Be’leaf’ It or Not…

It never ceases to amaze me just how long herbs and extracts have been used to ward off illnesses. Yet despite this well-known fact, they’re not promoted or used anywhere near the amount they ought to be.

For instance, olive leaf – yes, the same plant from which we garner things like olives and olive oil – has been used for thousands of years as an effective treatment in preventing the symptoms associated with aging and as a general antibiotic; just crack open the Bible and you’ll see how often a reference is made to the olive or the olive leaf itself. Despite its history, though, 9 out of 10 people you stop on the street will have no idea that olive leaf is – and has been – an effective treatment in treating hypertension. In fact, there’s a pretty good chance they don’t even know they have hypertension!

Why people don’t know about olive leaf’s medicinal qualities is, of course, related to the fact that natural health news is not reported much on the evening news or in the pages of the daily newspaper. But thanks to the advent of the internet, the natural health news that rarely (if ever) received attention is finally reaching those people it never used to reach. Here’s the latest:

According to some new research that was recently published in Phytotherapy Research, a specific kind of olive leaf extract called EFLA943 helps reduce not only one’s high blood pressure levels but their cholesterol levels as well. The study, conducted by some Swiss and German researchers, was a truly unique one because the participants were all identical twins. While twins are obviously two different people, their physical make-up is quite similar, thus making the results more reliable (i.e. the differentiation between a 50-year-old man’s genetic make up and a 45-year-old’s genetic make up can be such that the 45-year-old’s genes are more potent in fighting disease than the 50-year-old’s. This natural variability impacts the veracity of all studies).

The researchers gave the 20 sets of twins – all of whom were pre-hypertensive (i.e. on the cusp of being hypertensive) – one of three things: a placebo, a 500mg tablet of EFLA943 or a 1000mg tablet of EFLA943. After eight weeks of the participants taking their daily dose, the researchers wrote that EFLA943 had “substantial effect” in lowering blood pressure levels, particularly the 1000mg tablet.

This is a truly exciting finding for anyone suffering from hypertension and wants to avoid the side effects that accompany not only taking prescription drugs but also the side effects that occur once you go off of the medication (it’s a catch-22!). Thanks to findings like these, though, people can take their health back with natural alternatives that go by the wayside when they go unreported by the mainstream media. But again, thanks to the internet, you’re no longer beholden to what the media determines is and is not worthy of attention.