises (the effect first documented during test pilot training in the '60's)

Yoga--this is somewhat controversial, which I believe is due to the variability of yoga positions: There are yoga exercises that raise BP and some that lower BP,  As a general rule the following are good

meditation,

open forward bends with legs spread work. 

 

As a general rule inversions, headstands,etc and back bends are bad.

 

That said it sounds like your father will need some help learning meditation.  Tell him you want him around for his grandchildren, etc. Also daily walks in nature is good.

 

From the American Heart Association: http://www.scienceda...30422175710.htm

 

 

[OneScrewLoose]

I would honestly take a single BP prescription over a stack of supps. To me, they are all drugs anyway. Take a look a Toprol XL, which lasts 24 hours and is a Beta-2 specific antagonist.

[Yunasa]

use hawthorne, and eat schizandra berries