High Blood Pressure and the Six Tastes
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Today, I’d like to talk about high blood pressure. Hypertension or high blood pressure is often called ‘the silent killer’ because it has no obvious symptoms, yet can lead to heart disease, strokes and kidney disease. As about third of American adults have high blood pressure, it’s good to know how to prevent and manage this condition. Today, we’ll look at how we can make use of the Six Tastes to prevent and manage hypertension.
If you’re not familiar with the Six Tastes, please see my video Ayurveda Basics 2: The Six Tastes
Which of the Six Tastes are helpful for high blood pressure? First of all, the astringent taste. Many of the most important herbs and teas for high blood pressure are endowed with the astringent taste. Enjoy a daily delicious cup of hibiscus tea, rich in the astringent taste, to help manage high blood pressure. Make sure you eat leafy greens and include beans and lentils in your diet on a regular basis, to get plenty of astringent foods for blood vessel health.
Next, the bitter taste. Bitter foods contain cardioprotective compounds that support your circulatory system. Try to include bitter melon in your diet. It contains phenolics that may help lower blood pressure and cholesterol. The sulforaphane in bitter vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, kale and Brussels sprouts may also help maintain healthy blood pressure. And have a nice cup of cacao or some dark chocolate every day. A study suggests that people who eat chocolate five times a week have a significantly lower risk of heart disease than those who do not eat chocolate.
The pungent taste will tend to lower blood pressure by dilating your blood vessels. Enjoy ginger tea or spice your food with ginger to benefit from the blood-pressure lowering effects of this pungent herb, known as ‘the universal medicine.
When it comes to the sweet taste, it may be beneficial or harmful, depending on the source. Sweet balances pitta, and pitta dosha is a driver of hypertension. Get your sweet taste from fruits and from vegetables like carrots, beets and sweet potato rather than sweet baked goods, which will tend to cause weight gain and provoke kapha.
The sour taste should be used sparingly if you are trying to manage high blood pressure. Sour provokes pitta and kapha, so while it may not directly raise blood pressure, it will aggravate those doshas that are typically implicated in high blood pressure.
And of course, the salty taste is well known to play a role in raising blood pressure. A very interesting study came out in 2019, examining the relationship between dietary sodium and hypertension. They found that, “A reduction in dietary sodium not only decreases the blood pressure and the incidence of hypertension but is also associated with a reduction in morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases.” Salt your food lightly and stay away from the saltshaker. Try not to eat out on a regular basis, because restaurant food tends to be high in salt.
I’d like to thank our student apprentice Caitlin for calling my attention to this study. She recently gave a wonderful class presentation on the Ayurvedic management of hypertension.
By making use of the Ayurvedic understanding of the Six Tastes, we can go beyond the DASH diet to have an in-depth understanding of how to maintain healthy blood pressure through diet.
Alakananda Ma M.B., B.S. (Lond.) is an Ayurvedic Doctor (NAMA) and graduate of a top London medical school. She is co-founder of Alandi Ayurveda Clinic and Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula in Boulder Colorado, as well as a spiritual mother, teacher, flower essence maker and storyteller. Alakananda is a well known and highly respected practitioner in the Ayurveda community both nationally and internationally.
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