More than half of adults in the United States—about 122 million people—have high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. This condition increases the risk of serious health problems like heart attacks, heart failure, and strokes.
Even though there are many medications available to treat high blood pressure, the risk of death remains high for people who live with it, especially when new and more effective drugs are limited.
Now, researchers from the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University may have found a promising natural alternative: juice made from the Japanese plum, a fruit known in Japan as “Ume.”
This plum is commonly eaten in many parts of Asia and has long been used as a health food in Japan. The juice concentrate, known as bainiku-ekisu, has been used as a health supplement since the 1700s.
The raw Japanese plum cannot be eaten as is, because it contains natural toxins. But once it’s processed into juice or wine, it becomes safe and may even have healing properties.
In earlier research, scientists discovered that this juice concentrate could protect the heart and reduce the harmful effects of certain hormones that contribute to high blood pressure. One such hormone is angiotensin II, which makes blood vessels tighten and increases blood pressure.
To explore this further, the researchers ran experiments on mice. They gave some mice regular water and others water mixed with bainiku-ekisu.
The mice that drank plain water developed high blood pressure, as expected. But the mice that drank the Japanese plum juice did not develop high blood pressure at all. They also had less inflammation and almost no thickening of their aortas, the largest artery in the body.
The researchers believe the plum juice works by stopping a process in the body called glycolysis, which is how cells break down sugar when there isn’t enough oxygen.
While this process is necessary in certain situations, in people with high blood pressure it can go into overdrive, causing stress inside the blood vessels. This stress leads to inflammation, stiffening of the arteries, and eventually serious heart disease. The juice appears to interrupt this harmful chain reaction.
What makes this finding especially exciting is that the juice seems to act naturally by calming multiple damaging processes at once. Scientists think that it’s not just one special ingredient doing the work.
Instead, it may be the result of two or three natural compounds working together in harmony. If that’s true, trying to extract one single ingredient for a drug might not have the same effect.
Of course, this research is still in the early stages, and more studies in humans are needed. But for now, the findings are promising. They suggest that something as simple as a traditional juice could become part of a healthier approach to managing high blood pressure—especially for people looking for natural options.
The study was published in Hypertension Research, and future work will aim to find out which specific parts of the plum juice give it its powerful effects. In the meantime, this ancient fruit may offer a new hope in the modern fight against heart disease.
If you care about high blood pressure, please read studies about unhealthy habits that may increase high blood pressure risk, and drinking green tea could help lower blood pressure.
For more information about high blood pressure, please see recent studies about what to eat or to avoid for high blood pressure, and 12 foods that lower blood pressure.
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