What exactly is causing this high blood pressure in the first place?
The main cause is having high levels of a hormone called insulin in your blood, which stimulates a part of your nervous system that raises your blood pressure. The reason you have too much insulin is because you’re eating too many refined carbohydrates like sugar, soda drinks, breads, cereals, cakes and flour based foods. Also, not getting enough potassium in your diet can cause fluid retention, which puts pressure on your arteries and heart, raising your blood pressure.
Another one of the main causes of high blood pressure is high cortisol levels, a hormone that’s released when you feel stress or tension. You also need regular exercise to keep your heart muscle strong and healthy, so if you aren’t exercising it, the muscle can get weaker and have to work harder. And also being deficient in either magnesium, vitamin C or Vitamin D can make your arteries tight and restricted, so again the heart has to work harder, bringing up the pressure.
Doctors often prescribe drugs like ace inhibitors, beta blockers and calcium channel blockers to lower blood pressure, however these drugs have many side effects because they deplete your antioxidants and mineral reserves, which can make the problem worse over time. There are some vitamins that you can use to lower your blood pressure naturally, by treating the root causes.
In this article we will be exploring the top 6 Vitamins to lower your blood pressure naturally. I use the words “Vitamins” broadly to include minerals, herbal remedies and nutritional supplements that you can use to lower your blood pressure.
Vitamin D3
The first item on my it is Vitamin D3 with K2. Billions of people worldwide are deficient in Vitamin D, which has been shown to raise the blood pressure, and also cortisol levels (stress hormone). Vitamin D helps to relax the smooth muscle in your arteries and the thick muscle in the middle layer of your heart (myocardium).
You can take 20,000 iu (0.5mg) of Vitamin D3 per day along with 200mcg of Vitamin K2 (Mk-7) to boost Vitamin D levels in your body, and lower your blood pressure. Make sure to include the K2, as this works with Vitamin D to move calcium around your body, preventing it from hardening your artery walls and making blood pressure worse. You can also naturally boost your Vitamin D by exposing your skin to the sunshine for at least 45 minutes each day.
Vitamin B3
If you suffer from high blood pressure, clogged arteries or high LDL cholesterol, then you may consider taking B3 on a daily basis to help prevent a heart attack or a stroke. Niacin (B3) is well studied for its ability to vasodilate the blood vessels, helping to open them up and allow the blood to flow freely through the body without restriction. It also helps to prevent inflammation and plaque from forming inside your artery walls. You can take 500mg – 1000mg of EXTENDED RELEASE niacin per day. You’ll find that between 30-120 minutes after taking this, you may feel a flushing sensation of heat or a rush of blood to the face and neck.
This is the niacin triggering prostaglandins which open up the blood vessels, allowing the blood to flow through your body. Make sure that you do not purchase non-flushing niacin, as this will not have the same effect. I also recommend getting B3 into your diet naturally by eating nutritional yeast, salmon, turkey and anchovies.
Potassium & Magnesium
Potassium is a mineral which works with sodium (salt) to balance the fluids in your body. Unfortunately many people consume high amounts of salt and not enough potassium from leafy green vegetables which causes their bodies and cells to swell up with fluid.
This extra fluid retention puts pressure on the vascular system and arteries, triggering high blood pressure, along with other heart problems like skipped beats (arrythmia) or a high pulse rate. Like potassium, magnesium is another key electrolyte mineral which helps the heart to relax and contract, to pump blood around your body at the normal rate. Loading up on potassium and magnesium helps to fix the root causes of high blood pressure, by lowering cortisol (stress hormone), insulin (blood sugar hormone) and also support the pacemaker of your heart (SA Node).
These minerals come from all of the leafy green vegetables, like brussels sprouts, cabbage, arugula, beet tops, collard greens, broccoli, avocados and pumpkins seeds. If you really want to raise your levels, you can purchase a high quality electrolyte powder which contains at least 1000mg of potassium citrate, and 100mg magnesium citrate and drink this in a glass of water 2x per day.
Aged Garlic Extract
Garlic is one of the most healing foods on the planet, as it contains a powerful natural sulphur called allicin, which gives it it’s pungent favour. Aged garlic extract has been shown in studies to naturally lower blood pressure by lowering angiotensin II, a hormone that constricts blood vessels and raises blood pressure. It works by boosting nitric oxide, a molecule that acts like a gas that dilates and opens up your blood vessels to help normalise your blood pressure..
If you’re looking for a herbal supplement, you can take 2400mg of aged garlic extract on a daily basis to help lower BP and also reduce the risk of blood clots. I also recommend eating organic aged garlic (black garlic) raw in salads and stir fries. It is sweeter than regular garlic and contains more antioxidants.
Vitamin E
Many people are deficient in an antioxidant called Vitamin E, because they consume too many flour based foods like breads, cereals, biscuits, pasta etc…When flour is baked and cooked it oxidises and destroys the Vitamin E, rendering it unavailable to your body, and it also depletes your own Vitamin E reserves because its missing from the food. Without enough Vitamin E, your heart struggles to use oxygen properly, raising the risk of chest pain (angina), and a higher risk of stroke or inflammation in the main coronary artery.
If you wish you can take up to 300mg of Vitamin E (tocotrienols) daily. Tocotrienols are part of the vitamin E complex, which is 50 times more potent than traditional tocopherols found in traditional vitamin E supplements. You can also get Vitamin E from foods as sunflower seeds, avocados, hazelnuts, EVOO, Swiss chard and leafy green vegetables.
Apple Cider Vinegar
As previously mentioned, one of the main underlying causes of high blood pressure is high levels of insulin due to high blood sugars. Start drinking 1tbsp of apple cider vinegar mixed in a glass of water before each meal. The acetic acid in this vinegar is a SCFA which helps to reduce insulin resistance, lower blood sugars and therefore protect against damage in your artery walls. You can also add this to extra virgin olive oil to make a healthy salad dressing, which will help your stomach absorb more minerals like potassium and magnesium.
