Can I eat red ginseng if I have high blood pressure? What are the effects?

Hypertensive patients are particularly picky about food, because most foods contain sodium chloride atoms, which can cause high blood pressure and other problems, seriously threatening the health of hypertensive patients. Hypertensive patients usually pay more attention to diet maintenance and often choose some nourishing ingredients to eat. For example, red ginseng is an excellent nourishing ingredient. So, can hypertensive patients eat red ginseng? What are the effects?

1. What is Red Ginseng?

Red ginseng is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine, belonging to the Apiaceae order and Araliaceae family. It is a cooked ginseng product, and its processing method is through soaking, cleaning, sorting, steaming, drying and other processes. During the steaming process of red ginseng, chemical reactions will occur due to heat treatment, causing changes in its composition. The dried red ginseng is ruddy in color and has a strong aroma. Compared with white ginseng, red ginseng has denser and firmer tissue and better storage properties. Red ginseng has the effects of replenishing qi, nourishing yin, benefiting blood, promoting body fluid production, strengthening the heart, strengthening the stomach, and calming the nerves.

2. Benefits of 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.

3. Effects of eating red ginseng on patients with hypertension

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 normalization, indicating that it has a bidirectional regulatory effect on blood pressure. A total of 66 hypertensive patients and 20 normal people were selected as the subjects, and 3 grams of Korean ginseng was taken 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.

It should also be noted that the warm nature of red ginseng often increases the weight of the body's yang heat, so symptoms similar to "getting angry" may appear during the period of taking it, but as long as you stop taking it in time, the above symptoms will disappear. If you are weak and need to take red ginseng for a long time, in order to prevent side effects, you can take it intermittently, taking it for 7 days and stopping for 2 days.