OLIVE LEAVES HERBAL TEA EFFECT IN TYPE 2 DIABETIC PATIENTS WITH PREHYPERTENSION

Wissam Zam,* and Ali Ali

ABSTRACT

Olive tree leaves have been widely used in traditional medicine for its antioxidant, antihypertensive, hypoglycemic, hypocholesterolemic and cardioprotective activity. A clinical study was conducted to evaluate the anti-hypertensive effect of olive leaves herbal tea (50 g of dried and ground leaves in 250 ml of warm water/twice daily for 28 weeks) in type 2 diabetic patients (n=31, 13 women and 18 men) diagnosed with prehypertension. The primary efficacy in reducing of SBP and DPB was seen after only 4 weeks of the study. At the end of the study, blood pressure dropped to normal values in of 53% women and 61.11% of men (-11.2 mm Hg and -6.7 mm Hg for SBP and DBP respectively in women subjects; and -8.3 mm Hg and -6.7 mm Hg for SBP and DBP respectively in men subjects). Olive leaves herbal tea, at the dosage regimen of 500 mg twice daily, may represent an effective diet regimen that lowers blood pressures in type 2 diabetic subjects diagnosed with prehypertension as the JNC 7 report.

Keywords: Olive leaves herbal tea; prehypertension; type 2 diabetic patients.