Hypertension is on the rise worldwide and is a major cause of cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is the leading global cause of death, expected to account for 29% of deaths by 2025. Hypertension often shows no symptoms but can lead to various complications and health issues. The World Health Organization defines high blood pressure as measurements equal to or above 140/90 mmHg. Medications like diuretics, vasodilators, and others are used to control high blood pressure, but they come with side effects like edema, muscle cramps, and kidney failure. These side effects can reduce patients' adherence to treatment, leading to uncontrolled blood pressure. Alternative medicine, including herbal remedies, is gaining popularity, especially in developing countries, with approximately 80% of people favoring it due to its safety, affordability, fewer side effects, and compatibility with the human body (1).
Studies have found that celery is rich in vitamins, minerals, phthalides, and flavonoids like apigenin and luteolin, which have strong anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effects. Celery also contains silica, chlorophyll, and lots of fiber, with about 95% water content. Due to its antioxidants and potential anti-inflammatory properties, various parts of celery (seeds, leaves, stems, and roots) have been used in traditional remedies to treat conditions like arthritis, urinary tract diseases, and high blood pressure. Moreover, it may offer protection against cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol levels, high blood sugar in type 2 diabetes, and obesity (1).
Active compounds in celery, like 3-n-butylphthalide (NBP) and apigenin, can help reduce blood pressure by acting as diuretics and widening blood vessels. They work similarly to calcium channel blocker drugs and can also lower cholesterol levels and reduce the buildup of plaque in arteries, further aiding blood pressure reduction. Unlike typical diuretics, they don't disturb the balance of sodium and potassium levels in the blood. Celery has been used for a long time in traditional Chinese and Indonesian medicine to manage high blood pressure safely and affordably, without side effects. There have been studies reporting celery can effectively manage hypertension (1).
A case study reported how adding celery juice to the diet of an elderly person with neck pain and hypertension affected their health. A 74-year-old man with neck pain and a history of hypertension consulted his primary care provider. He had tried various medications for his hypertension, but they caused chest discomfort. His initial blood pressure was 150/80 mmHg. The patient consumed celery juice daily for 6 months, under the approval of his doctor's nurse. He also received chiropractic treatment for his neck pain during 14 office visits. There were no changes in weight, exercise, or lifestyle reported. By the end of the study, his blood pressure dropped to 118/82 mmHg (2).
The elderly man followed a routine diet, eating similar meals every day. When asked about changes to his diet, he mentioned only juicing a bunch of celery daily. He bought celery from the same store, usually containing 10 to 12 stalks, and used a regular juicer to juice it each morning around 6 to 6:30 am. He recorded his daily juicing on a checklist and didn't miss a day for 6 months. He didn't make any other healthy lifestyle changes during this time. After 6 months, this elderly patient experienced positive effects from consuming celery juice and receiving chiropractic care (2).
One study involved 24 hypertensive participants, divided equally into an intervention group and a control group, each with 12 participants. They were between 46 and 50 years (58.3%) and 40-45 years of age range (41.7%) and included males (66.7%), and females (33.3%). They either received celery juice as an intervention or a salt-reduced diet as a control (3).
Before treatment, the intervention group had an average systolic blood pressure of 151.83 and an average diastolic blood pressure of 96.25, while the control group had averages of 148.33 and 92.83 respectively. Among the study participants, 87.5% experienced a decrease in systolic blood pressure, while 12.5% experienced an increase or no change. Similarly, 87.3% saw a decrease in diastolic blood pressure, with 12.7% experiencing an increase or no change during the celery juice intervention. After celery juice treatment in the intervention group, the average systolic blood pressure was 134.25 and the average diastolic blood pressure was 85.75, while in the control group, the average systolic blood pressure was 141.92 and the average diastolic blood pressure was 88.08. The blood pressure was significantly reduced in the celery juice-treated group compared to the control group (3).
