Moringa for Blood Pressure – A Natural Treatment

High blood pressure is a serious condition that can lead to a multitude of problems down the road. If you suffer from high BP there are a variety of ways you can reduce it. What I want to discuss in particular is a natural healing for blood pressure…. called Moringa.

Moringa is the name of a tree that is native to Asia. Its leaves and seeds have been ground and used for centuries as a treatment to many health problems. In modern times much of these benefits have been scientifically proven. Many consider it to be a “superfood” because of its extremely nutrient dense contents.

Taking moringa for blood pressure is just one of the many benefits that this incredible plant has to offer. And in this article I will be discussing the many nutrients that moringa has that have an impact on your BP.

The Blood Pressure Affecting Nutrient Dense Profile of Moringa

Moringa benefits blood pressure in many ways. This is due to its amazing contents with over 92 nutrients total and 46 antioxidants. But not everything it contains can have an effect on your BP. However, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium, calcium, and zinc do have an effect. And moringa contains all of this.

In the following content I’ll go over what each of these minerals/vitamins can do for your BP, how much moringa has of each, and the recommended daily allowance.

Potassium Combats Sodium, Which Helps Lower Blood Pressure

Moringa is a great natural source of potassium. And the reason this is important here is because potassium helps lower sodium levels, which everyone knows are a big culprit of high blood pressure.

Potassium and sodium work together, in a way, to keep your blood pressure where it needs to be. If you have high blood pressure then increasing your potassium intake is a great way to get your body to rid itself of excess sodium through your urine as well as relax your blood vessels.

How Much Potassium Is In Moringa?

I have seen a lot of different numbers thrown around online as to how much potassium is actually in moringa. It can be very confusing because many of these sources do not list whether they are talking about dried moringa leaves, moringa oil, moringa seeds, moringa powder, etc. They just call it moringa and this really doesn’t tell you what you need to know.

There can be a big difference in the amount of potassium depending on what you are looking at. From what I have found on examine.com, which is a very trustworthy scientific source, is that moringa contains about 300mg for every 100g of dried leaves. This equates to 0.3% potassium content.

However, most of the moringa powders that are on the market, which is probably what you are interested in, contain much more than this. I have seen powders that list their potassium content anywhere from 1,300 – 1,850mg per every 100g. This means anywhere from 1.3 – 1.85% of its weight is potassium.

If you compare this to other known sources of potassium it is very good. The dried leaves are pound for pound right around what a banana will give you. But the moringa powder is much more potent with 3+ times the amount.

How Much Potassium Do You Need?

A logical question to ask yourself from this is “how much potassium do you need?”

Well there actually isn’t a RDI for potassium and the amounts places will tell you vary a lot. According to the World Health Organization you should take 4700mg per day if you are an adult. But I have seen other sources that claim getting around 3,300 mg per day is sufficient.

Vitamin C…. May Help With Your BP

There is still more research that needs to be done in this area, but as for now many professionals in the industry agree that Vitamin C in excess appears to be linked to lower blood pressure levels. In observational studies it has been observed time and time again that people with access of this vitamin have lower BP than people with normal or low levels. However when it comes to clinical studies there have not been consistent results.

According to an analysis of years of research related to this topic the difference that vitamin C makes is enough for scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine to conclude that there would be a lot fewer strokes if people would ingest excess amounts. You can read this article here if you wish.

And of course the reason why I am mentioning this here is because moringa is a natural provider of vitamin C.

How much vitamin C in moringa?

The USDA lists moringa’s vitamin C content at 51.7mg for every 100g of dried leaves. When it comes to the powders that you can buy you are looking at more like 250mg for every 100g. It it an excellent source of vitamin C to say the least.

*Note: Some sources (Ex: MayoClinic) do say that vitamin C might actually work the other way around. This is still open to debate.

What is the recommended daily dosage?

The RDI for vitamin C is a very wide range, which means that you do not need to closely monitor your intake. MayoClinic states that for an adult a healthy range is between 65 – 90mg per day, however the upper limit is 2,000mg.

So if you are taking spirulina powder, which is usually dosed at around 1-3g per serving, you will be getting a decent dosage per day. But in order to potentially see benefits on your blood pressure you will absolutely have to be getting vitamin C elsewhere. Moringa is a good natural source but it isn’t going to give you the excess amount that you will need.

Moringa’s Vitamin E Content & What It Can Do For You

Vitamin E is most well known for its antioxidant characteristics but is yet another vitamin that has been shown to have an effect on blood pressure. Like vitamin C, there is also more work that needs to be done in this area, but there is enough to say that it has a positive effect. One study shows that 200 IU of vitamin E supplemented over 27 weeks lead to a decrease in BP in mild Hypertensive patients.

The reason vitamin E helps to lower BP may be due to the impact that it has on nitric oxide production, which in turn promotes vasodilation.

The amount of vitamin E needed on a daily basis is not something that you have to worry about too much. Deficiency in this vitamin are rare and this is because your body is able to store it and hold onto it, unlike other vitamins that flow right out of your system. However, it is recommended that you get 22.4 IU per day if you want to maintain a steady intake.

There are a lot of good sources out there. To obtain this vitamin naturally you want to look at fatty foods and oils. Nuts are one of best sources as well as… you guessed it…. Moringa.

How much vitamin E is in moringa?

The amount of vitamin E you can get from moringa is plenty. For every 100g of powder you are looking at getting 64mg, which is well above what you should get daily. But of course you aren’t going to be taking 100g in a day. However, even if you just take a normal serving of 2g of moringa powder you are looking at getting 1.28mg which would be around 6% of what you need daily… pretty good for just 2g right?

