Can people with high blood pressure eat red ginseng?

Hypertension is a common cardiovascular disease. With the improvement of living standards, the number of patients with hypertension is increasing every year. Therefore, preventing the onset of hypertension should be of concern to each of us. If you suffer from high blood pressure, you should take medication as prescribed by your doctor. So, let’s see if people with high blood pressure can eat red ginseng?

1. Ginseng is warm in nature and sweet in taste. It can greatly replenish vital energy, strengthen the body, promote salivation, improve intelligence and calm the mind. These are the effects of ginseng. Ginseng is suitable for people suffering from fatigue, poor appetite, abdominal distension and loose stools due to weak spleen qi; shortness of breath and wheezing caused by weak lung qi; palpitations, insomnia and forgetfulness caused by weak heart qi. According to different processing methods, ginseng can be divided into raw sun-dried ginseng, red ginseng, sugared ginseng, ginseng root, etc. Although all types of ginseng have the effect of replenishing qi, their effects are different. Raw sun-dried ginseng is relatively mild in nature, neither warm nor dry. It can both replenish qi and produce body fluids. It is suitable for strengthening the body's resistance and eliminating evil, enhancing physical fitness and disease resistance. Red ginseng has a strong, warm and dry nature in replenishing qi, and is good at invigorating yang energy.

2. There is a folk saying that red ginseng can increase blood pressure and is not good for patients with hypertension. Many patients with hypertension consciously keep a distance from red ginseng. In fact, red ginseng has a warm nature and can replenish yang energy. It is suitable for people with both qi and yin deficiency, as well as fatigue, fear of cold, and cold limbs. Red ginseng has the effect of stabilizing the autonomic nervous system and has a good effect when used in combination with antihypertensive drugs. Clinical application can improve subjective symptoms, regulate blood lipids, reduce microalbumin, and increase cerebral blood flow. It has the function of preventing the onset and development of cerebrovascular diseases. Clinical applications have shown that red ginseng has no adverse effects on blood pressure, so it is not a contraindicated drug for hypertension. A survey by 13 units in Japan on the effects of red ginseng on 316 people who took it found that 51% of those with hypertension had their blood pressure reduced, 5% had their blood pressure increased, and it had almost no effect on normal blood pressure. 31% of those with hypotension showed an increase or normal blood pressure, indicating that it has a two-way regulating effect on blood pressure. Beijing Friendship Hospital of China and Japan once took 66 hypertensive patients and 20 normal people, and asked them to take 3 grams of Korean ginseng daily for 6 weeks. It was found that 60% of the hypertensive patients were effective. Therefore, patients with hypertension who also have the above-mentioned indications can use red ginseng with confidence.

3. Pharmacological effects of red ginseng: The total ginsenosides of red ginseng are >2.5%, ginsenoside Rb1 is >0.4%, and the water content is <13%. Among them, the total ginsenosides focus on anti-diuresis and anti-fatigue. There are 12 kinds of ginsenoside components unique to red ginseng, so it has many pharmacological activities. 1. Red ginseng has the effects of replenishing vital energy, benefiting blood, nourishing the heart and calming the nerves. 2. Red ginseng can regulate the nervous, cardiovascular and endocrine systems, promote the body's metabolism and the synthesis of protein, RNA and DNA. 3. Red ginseng can improve brain and physical activity and immune function, enhance anti-stress, anti-fatigue, anti-tumor, anti-aging, anti-radiation, benefit the heart and pulse, calm the nerves and promote fluid production, and nourish the lungs and spleen. 4. Red ginseng can be used for physical weakness, shortness of breath, spontaneous sweating, cold limbs, mental fatigue, poor appetite, vomiting and diarrhea, qi deficiency with wheezing or chronic cough, lack of body fluid and thirst, insomnia, palpitations and forgetfulness, impotence, frequent urination, and all symptoms of insufficient qi, blood and body fluids. 5. Red ginseng is effective for hypertension and atherosclerosis, liver disease, diabetes, anemia, tumors and geriatric diseases.