Thirty hypertensive female human subjects were divided into two groups who were randomly given either encapsulated celery stem extract in doses of 250 mg or a placebo for two months. The treatment group showed a significant reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The Systolic blood pressure for the control group at baseline was 143.26±11.21 and 145.21±10.93 (mm Hg) after 60 days, the celery group was 142.98±10.86 at baseline and 123.67±12.45 (mm Hg) after 60 days of treatment (difference was significant). Diastolic blood pressure for the control group at baseline was 98.21±7.65 and 99.34±9.45 (mm Hg) after 60 days, while the celery group was 100.23±10.32 at baseline and 83.09±9.03 (mm Hg) after 60 days of treatment (also significant difference). The study also showed the effect of celery stem extract on the changes in the heartbeat from day 0 to day 60, the heart rate (Beats per minute) of the control group at baseline was 113±1.03 and 111±1.89 after 60 days, while of the celery group at baseline 114±2.12 and was significantly reduced 97±1.89 after 60 days of treatment (4).
The antihypertensive effects of celery seed extract were studied in a randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over clinical trial. Fifty-two patients were divided into two groups (celery and placebo), who received either celery seed extract capsules (a total of 1.34 g per day) or placebo capsules daily for 4 weeks. In the celery group, systolic blood pressure changed from 141.2 ± 5.91 to 130.0 ± 4.38 mmHg (p < .001) while diastolic blood pressure changed from 92.2 ± 5.74 to 84.2 ± 4.87 mmHg (p < .001). The mean arterial blood pressure changed from 108.5 ± 5.76 to 99.5 ± 4.66 mmHg (p < .001), and pulse pressure decreased from 49.0 ± 6.21 to 45.8 ± 6.01 mmHg (p < .01). No significant changes were observed in the placebo group in terms of the parameters (p > .05). Furthermore, no significant side effect was reported in the celery group, compared to the placebo group (p > .05). The results were promising and indicated the therapeutic effects of celery seed extract as a supplement in the management of hypertension (5).
With all the benefits described, you may wonder how much celery juice to drink to lower blood pressure. The celery juice study (3) did not report details about how they prepared the celery juice and how much to drink. Based on the case report (2), 10-12 celery stalks were used to make juice to drink daily. A practical suggestion is from one of my friends, who used a juicer to get celery juice from 3-4 large celery stalks, which gave about two small glasses of juice, and she and her husband drank daily. They even carried the juicer when they traveled, including the few days they stopped by at my place last year. They believed that the daily celery juice drinking was the reason that helped the husband's blood pressure drop from the hypertensive range and kept him in the normal range. It takes time and self-discipline to see the effect of celery juice on blood pressure.
References:
1. Alobaidi S, Saleh E. Antihypertensive Property of Celery: A Narrative Review on Current Knowledge. Int J Food Sci. 2024 Mar 12;2024:9792556. doi: 10.1155/2024/9792556. PMID: 38505582; PMCID: PMC10950410.Shayani Rad M, Moohebati M,
2. Illes JD. Blood Pressure Change After Celery Juice Ingestion in a Hypertensive Elderly Male. J Chiropr Med. 2021 Jun;20(2):90-94. doi: 10.1016/j.jcm.2021.04.001. Epub 2021 Jun 16. PMID: 34987326; PMCID: PMC8703128.
3. Azizah, Noor Cholifah Noor; Astuti, Dwi; Fanani, Zaenal; Karyati, Sri; Kurnia, Wahyu (2020). The Influence of Celery Juice Againts Blood Pressure Reduction in Hypertension. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1477(), 062009–. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1477/6/062009
4. Zafar, M. U., Rasheed, A., & Ismail, H. (2023). Exploring the Effects of Celery Stem on Blood Pressure, and Associated Parameters as Social Determinants in Hypertensive Individuals: A Randomized Control Trail. Annals of Human and Social Sciences, 4(4), 118–126. https://doi.org/10.35484/ahss.2023(4-IV)11
5. Shayani Rad M, Moohebati M, Mohajeri SA. Effect of celery (Apium graveolens) seed extract on hypertension: A randomized, triple-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over, clinical trial. Phytother Res. 2022 Jul;36(7):2889-2907. doi: 10.1002/ptr.7469. Epub 2022 May 27. PMID: 35624525.
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