Role of Herbs in Antihypertension

Hypertension is the leading member of the so called “non communicable diseases” (NCD group) and a leading contributory cause of death world wide . A large number of population surveys from different parts of the world have all along demonstrated hypertension to be a ubiquitous disease that affect all ethnic groups and engulf all geographic regions.

In countries with old civilizations and heritages like India, the ancient wisdom, folkfore and alternate medicinal systems just as Ayurveda, have always promoted the concept of food and herbs based prevention and management of diseases like cardiovascular, hypertension and diabetes mellitus. It is surprising that modern medicine with a glare of newer health gadgets and technologies has made us lopsidedly reliant on them. It is high time; we recapitulate perspective and give the natural herbal bounty with wealth of potential a real chance.

Hypertension is considered to be a predisposing factor for stroke, coronary heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, heart failure and end-state renal disease. It is estimated that hypertension contributes about 57 percent towards all deaths from strokes and 24 percent towards all deaths from coronary artery disease in India. Nearly one billion people are affected by hypertension worldwide, and this figure is predicted to increase to 1.5 billion by 2025. Each year, two million new cases of hypertension are diagnosed.It is estimated that 43 million people in the United States , almost 24% of the adult population are afflicted with hypertension and taking antihypertensive medication. The risk of hypertension increases with age in both men and women (Whelton and Klag, 1989). Before age 55, more men than women are hypertensive; but the reverse is true for those over the age of 55. As a matter of fact, it is a chronic medical condition in which the blood pressure stays elevated, mostly for no ostensible reason. It is also referred to as high blood pressure or shortened to HT, HTN or HPN. The word "hypertension", by itself, normally refers to systemic, arterial hypertension.

Medication for Hypertension:

Common clinical strategies to achieve a lowering of blood pressure include the use of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers (or CCB’s) and diuretics. For simplistic reasons, these agents work by reducing arterial resistance and/or decreasing cardiac output.Indeed, ACE inhibitors work by interrupting the conversion of angiotensin-I to angiotensin-II and therefore attenuating the arterial constrictor effects of angiotensin-II . Beta receptor blockers act to counter the stimulatory effects of vascular and cardiac noradrenergic receptors. CCB’s inhibit calcium entry thus decreasing the tone of vascular smooth muscle and promoting vasodilatation. Diuretics work by promoting the expulsion of urine, measured as the urinary volume (UV) excreted, and urinary sodium (UNa) from the body and this helps reduce the volume of blood circulating through the cardiovascular system .

 Role of Plant Products in the Management of Hypertension:

Since time immemorial, people have used plants in treating various diseases without any side effect. Their use has been safe and they are cost effective also. One well documented use of plant products is their use as antihypertensive and hypotensive agents. Hence, there is an ever increasing need for safe antihypertensive and hypotensive agents.

Antihypertensive / Hypotensive Herbs

Herbal based therapeutics for hypertension has been in use since Vedic era and now a days, it has been used and practisized due to lack of its adverse side effective property, and efficacy in curing hypertension and cost effectiveness. Some herbs are not being used in pharmacological preparations in the industry because of non availability of clinical studies on them. Their safe amount of use is questioned till now along with efficacy. However, the use of natural herbs for curing hypertension is well documented in different traditional medicine systems since Ayurveda to Chinese and Europian traditional system. In this modern era, use of herb is being more popular day by day due to evidenced by clinical trials, safety, efficacy and cost effectiveness. A large no. of plants has been supported by evidences to treat hypertension. Therefore, plant based drugs should be developed to make the use of drugs safe and effective.