If you are looking for an all-natural way to lower your blood pressure, you may want to consider adding Chaga mushrooms to your diet. Chaga mushrooms are incredibly effective at reducing blood pressure and come with various other health benefits.
So, what is the relationship between Chaga and blood pressure? This detailed guide will help you discover how Chaga benefits help people with high blood pressure. Keep reading to learn more about Chaga, blood pressure, and why this mushroom is such powerful natural medicine.
Understanding Chaga as a Natural High Blood Pressure Treatment Option
Elevated blood pressure or hypertension is common and features several long-term consequences, including heart disease. According to research, common factors that lead to hypertension are a diet high in salt and fat (cholesterol), family history, and chronic diseases like diabetes.
Read More: See how Chaga fights diabetes.
Changing your diet and leading an active lifestyle are some natural ways your doctor will advise you to lower your blood pressure. However, sometimes controlling your salt intake and exercise may not give you the desired effects on your blood pressure levels.
Before you are on the verge of starting anti-hypertensive medications, you may want to make sure you have explored all other natural options. So what's next?
Several dietary mushrooms are known to have blood-pressure-lowering effects. The bioactive compounds in mushrooms—specifically those that grow on birch trees—have been used in alternative and complementary medicine as a therapy for high blood pressure(1).
Read More: See how Lion's mane treats blood pressure.
Many people consume medicinal mushrooms as a natural way to reduce blood pressure. However, people who have never used natural foods to improve their health may want to know, does Chaga lower blood pressure?
Chaga mushrooms, or Inonotus obliquus, have been crowned as the king in the world of medicinal mushrooms for their many health benefits. Appearance-wise, they resemble a dark clump of dirt rather than a mushroom. The only distinguishing factor is their orange core.
Read More: Learn how to identify Chaga mushrooms.
In the following sections, we will examine how Chaga helps users maintain healthy blood pressure levels, reducing their risk of congestive heart failure, stroke, arteriosclerosis, and aortic aneurysms.
Are you ready to see how Chaga mushrooms eliminate the symptoms of high blood pressure? Read on.
Do Chaga Mushrooms Lower Blood Pressure?
Chaga mushroom is a nutrient-dense superfood. It is rich in antioxidants, with an ORAC value(2) of over 146700.
The Oxygen Radical Absorbancy Capacity determines the total antioxidant capacity of food, and Chaga is a powerhouse of antioxidants.
Oxidative stress is the disturbance in the balance between reactive oxygen species (or free radicals) and the ability of the body to detox these reactive products. Superoxide dismutase(3) is one such enzyme that makes up the antioxidant defensive system in the body.
The pathogenesis of hypertension is linked to oxidative stress. Regarding the relationship between Chaga and blood pressure, Chaga's ability to fight oxidative stress is one of the reasons why these mushrooms are so effective in dealing with hypertension.
Studies(4) have reported that people with newly diagnosed hypertension often show a reduction in the levels of superoxide dismutase.
Alternative medicine has shown keen interest(5) in identifying naturally-occurring antioxidants for the prevention and treatment of hypertension. This suggests that Chaga could be an efficient solution.
How Is Chaga Mushroom Good For High Blood Pressure?
Chaga's blood pressure-lowering effects have been utilized in folk medicine(6). Chaga mushroom exerts antioxidant effects on the molecular mechanism involved in oxidative state and vascular functions. The polysaccharides and phenols present in Chaga can help reduce blood pressure and decrease hypertension risk.
Inflammation and high blood pressure go hand in hand. Inflammatory markers like C-reactive proteins (CRP) are strongly associated with elevated blood pressure.
Numerous clinical trials have demonstrated the link between high levels of CRP and high blood pressure(7). Many people with hypertension also have elevated levels of cytokines(8). This vital pro-inflammatory protein regulates the immune system and triggers inflammation.
One of the benefits of Chaga mushroom blood pressure is inhibiting cytokine production(9). Chaga's anti-inflammatory properties(10) can also aid in reducing blood pressure.
This suggests that when you consume the Chaga tea regularly, restoring your blood pressure to a normal level and lowering your risk of heart disease becomes possible.
Read More: Learn about Chaga tea taste.
Hypertension is also linked with high blood cholesterol levels. High cholesterol levels lead to a buildup of fat layers on the blood vessels' insides.
The cholesterol levels also damage the endothelial lining of the vessels. This process hardens and narrows the blood vessels lumen, increasing blood pressure levels.
The Chaga extract has blood cholesterol-lowering effects. The mushroom has effective blood lipid metabolism. Chaga also promotes weight loss, which further balances cholesterol levels.
