Is Celery Good For High Blood Pressure?

By Dr Joe

I got an email from one of my YouTube subscribers the other day. She wanted to know if celery was good for high blood pressure.

I get lots of questions like that. Because my You Tube subscribers are an inquisitive lot. These are people who really want to promote their health naturally.

And they will seek every opportunity out there to achieve their objective. Being a subscriber to my channel is just one way of achieving that, by the way.

And I owe my subscribers and readers of this blog a duty of care to uncover the truth as a result. So, I did what every responsible channel owner will do.

Serve her the truth regarding celery as a high blood pressure reducing remedy. What’s the truth?

Let’s hear it…

celery for high blood pressure

Learn about herbal teas for high blood pressure

 

So, is celery good for high blood pressure?

Answer: Yes, celery is good for high blood pressure.

Here’s the back story and the research that made the discovery.

There was a gentleman who was not keen on taking blood pressure medications. He ignored his doctor’s advice and decided to take matters into his own hands.

He had heard about the Chinese using celery as ancient treatment for all sorts of ailments. He figured high blood pressure would be one of the ailments that good old celery can tackle.

He therefore decided to eat a quarter of a pound of celery everyday for 2 weeks. He discovered that his blood pressure settled following his experiment.

Such a discovery was not going to be left unnoticed. Researchers pounced on the finding and decided to put it to the test.

The researchers got 30 participants who had mild to moderate high blood pressure and gave them celery seed extract over a 6-week period. The participants had an initial 7-day washout period.

The primary outcome measure for the study was the effect of celery on the blood pressure of the participants. There were secondary outcome measures like the effect of celery on LDL Cholesterol, HDL Cholesterol, free fatty acids etc.

For the purpose of this article, we are more interested in the effect of celery on high blood pressure.

In the study they found that celery did reduce blood pressure both at the 3-week point and the 6-week point.

The blood pressure reduction effect of the celery was more at the 6-week point.

The study not only shows that you can use celery for high blood pressure control but also demonstrated that the longer you use celery the better the response of your blood pressure.

Lar about how drinking water can affect your blood pressure.

So, how does celery help high blood pressure?

Rather than the question: how does does celery work to reduce high blood pressure; the query should be: what substance in celery offers this promising blood pressure lowering effect?

Celery exerts its blood pressure lowering potential through a phytochemical called 3-N-Butylphthalide (3NB).

This 3-N-Butylphthalide improves elasticity of blood vessel walls by getting them more relaxed. Relaxed blood vessel walls provide a wider vessel diameter which ultimately lowers the pressure inside the vessel.

3-N-Butylyphthalide also has a mild diuretic property which means it will make you pee just a little bit more. This diuretic effect contracts your blood volume. A contracted blood volume equates to lower blood pressure.

Conventional medications like Hydrochlorothiazide work through this diuretic mechanism.

This 3-N-Butylphthalide has also been shown to stop the progression of kidney damage caused by high blood pressure in rat experiments.

That’s not all.

Celery is also rich in Magnesium and Potassium. Both minerals have been proven to relax blood vessel wall as well.

How much celery should you eat to effectively lower your blood pressure?

So, how much celery should I take for high blood pressure. Valid question. I do not want you to leave with the impression that you’ll just eat one celery stalk and your blood pressure will become low forever. Not quite.

There’s more to it.

As you saw from the study, the consumption of celery continued over weeks. The gentleman who defied his doctor’s orders consuming celery instead of taking BP medications did that over a 2-week period too.

The point is; do not look at celery as a miracle plant that will secure lower blood pressure readings in a flash.

Rather you should see celery as part of a wider strategy for natural blood pressure reduction. Not a singular measure.

Now back to the amount of celery needed to reduce your blood pressure.

You need to eat about 4 stalks of celery to get your blood pressure reducing effect. That should equate to about 200 gm or 8 oz of celery. That’s how much celery you need to consume for high blood pressure.

==> Also learn about coffe and high blood pressure

How should you eat celery?

It makes sense to vary the way you get celery into your diet to avoid boredom.

Here are few ways to incorporate celery into your diet

  • Eat it as it is. Just chew on the stalk as a healthy snack
  • Add it to your smoothies
  • Add it to your Stir fries
  • Use it as a hummus scoop
  • Include it your tortilla wraps
  • Juice it
  • Add it to salads
  • Add it to your beans and peas

There you are. Those are some ideas for you.

So, get going…

Suggested further reading:
Drink THIS first thing in the morning (3 Major Benefits)