Hawthorn with other Herbs for Blood Pressure

Photo and Article by Ann Walker

Several clinical studies on single herbs aimed at lowering raised blood pressure have failed to find an effect. But lowering raised blood pressure (hypertension) using plant medicines needs plenty of intervention, so the doses in these trials are often not high enough to be effective. Books on herbs may tell you that the herb, hawthorn, lowers high blood pressure, and indeed we found it to be so in a study that we carried out at the University of Reading. My fellow researchers and I compared an extract of hawthorn leaves and flowers with placebo in a randomised study (PMID: 16762125).

Although there was a significant drop in blood pressure compared to the placebo in our group of diabetic subjects, the drop was not large enough to make a meaningful difference for patients. To make the blood-pressure lowering effects of plant medicines more relevant to real-life situations, combinations of several herbs are usually more successful.

One research group from America put together several plant-extract supplements that had been shown individually to influence blood pressure in laboratory experiments (PMID: 26059745). They reasoned that a combination of extracts of grape seed and skin (330 mg), green tea (100 mg), resveratrol (60 mg) and a blend of quercetin, ginkgo biloba and bilberry (60 mg) would reduce blood pressure in people with high blood pressure by a realistic amount. Although this meant the study volunteers taking a lot of tablets each day, this combination did lower both systolic and diastolic pressure by useful amounts.

Herbal practitioners of different herbal traditions throughout the world use combinations of herbs for their patient’s health, rather than single herbs. As a practitioner myself, I do use hawthorn for hypertension, but always combined with other herbs. I have found that the quickest way to get blood pressure down in most patients is have a daily dose of a strong herbal tea. My usual formula is equal parts by weight of the dried herbs of hawthorn leaves and flowers, limeflowers, motherwort, mistletoe leaves and passiflora. As much as 30 g a day of this combination are usually needed as a long infusion of at least 20 minutes or even overnight and this needs to be taken for a minimum of ten days before an effect is seen.

Of course, there could also be nutrient imbalances in a person with hypertension and these needs to be addressed first. Adequate intakes of vitamin C, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D and magnesium, are needed to maintain normal blood pressure.

PMID = PubMed identifier

Ann Walker PhD, FCPP, MNIMH, RNutr
Course Director DHM
Herbal Practitioner