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Brewer's yeast lowers blood pressure
If you take 2 tablets of brewer's yeast with each meal, within a few weeks your blood pressure drops by about 2 to 6 points. Iranian researchers come to this conclusion in a human study with type-2 diabetics as test subjects. The effect of the supplementation is modest, but not negligible. And who knows what happens when you combine brewer's yeast with vitamin C and magnesium...
Study
The researchers, who are affiliated with the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, divided 90 people with diabetes type-2, aged 35-55, into 2 groups. One group took 6 tablets of 300 milligrams of brewer's yeast every day for 12 weeks, the other group took a placebo. The test subjects took 2 tablets with each meal.
The researchers used a product from the British supplements manufacturer HealthAid. [healthaid.co.uk] HealthAid did not pay for the research, by the way. The university of the researchers financed the study.
Results
The supplementation reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 1.5 and 5.7 mmHg, respectively. That came down to 2.8 and 6.8 percent. And yes, these effects were statistically significant.
Although the effect of brewer's yeast is not as great as that of antihypertensive drugs, it is not negligible. In people with high blood pressure, a decrease of 2 mmHg means a reduction in the risk of a stroke or heart attack by 7 to 10 percent.
In 2005 Japanese scientists reported that a protein in yeast, which they called KRF814, reduces blood pressure in laboratory animals. [Curr Med Chem. 2005;12(26):3085-90.] KRF814 inhibits the ACE enzyme, which increases blood pressure. The Iranians suspect that KRF814 is also present in the brewer's yeast they used.
In the subjects who took brewer's yeast, the concentration of the 'good cholesterol' HDL increased, while the concentration of the 'bad cholesterol' LDL and the possibly even worse triglycerides decreased. Unfortunately, these effects were not statistically significant.
Conclusion
"Supplementation with 1800 mg/day brewer's yeast in addition to usual treatments can have a modest beneficial effect on systolic and diastolic blood pressure in patients with type 2 diabetes", the researchers concluded.
Source:
Iran J Public Health. 2013 Jun 1;42(6):602-9.
More:
Two weeks of extra vitamin D: fitter, less quickly tired, lower blood pressure and less cortisol 07.01.2017
Magnesium supplement lowers blood pressure 17.12.2016
Vitamin C supplement lowers blood pressure 13.12.2016
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