Compare this to nuts and it makes them look bad. Pound for pound moringa powder contains almost double what sunflower seeds contain, which are among the highest vitamin E providers in the nuts category with 36mg per every 100g.

*Note: If you are currently on medication as a treatment of high BP you may want to talk to a doctor before upping your vitamin E intake. The reason for this is because vitamin E may inhibit the absorption of Beta Blocker medications.

A Good Source of Magnesium, Which Helps Blood Vessels Relax

Some call magnesium a relaxation ion, because it has been shown to have relaxing effects on both the nervous system and the cardiovascular system. This can help help combat stress, irritability, and high BP>

It has been shown to have both a direct and indirect effect on high blood pressure levels (Rosanoff A., 2005). Keeping Mg levels up has a relaxation effect on smooth muscle cells in the vascular system. This allows them to expand and decrease the pressure inside.

Magnesium also has an impact on potassium levels, which, as I went over above, is important for healthy blood pressure levels. Deficiency in Mg can actually lead to potassium deficiency which then leads to high sodium levels which = high blood pressure.

What is the recommended dose of magnesium?

For adult men the RDI of magnesium is 400mg if you are under 30 years old and if you are over 30 you want to bump that up to 420mg. For women it is about 100mg less per day. Your RDI is 310mg if you are under 30 and 320mg if you are over that age.

How much will moringa provide you with?

A normal serving of 2g moringa powder will fetch you about 10.75mg of magnesium, which is about 2.5 – 3.5% of the RDI, depending on your gender. This amount equates to about 537mg per every 100g of powder, which is well over the RDI. 100 grams of dried moringa leaves will give you about 42mg.

If you are taking a normal amount of moringa powder it is a good way to supplement your magnesium intake but you will need other sources. Spinach is a very good source and some other decent sources include black beans, bananas, almonds, and you might even be excited to hear that dark chocolate makes the list.

Calcium in Moringa… It Also Helps Your Blood Vessels Relax

Like potassium, calcium is another key mineral in the war on high blood pressure. And it is another mineral that moringa has an abundance of, even more-so than potassium.

Calcium plays a crucial role in blood pressure among many other things such as bone health. It helps vessels both contract and relax, which is what you need them to do.

Lack of calcium is very common so this could be an area that you could improve in. According to article from Harvard Health, most people get less than 75% of the calcium they need to on a daily basis from their poor diets. The RDI for calcium that adults need to consume is 1,000mg if you are under 70 years old. If you are over 70 then it is recommended to consume 1,200mg per day. This is according to MedlinePlus.gov.

So how much will moringa help with your calcium intake?

According to the USDA 100g of dried moringa leaves will provide you with 185mg of calcium. And after looking at different quality moringa powders that you can buy it seems that most will provide you with about 1,600 – 2,000mg per 100g. This equates to 32.5 – 40mg per every 2g serving.

So if you do the math on this all here is how it works out. Lets say you are consuming the recommended 2g of moringa powder per day. The 32.5 – 40mg that it provides you with will give you 3.25 – 4% of your RDI if you are under 70. Again, this is based on the RDI that I found from MedlinePlus. There are other sources that say you do not need this much calcium per day.

Other great natural calcium sources include…

Some other great sources of calcium include dairy products like yogurt, milk, and cheese. Salmon and black eyed pees are also right up there with them. But if you compare these foods pound for pound with moringa guess which is more calcium dense….. The answer is moringa by far… if you are taking it in powder form that is.

Just to give you some numbers for comparison, 1% milk has 125mg for every 100g as well as yogurt, cottage cheese has 83mg for every 100g, and salmon has just under 30mg. Of course eating large amounts of these foods is much more realistic than eating a bunch of moringa for your calcium intake but moringa is without question a great supplemental source… a great supplemental source that will positively impact your blood pressure.

Zinc

Zinc is what you call a trace element. It is only found in very small amounts in nature and that is fine for use because our bodies only need small amounts. However, although we only need little, it is still important to get your daily dose.

Having too low zinc levels or too high levels can effect many balances within the body, one of which is blood pressure. A study that was published in the Biological Trace Elements Research journal in 2007 shows that zinc deficiency can lead to increased arterial BP.

So it is important to try to get your body’s zinc levels to what they need to be. According to the Office of Dietary Supplements, the recommended intake is 15mg per day for adults.

How much will moringa help with your zinc levels?

I wasn’t able to find out how much zinc is actually in the moringa powder that you can buy. This is because the companies that are selling it are not required to put the amount on the nutrition label. However, I was able to find from the USDA that 100g of dried leaves give you 0.60mg of zinc. This appears to vary a good bit though because another trusth-worthy source, Examine.com, lists 100g of dried moringa leaves as having 2.04mg of zinc.

Either way moringa is a decent source considering the powder supplement form have much higher amounts.

Other good natural sources of zinc include oysters, beans, crab meat, beef, etc. Oysters are jammed packed with zinc and will give you about 8-9 mg of zinc in just one 1 ounce medium sized oyster.

*Note: Too high of zinc levels can also lead to increased BP so trying to find a healthy balance is essential.

Is Moringa Worth Trying to Lower BP?

In my opinion yes it is. Why not? Its natural, its healthy, and if it doesn’t work out like you want it to you will benefit from it in other ways.

To back up my opinion here of it being worth trying is a study where moringa extract was given to rats to see what therapeutic benefits it would have. One of the many positive effects that were observed was a decrease in blood pressure.

So besides everything that I just mentioned above with all the individual nutrients and minerals, this study was conducted on moringa itself being used which more directly proves that moringa is one natural and healthy way to get your blood pressure on the right track.