Rooibos Tea May Help People with Asthma and High Blood Pressure

 
By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, December 8, 2006, abstracted from Selective bronchodilatory effect of Rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis) and its flavonoid, chrysoeriol�?printed online November 2, 2006 in the European Journal of Nutrition

Rooibos (pronounced “Roy-Bose�?, a plant native to South African plant,(1) has started to gain popularity throughout the world for its significant health benefits. From 1999-2001, consumption increased by 500%.(2) Rooibos contains a wide variety of antioxidants called aspalathin, chrysoeriol, orientin, isoorientin, vitexin, isovitexin, quercetin , isoquercetrin and rutin.(3) It is thought that these components of Rooibos tea are responsible for its growing reputation as an “antiaging tea�?(4) as well as promoting cell health(5) and helping maintain healthy blood sugar(6) and inflammation .(7)

Research has found that Rooibos tea helps with irregular heartbeats, colic , and diarrhea .(3) Now a new study(8) has built upon previous research showing that Rooibos may be effective for asthma (9) and high blood pressure (10) by helping decrease muscle spasms in blood vessels and lung airways.(11)

In the study, researchers obtained 30.5 grams of Rooibos extract, containing 120 mg and 200 mg of phenol and flavonoid antioxidants, from 150 grams of dry Rooibos leaves. They administered the extract to rabbits and guinea pigs and found that this helped decrease muscle spasms in the digestive tract and blood vessels of rabbits and the throat and heart muscle of guinea pigs.

Specifically, Rooibos decreased the force of heart muscle contraction by 35% and contraction rate by 29%, both of which could help keep blood pressure in normal range in humans. They found that Rooibos elicited these benefits by improving potassium use across cell membranes and that the antioxidant responsible for this was chrysoeriol.

Although this study was not performed on humans, the researchers nevertheless concluded that “This study may explain the medicinal use of Rooibos tea in hyperactive gastrointestinal, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases with the potential to be developed as a remedy for the congestive airway disorders.�?/FONT>