Heart disease: The herb that could ‘support cardiovascular health’ and reduce cancer risk

Heart disease: Doctor explains how to reduce risk

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Heart disease is a complex topic, with various potential risk factors making you more prone to the condition. The best known conditions that can lead to heart disease are high blood pressure and high cholesterol. 

High blood pressure details the long-term force of the blood against your arteries that is high enough to trigger serious health problems, the Mayo Clinic explains.

The reason why this condition can cause heart disease is the constant pressure against your arteries, which can cause damage to them.

Making them less elastic, the arteries narrow and less blood and oxygen can flow to the heart, which can lead to heart disease, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention details.

Fortunately, there’s a herb that has multiple protective powers and can “support cardiovascular health” – basil, Medical News Today shares.

The green fragrant herb was found to target various health issues in the body, consequently lowering your risk of heart disease.

According to research published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology, sweet basil has blood pressure lowering abilities.

The potent part of sweet basil is eugenol, a phenylpropanoid compound.

This goodie has been found to relax arteries and lower high blood pressure.

Other studies published in the National Library of Medicine only focused on animal models but saw similar benefits.

However, a study in Pharmacognosy Reviews found this effect to be “brief” with blood pressure returning to normal within two minutes.

The other reason why basil could help stave off heart disease is due to its ability to reduce oxidative stress.

Basil is rich in many antioxidants including anthocyanins.

Antioxidants are crucial for eliminating free radicals from your body.

In case you’re not aware, free radicals describe unstable molecules that occur as a result of metabolic processes.

Free radicals can also develop because of smoking.

If you leave these radicals to build up, it can cause oxidative stress.

And oxidative stress has been associated with heart disease as well as cancer, as reported by the Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry.

So on top of its heart health protective abilities, basil could also “have a protective effect against cancer”, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research.

A review published in the journal Nutrition and Cancer even reported that basil could cut the risk of skin, liver, oral, and lung cancers.

However, the researchers also reported that more studies are needed.

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