Can celery juice lower blood pressure? There are both animal studies and human
studies on celery phytochemicals that support a "yes!" Today I'm going to share a
couple of these studies with you and then we'll make a delicious blood
pressure lowering juice. Hi, I'm Stephanie Leach and this channel is all about
juicing and plant-based nutrition, so if you're interested in getting healthy
from the inside out with the power of plants then I invite you to subscribe to
this channel and click the bell to be notified when I post new videos. Now
researchers discovered a compound in celery called 3-n-butylphthalide , or
3nB for short. In animal and lab studies researchers found that a
very small amount of this phytochemical lowered blood pressure by twelve to
fourteen percent in rats and was safe at very high doses. So they moved on to
human studies, in 30 people with mild to moderate high blood pressure were given
a 3nB celery seed extract, mean blood pressures at baseline were 139.4
over 85.4. At three weeks they fell to 134.8
over 80.9 and at six weeks they fell to 131.2
over 76.9. That represents drops of 8.2
points systolic and 8.5 points diastolic from baseline. Pretty
good, right? So how does it work? 3nB appears to help lower blood
pressure by acting both as a diuretic and as a vasodilator as well as acting
in a similar manner to drugs known as calcium channel blockers, but unlike
pharmaceutical calcium channel blockers that are known to reduce blood flow to
the brain, 3nB improves blood flow to the brain and can reduce the
risk of stroke and protect your brain cells. So how much celery do you need to
eat or juice to lower your blood pressure? The amount used in the human
study was the equivalent of 50 pounds of celery a day, but that may be way more
than you actually need to see a blood pressure lowering effect. The study
authors had ties to a supplement company, so they no doubt used an amount that
would prove effective but they also may have used an amount that made taking a
supplement look way more attractive than eating or juicing celery, maybe. The
makers of one brand of 3nB supplement that uses the same concentrations as was
used in the study recommends consuming only 8
ribs of celery or two of their capsules a day but I think that still may be a
bit high. Dr. Kenneth Schaefer at the Department of cardiovascular medicine at
Cleveland Clinic is quoted as recommending "four stalks daily about one
cup chopped." I assume he meant ribs of celery rather than a whole stalk and if
I were to cut up four ribs of celery I would have way more than a cup of chopped
celery, but we'll go with a cup since that's the only verifiable measurement
that he referenced. But it's interesting that the father of one of the
researchers on the animal study normalized his blood pressure in a week
by eating just a quarter pound of celery a day. His blood pressure dropped from
158 over 96, definitely high stage two, to a normal reading of 118 over 82 and he
did this by eating just four ounces of celery a day, and that's what prompted
the study. So a medium celery rib weighs about 1.75 to 2 ounces, so conceivably
adding just two ribs of celery to your daily juice could do it. So if you want
to give this a try you could start with two ribs of celery or four ounces a day.
If you don't see an improvement you could increase the amount in your daily
juice. If you're on a blood pressure lowering medication you'll definitely
want to inform your doctor and monitor your blood pressure to make sure that it
doesn't go too low. And the reason I recommend whole celery or celery juice
rather than a 3nB supplement is because there are so many more
phytochemicals in celery that have been discovered that benefit our health in
other ways, from helping resolve digestive complaints to lowering
cholesterol, to anti-cancer properties and even protection for your brain. And
those are just the phytochemicals that have been discovered so far, there are
certainly many, many more that we don't even know about. And the nutrients in a
whole fruit or vegetable work together synergistically to create a greater
health benefit than a nutrient that has been extracted or isolated. Celery, when
you juice it, insures that every plant cell has been broken open and all of
that nutrition brought out in a predigested form into your juice glass
that your body can put to work right away.
So celery juice also provides magnesium and potassium to help regulate your
blood pressure. So let's go make some juice!
Okay, so for our juice today we have got the two ribs of celery, two large ones. I also
have a couple of other ingredients that are known to help reduce blood pressure.
That is kiwis - three kiwis a day was shown to lower blood pressure. I think it
was around five points diastolic and systolic. So I've got three sungold
kiwis here that we're going to use and then I've got Swiss chard from my garden
that I just cut, and that also helps improve endothelial function, and
then for some extra volume and a lot of other health benefits I've also got a
cucumber. I'll add a link to the cards here in
this video and also below for more information about the benefits of
cucumber juice. So let's make this juice.
Okay, so we have about 16 ounces of juice
collected here, not very much pulp.
It's a lovely green color with all the chlorophyll from the cucumber skins and the
chard too. Give it a taste.
Hmm that's good. You know the celery and the chard
because of the sodium have a slightly salty taste - it's not too much sodium,
don't worry about that- but combined with the kiwifruit which has a sweet but
slightly tart taste and the cucumber and the chard, is a really good, really good
combination. So hope you give this juice a try. I hope you like it!
If you do please leave me a comment in the comments below. If you've lowered your
blood pressure with juicing or a plant-based diet, I'd also love to hear
about that, and if you enjoyed this video please click the like button and
subscribe and share it with anyone that you think might find it interesting.
So enjoy your juice, and eat some celery and I'll talk to you soon. Bye!