To prove the ability to lower cholesterol as one of the health benefits of Chaga, researchers conducted a human study. The eight-week study(11) was performed on experimental subjects using the Chaga mushroom extract—this study proved that Chaga could reduce total cholesterol, bad cholesterol (or LDL), and triglyceride. The same Chaga mushroom powder study also reported an increase in antioxidant levels.
Read More: Learn how to use Chaga powder.
Another study(12) observed that the Chaga mushroom also increased good cholesterol levels and lowered bad cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein). By ensuring you do not have high cholesterol, the mushroom helps you avoid many health conditions associated with elevated and non-ideal cholesterol levels.
For people trying to figure out the answer to the question "does Chaga affect blood pressure in more than one way?" the answer is that Chaga plant extract treats blood pressure problems in multiple ways. For example, the Chaga high blood pressure-lowering effect is also linked to Nitric Oxide (NO).
The polysaccharide of the birch tree fungus increases(13) the production of NO. This molecule is produced by many human body cells and is very important for vascular health.
The Nitric Oxide produced after enjoying Chaga tea relaxes the muscles of the blood vessels, which causes the vessels to widen. This simple process increases blood flow and lowers blood pressure.
Read More: Does Chaga tea have caffeine?
It is important to note that drinking Chaga tea helps lower blood sugar levels for people with diabetes and pre-diabetes. High blood sugar levels have been linked to the development of high blood pressure.
A research study published in 2018(14) noted that patients with diabetes experience increased peripheral artery resistance caused by vascular remodeling and increased body fluid volume associated with insulin resistance-induced hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemia. The study noted that these mechanisms are linked to high blood pressure.
Chaga mushrooms may help diabetic people control their high blood sugar as an alternative medicine, lowering the risk of hypertension.
Blood clotting issues can cause high blood pressure. A research study published in 2016(15) showed a relationship between high blood pressure and clotting. Chaga, however, can fight both hypertension and blood clots.
How To Take Chaga To Lower Blood Pressure?
You can consume Chaga mushrooms as a tea, supplement, or powder.
If you are thinking of enjoying Chaga tea high blood pressure benefits, you can simmer one tablespoon of Chaga powder in four to six cups of filtered water. After about 20 minutes, you can remove the tea from the heat. Strain the tea and enjoy it. Alternatively, you can add a sweetener of your choice.
Key Takeaways
Chaga mushroom has many health benefits that help with high blood pressure treatment. The mushroom's antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cholesterol-lowering properties help balance your blood pressure.
These benefits prove that Chaga is one of the most beneficial natural medicines for blood pressure. Take the mushroom regularly and consistently for maximum impact on your blood pressure.
Have you tried Chaga? Let us know how you have found Chaga beneficial in the comments below!
References
- Therapeutic potential of mushrooms in preventing and ameliorating hypertension (1)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0924224414001289
- Comparison of antioxidant activity and extraction techniques for commercially and laboratory prepared extracts from six mushroom species, (2)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666154321000326
- Oxidative Stress: Harms and Benefits for Human Health, (3)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5551541/
- Oxidative stress and hypertension: Possibility of hypertension therapy with antioxidants, (4)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4115353/
- Natural Antioxidants and Hypertension: Promise and Challenges, (5)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2905473/
- Inonotus obliquus and its bioactive compounds alleviate non-alcoholic fatty liver disease via regulating FXR/SHP/SREBP-1c axis, (6)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35278405/
- Association between C-reactive protein and hypertension in healthy middle-aged men and women (7)https://journals.lww.com/coronary-artery/Abstract/2004/09000/Association_between_C_reactive_protein_and.6.aspx
- Roles of Inflammation, Oxidative Stress, and Vascular Dysfunction in Hypertension,(8)https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2014/406960/
- Immunomodulatory Activity of the Water Extract from Medicinal Mushroom Inonotus obliquus, (9)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3774877/
- Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Inonotus obliquus in Colitis Induced by Dextran Sodium Sulfate, (10)https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2010/943516/
- Effect of the Inonotus Obliquus Polysaccharides on Blood Lipid Metabolism and Oxidative Stress of Rats Fed High-Fat Diet In Vivo, (11)https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5305591
- Antihyperglycemic and antilipidperoxidative effects of dry matter of culture broth of Inonotus obliquus in submerged culture on normal and alloxan diabetes mice, (12)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18434051/
- Recent Developments in Inonotus obliquus (Chaga mushroom) Polysaccharides: Isolation, Structural Characteristics, Biological Activities and Application, (13)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8124789/
- Hypertension with diabetes mellitus: physiology and pathology, (14)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29556093/
- Association between hypertension and deep vein thrombosis after orthopedic surgery: a meta-analysis, (15)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4802612/
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