This stuff from red onion skin may lower blood pressure

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Study Overview

Researchers at the University of Bonn have conducted a study suggesting that quercetin, a natural extract from red onion skin, could be beneficial in reducing high blood pressure in overweight and obese individuals.

What is Quercetin?

Quercetin is a type of flavonol, a polyphenol that is common in fruits, vegetables, seeds, grains, and other plant-based foods. Foods rich in quercetin include capers, red onions, and kale.

Previous research has indicated that quercetin has anti-hypertensive properties, meaning it can help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease.

The Research

The goal of this study was to evaluate whether regular intake of quercetin could help reduce blood pressure in overweight and obese individuals who were pre-hypertensive or had stage I hypertension.

The study involved 70 participants, who were assigned to receive either 162mg/day of quercetin from onion skin extract powder or a placebo for six weeks.

The researchers monitored ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) and office blood pressure before and after the intervention.

Findings

The results showed that in the high blood pressure group, quercetin was able to decrease 24-hour systolic blood pressure by 3.6 mmHg compared to the placebo.

Moreover, quercetin significantly reduced both daytime and nighttime systolic blood pressure in those with high blood pressure.

However, it was noted that quercetin did not affect blood pressure biomarkers, oxidation, inflammation, lipid, and glucose metabolism in either the total group or the subgroup of hypertensive individuals.

Implications

The researchers concluded that supplementing with 162 mg/day of quercetin from onion skin extract powder could lower blood pressure, indicating a potential heart-protective effect of quercetin.

These findings are significant given that high blood pressure is a leading risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular complications.

According to the World Health Organization, around 1 billion people worldwide have high blood pressure, which accounts for approximately 8 million deaths each year.

While the study was relatively small and further research is needed to confirm these findings, it provides promising evidence that quercetin could be a natural remedy for high blood pressure, particularly in overweight and obese people.

The research was conducted by Verena Brüll and colleagues and is published in the British Journal of Nutrition.

If you care about blood pressure, please read studies about cannabis linked to blood pressure reduction in older people, and this common plant nutrient could help reduce high blood pressure.

For more information about health, please see recent studies about how to live with high blood pressure, and results showing common antimicrobial in toothpaste was linked to inflammation in the gut.

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