Three cups of hibiscus tea a day may reduce blood pressure and offer cardiovascular benefits for people at risk of developing hypertension (high blood pressure) according to a new study from Tufts University. Three servings a day of hibiscus tea (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) was associated with a 7.2 mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure (the top figure in a blood pressure reading) and a 3.1 mmHg reduction in diastolic blood pressure (the bottom figure).      Researchers from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University report that this is the first placebo-controlled clinical trial to study if hibiscus tea, in an amount easily attained from the diet, may affect blood pressure.

      Researchers from the University of Liege in Belgium analyzed the data from the SOTI and the TROPOS study which included thousands of people lasting for multiple years. These were Phase III, randomized, placebo controlled, double blinded studies. The women who complied with their Strontium mineral treatment had a 38% reduction in non-vertebral fractures compared to women who were not.

     Tufts researchers evaluated markers for inflammation and the level of active Vitamin B6 in 1,205 Puerto Rican residents of Massachusetts who ranged in age from 45 to 75. Those with higher levels of active Vitamin B6 in their blood had a 50% lower level of CRP; this is a proxy for inflammation in the heart and arteries. They also had a lower level of 8-OHdg showing their antioxidant activity was greater.

Researchers from the University of Vienna placed 81 young adults on either fish oil capsules or placebo (sham treatment) for 12 weeks and monitored them for an additional 40 weeks. The subjects were all at high risk of developing psychosis because they had mild psychotic symptoms or transient psychosis or there was a family history of psychosis and they had a psychosis type of personality. They all displayed psychosis-like brain changes with a sharp decline in mental function in the past year.