Lower Blood Pressure Naturally

Chinese food is loved in every corner of the world. But is it as healthy as many people claim?

Glorious Chinese cooking… it’s hard to imagine anyone not liking it. I could easily live off Chinese food for lunch every day (provided that I could alternate with Indian food for dinner)!

Usually cheap and always cheerful, Chinese restaurants have proliferated to every street corner of the world. Of course it’s always a treat to eat but concerns for a healthy diet have certainly helped its massive expansion.

We often hear how healthy Chinese cuisine is: low in meat and saturated fat and rich in fresh, crunchy vegetables and healthier types of oil such as sesame and peanut oil.

But does Chinese food really deserve its healthy reputation?

In particular, does it contribute to lower blood pressure and a healthy heart?

Leaving aside the issue of enjoyment for the moment (as hard as that is to do!) let’s look at the facts both for and against Chinese as a health food…

First, there are definitely some important elements in its favor; let’s look at some common Chinese ingredients:

Ginger: This fragrant tuber/herb is ubiquitous in Chinese food, one of the 3 or 4 cornerstones of this style of cooking. Ginger has long been known as a general tonic and stimulant. It offers a long list of medicinal benefits including acting as a digestive aid and anti-inflammatory.

Ginger, the "horned root", has been used for its medicinal benefits as well as its wonderful flavor for centuries.

More importantly, recent research reveals that ginger contains  powerful compounds called “gingerols” that act to relax the walls of blood vessels. This in turn allows blood vessels to dilate and the improved blood flow lowers blood pressure. In this way, ginger acts directly to influence our blood pressure.

Garlic: Another cornerstone ingredient of Chinese cooking with many effects that are similar to ginger. Volatile garlic compounds also act to relax and open blood vessels. In fact, garlic has such a positive effect on circulation that it has long been offered in supplements to improve cardiovascular health.

Like most foods, however, garlic is most effective in its natural and whole state in cooking. And eating Chinese food is often a great way to consume garlic in abundance.

Chilli Peppers: Growing numbers of people are learning to enjoy peppers… the hotter the better! Now we know that spicy food is not just a sensual delight but also extremely good for the health.

Chilli peppers are not just stimulating to eat; they also provide important health benefits such as lower blood pressure.

Despite the sensation of tensing up that some people experience eating peppers, their internal effect is just the opposite. Capsicum, the active ingredient that makes peppers hot, is able to relax blood vessels and thus lower blood pressure. Other compounds in peppers are known to thin the blood and reduce its “stickiness”, further contributing to improved blood flow.

Chilli peppers pack a double-barreled punch in both taste and sensation as well as in health effects; the hotter, the healthier! Regional Chinese dishes such as those from Szhechuan and Hunan styles are rich in chilli peppers, not to mention garlic and ginger.

Chinese cooking often contains other healthy ingredients that are often missing from the rest of our diet including fresh vegetables and unusual spices. What’s more, the fast and furious style of Chinese cooking can be healthier as it tends to lock in flavors and nutrients.

So Chinese food really does score many top marks for healthy eating… but it also has a lot of pitfalls that its promoters tend to minimize or outright ignore…

In fact, too much of certain types of Chinese food can easily become a recipe for high blood pressure or worse!

That’s because those healthy herbs, spices and vegetables are often accompanied by heaps of sugar, salt and, surprisingly, fat. Some people also react badly to the MSG used as a flavor enhancer in many Chinese restaurants, although the effects tend to be only temporary.

Many people are not aware of the huge differences between an “everyday” Chinese diet and the dishes served in most Chinese restaurants. If you go to an establishment where “real” Chinese people eat you will typically see them eating large bowls of soup, often with noodles. These soups tend to be loaded with vegetables and are in most respects a very healthy way to eat. You rarely see overweight people on this type of Chinese diet.

High blood pressure Hong Kong Style

The dishes served in a typical Chinese restaurant, however, are a totally different kettle of fish. These tend to be what the Chinese consider “banquet” food, which is only served for special occasions. These are your sweet and sour dishes, lemon and orange, kung pao… all our favorites!

All of these wonderfully sweet, sticky, sour or pungent sauces are made that way through loads of sugar, salt and fat… the three major fast-food groups. And many of them, including all those scrumptious starters, are deep-fried. It’s enough to give you a heart attack (but what a way to go!).

With the new prosperity in Asia this type of eating – as well as its health consequences – is becoming more common. Obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease, once rare, are becoming much more frequent. In particular, the Chinese health authorities are becoming increasingly concerned about the amount of salt in the Chinese diet.

Now I want to return to the issue of enjoyment I had to leave aside earlier. This is an artificial distinction because you can’t separate enjoyment from food (or if you do you end up with something like the current healthy food hysteria!). Chinese food would surely lose its appeal if you tried to neuter it by removing the sugar, fat and salt.

Most would say “enjoy it in moderation”. But if that means shunning the “sinful” dishes in favor of vegetable soups I’m not for it. That’s not moderation but punishment!

If you’re going to indulge in Chinese food (or any other, for that matter) do it with gusto and enjoy it. Most of us just can’t tolerate it every day without our blood pressure going through the roof…

So as usual, it’s a case of caveat emptor. Chinese food is about as healthy as a piece of organic, wholewheat bread layered with half an inch of goose fat and strawberry marmalade.