Diabetes and high blood pressure (hypertension) often occur together, which significantly increases the risk of other serious secondary diseases. A plant-based active ingredient found in citrus fruits could lower blood pressure in diabetes. However, it has no blood pressure-lowering effect in healthy people.
In a recent review, a Chinese research team from Liaocheng University examined the effect of the herbal active ingredient hesperidin on the blood pressure of people with and without diabetes. The results were published in the journal “Phytotherapy Research”.
Does hesperidin affect blood pressure? As a so-called secondary plant substance from the group of flavanones, hesperidin is contained in the peels of oranges and lemons, for example, and various previous studies have already indicated a potential blood pressure-lowering effect, the researchers report.
However, the study results were partly contradictory, which is why the team has now carried out a comprehensive evaluation of the research published to date on hesperidin and its effects on blood pressure. In the end, 14 publications with a total of 656 participants were taken into account.
Effective only in diabetes
The results of the meta-analysis show that hesperidin does not have a significant blood pressure-lowering effect in healthy people, the researchers report. However, the results were different when only people with diabetes were considered.
Hesperidin significantly reduced systolic blood pressure in participants with type 2 diabetes and, according to the research team, diastolic blood pressure also tended to be reduced in these participants.
Although these results still need to be verified in further studies, there is already some evidence to suggest that people with diabetes could effectively lower their blood pressure by taking hesperidin.
Diabetes often associated with hypertension
Since, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), over 70 percent of people with type 2 diabetes also suffer from high blood pressure and estimates suggest that there are over eight million people with diabetes in Central Europe, the findings have potentially enormous implications. However, it remains to be seen what results the follow-up studies will deliver. (fp)