A potent flavonoid for lowering blood pressure, heart attack and stroke risk

It’s hard to get through life without knowing someone who has died from heart problems.

Despite all the work of organizations like the American Heart Association, and no shortage of advice on heart-healthy lifestyles, it’s one disease that is holding strong as the number one killer of Americans.

Unfortunately, like many others, my family has seen more than our fair share of loss from heart disease-related deaths.

We’ve had it all from heart failure and heart attack to strokes almost all of which began with one problem — high blood pressure that went on too long until it was too late.

That’s why I put such an emphasis in my own life on controlling my blood pressure in order to protect my heart, my life, and my family from having to lose another loved one too soon.

It’s also why I was so excited to see the results of a published paper in Nutrition Reviews that found simply by incorporating a specific plant pigment in your daily diet could significantly reduce blood pressure, lowering your risk for all heart issues…

A potent flavonoid

The plant pigment quercetin is a flavonoid commonly found in many plants and foods, like onions, teas, apples, and even red wine.

And, study after study has looked at its potential to protect your heart.

In fact, the current paper is based on a pooled review of 17 separate scientific studies on the effects of quercetin on blood pressure.

The results all came down to this…

Quercetin has the power to markedly reduce systolic blood pressure — that’s the top number in your blood pressure reading and the one that has the most impact on your risk of heart attack or stroke.

It’s important to note that wording in the last sentence too — “markedly reduce systolic blood pressure.”

That means that it can bring it down dramatically.

The researchers point out this was an extremely encouraging finding since any reduction in blood pressure of more than 10 mmHg lowers cardiovascular risk by:

• 50 percent for heart failure
• 35 to 40 percent for stroke
• 20 to 25 percent for heart attack

Bottom line: Getting more quercetin daily could provide the heart-healthy flavonoid that saves your life.

And, if that weren’t enough on its own to make you think it’s time to give adding more quercetin to your diet a try, the researchers also found that people who consumed quercetin for eight weeks or more showed significantly improved levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

According to the Mayo Clinic, this is important because your HDL or good cholesterol helps to clear all other forms of cholesterol from your bloodstream to lower your risk of heart disease.

Finding ways to up your quercetin intake

So, if you want to leverage the heart-protection benefits of this powerful flavonoid, where can you find sources of quercetin?

Well, as we said earlier, sources include onions, teas, apples, and even red wine. But you can also get a quercetin-packed punch from green leafy vegetables, broccoli, and berries.

It’s important to note, however, that the quality of food does affect its quercetin content. For example, studies have shown that organic tomatoes deliver a whopping 79 percent more of the flavonoid than their conventional counterparts.

How ever you increase your intake of quercetin — the important thing to remember is to just do it, for your health’s sake.

Sources:

1. Plant pigment can significantly reduce blood pressure — EurekAlert
2. Blood pressure numbers — Blood Pressure UK
3. HDL cholesterol: How to boost your ‘good’ cholesterol — Mayo Clinic
4. What Is Quercetin? Benefits, Foods, Dosage, and Side Effects — Healthline