MEDICINAL PLANTS FOR HYPERTENSION – AN OVERVIEW OF SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS

• DOI: 10.22533/at.ed.62819131111

• Palavras-chave: Atena

• Keywords: hypertension, complementary therapies, medicinal plants, overview, systematic review

• Abstract:

  Hypertension is a well-known

  risk factor for cardiovascular disease and

  mortality. Medicinal plants are the source of

  many drugs and can possibly offer solutions

  to antihypertensive therapy. An overview of

  systematic reviews was undertaken. A sensitive

  search was conducted in nine databases,

  including publications published from January

  2006 until November 2016. Systematic Reviews

  (SR) that have studied the effect of medicinal

  plants in the treatment of hypertensive patients

  were selected. The outcomes searched were

  cardiovascular morbimortality, antihypertensive

  effect, quality of life and collateral effects.

  SRs were evaluated by AMSTAR. 41 SR were

  selected. 23 conducted meta-analysis. 51%

  of SR were assessed as having good quality.

  Trials included in SRs have short duration,

  and cardiovascular outcomes could not be

  investigated. Only one SR evaluated quality

  of life. There is moderate quality evidence

  that garlic, green tea, black tea and flaxseed,

  decrease slightly blood pressure. There are

  weak evidence that Hibiscus sabdariffa, Nigella

  sativa, beetroot, cacao products, grape seed

  extract, grape juice and Salvia hispanica (chia)

  have a positive effect of reducing slightly blood

  pressure. Current evidence points to absence

  of significant effect in blood pressure of Panax

  spp. (ginseng), Ginkgo biloba, Crataegus

  monogyna (hawtorn), Ribes nigrum and Pinus

  pinaster (Picnogenol®). There are no convincing

  evidence for the use of medicinal plants as a

  substitute to the usual antihypertensive drugs,

  however, some of them can be included in dietetic

  strategies, as complementary management of

  hypertension.

• Número de páginas: 15