Researchers at Michigan State University recently published a study in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative, and Comparative Physiology that revealed resveratrol reverses increases in blood pressure due to chronic estrogen exposure. Many women take estrogen as a means to combat menopause (known as hormone replacement therapy – HRT). Estrogen is also found in small amounts in birth control pills.
In the study, the researchers injected mice with estrogen. The researchers noticed that the estrogen significantly increased the animals’ blood pressures – most likely through the buildup of superoxide in the brain. The researcher then fed resveratrol to the mice and their blood pressures (and superoxide levels) returned to their levels before the estrogen injections.
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a contributing factor to numerous health problems including heart attack, congestive heart failure, stroke, poor or lost vision, brain damage, and kidney disease.
