HYPERTENSION AND HERBAL PLANTS

Abstract

High blood pressure, termed "hypertension," is a condition that afflicts almost 1 billion people worldwide and is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. More than 20% of Americans are hypertensive, and one-third of these Americans are not even aware they are hypertensive. Therefore, this disease is sometimes called the "silent killer." This disease is usually asymptomatic until the damaging effects of hypertension (such as stroke, myocardial infarction, renal dysfunction, visual problems, etc.) are observed. Hypertension is a major risk factor for coronary artery disease and "heart attacks," which may require coronary artery bypass surgery.

This study describes the antihypertensive activities present in herbal plants. Herbal medicine has made many contributions to commercial drug preparations manufactured today herbal medicine has been losing ground to new synthetic medicines touted by scientists and physicians to be more effective and reliable.