Melissa Officinalis and Essential Hypertension

Abstract

For long plants and herbs have been used to treat cardiovascular diseases and Melissa officinalis (M. officinalis) Is one of those plants. However, there is no conclusive evidence for the effects of the plant on both systolic and diastolic blood pressures in hypertensive patients. Shekarriz and colleagues performed a double-blind cross-over clinical trial with 49 hypertensive patients given either placebo or capsules of the plant (400mg/d) thrice a day for a week. The blood pressure was measured at baseline once and then biweekly for 2.5 months. Their findings revealed that both systolic and diastolic blood pressures were reduced in patients given M. officinalis compared to the placebo. Moreover, no drastic adverse effects were observed. Hence, they conclude that in patients with primary hypertension, both systolic and diastolic blood pressures can be significantly decreased by M. officinalis. Phytother Res. 2021 Dec;35(12):6883-6892.