Can corn silk water lower blood pressure and blood sugar? Be careful if you eat it wrong, or the blood pressure will get even higher!

"Corn silk water can 'diuretic and blood pressure lowering', and can also 'lower blood sugar'."

It is said online that corn silk water can "act as a diuretic and lower blood pressure" as well as "lower blood sugar".

Rumor analysis: Not true.

Boiling corn silk in water to lower blood pressure and blood sugar is not reliable, and improper operation may even aggravate the condition.

It is said on the Internet that corn silk water can "diuresis and lower blood pressure" and "lower blood sugar", which has attracted people to buy corn and boil corn silk to drink. However, some people have found that after drinking corn silk water for several days, their blood pressure has not dropped, and there is even a trend of rising. What is going on?

Is it true that corn silk water can lower blood pressure and blood sugar?

The rumor that corn silk water can lower blood pressure is mainly a conclusion drawn from the perspective of traditional medicine. Corn silk is a traditional Chinese medicine. Because of its golden color and fragrant smell, it is also known as "dragon's beard". In some traditional medical books, there are records about the efficacy and application of corn silk. It is generally believed that corn silk is "good at promoting bowel movements" and has the effect of "diuresis and clearing heat", which can lower blood pressure by promoting urine excretion.

However, these records also emphasize that the antihypertensive effect of corn silk water is weak and can only be used as an auxiliary in combination with other drugs. In fact, this is easy to understand. Even if corn silk can really achieve the purpose of lowering blood pressure through diuresis, the causes of hypertension are complex and diuresis alone cannot solve all problems.

Some nutritional research results have found that corn silk contains relatively rich phytochemicals, such as corn polysaccharides, flavonoids, saponins, amino acids, etc. However, there is no sufficient evidence to show that corn silk can lower blood pressure. Moreover, it is unknown how much of these beneficial phytochemicals can be dissolved in corn silk water and used by the human body.

Copyrighted stock images, no reproduction is authorized

As for the claim that corn silk decoction can lower blood sugar, it also comes from a similar source. For example, in the Lingnan Herbal Collection Record, there is a record of using corn silk decoction to treat diabetes.

At present, although there are some animal experimental results on the claim that corn silk can lower blood sugar, such as animal experiments have found that flavonoids and saponins in corn silk may have a certain blood sugar lowering effect. However, the number of studies is small, and the results of animal experiments cannot directly prove that corn silk water has a similar effect on regulating human blood sugar.

It can be seen from this that it is definitely undesirable and unreliable to use corn silk water as a "magic medicine" to lower blood pressure and blood sugar.

Once people become superstitious about the "magical effects" of corn silk water, ignore their diet and lifestyle, eat and drink excessively, go to bed late and get up late, get overly happy or sad, or even stop taking blood pressure and blood sugar lowering drugs regularly, it is possible to cause drastic fluctuations in blood pressure and blood sugar, aggravate damage to the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular and other organs, and cause endless harm. Another issue that is easily overlooked is whether to carefully select good corn without pests and diseases before cooking corn silk, and thoroughly wash the corn silk. If the washing is not thorough enough, dust, insect eggs and other harmful substances in the corn silk may enter the corn silk water and affect human health.

Understand the basic logic of lowering blood pressure and blood sugar

Eating like this can really reduce

If you want to lower blood pressure through diet, you must first understand the pathogenesis of hypertension so that you can take targeted measures. Simply put, the occurrence of hypertension is due to the loss of elasticity of the blood vessel wall, insufficient contraction and relaxation, which causes increased pressure when blood flows; on the other hand, the increase in blood flow causes greater pressure on the blood vessel wall.

At present, the most recommended way to lower blood pressure in clinical practice is to use medication in a timely and regular manner for patients with hypertension. Various antihypertensive drugs can provide targeted options for patients with different causes of disease, and their safety has also been thoroughly evaluated and is very reliable. In other words, diet therapy can only play an auxiliary role in lowering blood pressure at best. What we can do by adjusting our diet is to avoid excessive sodium intake (the main source is salt); and reduce dietary fat and total calories.

Like hypertension, the occurrence of diabetes also has both congenital and acquired factors. When the body's insulin secretion is absolutely or relatively insufficient, or when insulin utilization is impaired, the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats will be disordered, showing a series of symptoms such as high blood sugar. The aspects that we can improve through diet are mainly to reduce the amount of carbohydrates in the diet, and at the same time, we should also pay attention to controlling the intake of fat and total calories to avoid increasing the risk of diabetes and its complications due to diseases such as obesity and hyperlipidemia.

Copyrighted stock images, no reproduction is authorized

After this analysis, if you want to lower blood pressure and blood sugar, you can refer to the following dietary methods:

1. Keep a light diet with less salt, less oil and less sugar

This is very effective for controlling both blood pressure and blood sugar. A light diet can not only prevent high blood pressure and diabetes by directly reducing the intake of sugar, salt and oil, but also achieve the purpose of regulating the three highs by reducing total calories, which is beneficial to reducing the incidence of various chronic metabolic diseases.

Don't worry that a light diet will become unpalatable. Just make good use of cooking tools such as steamers, microwave ovens, air fryers, ovens, and adopt more methods such as steaming, boiling, cold mixing, oil-free baking, microwave low-oil or oil-free cooking, and then pair it with seasonings such as onions, garlic, and coriander, as well as various healthy sauces, such as seafood sauce, Guizhou sour soup, spicy and sour sauce, etc., the deliciousness of the food itself can be restored to the greatest extent.

2. Increase the proportion of coarse grains and whole grains in staple foods

The dietary fiber, B vitamins and minerals in whole grains and whole grains are generally higher than those in refined rice and white flour. They can not only help control post-meal blood sugar fluctuations, but also increase satiety and reduce total calorie intake, which is also important for maintaining stable blood pressure. If you are not used to eating whole grains, you can replace refined staple foods from less to more, from old to new. For example, replace 1/5 to 1/4 of rice with pumpkin, potato, sweet potato, corn, and then gradually increase to 1/3 to 1/2. The variety can also be expanded to quinoa, buckwheat, oats, brown rice, chickpeas and other uncommon categories.

3. A wider variety of food, with more vegetables and fruits

Increasing the variety of food for three meals can ensure a more balanced nutritional intake and increase the intake of vegetables and fruits for modern people. You should know that whole grains, potatoes, vegetables and fruits are rich in potassium. For example, potatoes, buckwheat, quinoa, edamame, lily, kale, fresh dates and bananas are all high-potassium foods. Potassium plays a very key role in regulating blood pressure. Including more of these types of food in your daily diet can achieve the purpose of supplementing potassium and lowering blood pressure.

Eating fruit about the size of an adult's fist, a large handful of green leafy vegetables (before cooking), and a small handful of nuts every day can basically meet our potassium needs.

Copyrighted stock images, no reproduction is authorized

Eating corn right can really "lower blood sugar"

Having said that, although corn silk water is not so reliable in lowering blood pressure and blood sugar, corn is indeed a healthy food, and if eaten correctly, it can really help lower blood sugar!

First, replace some staple foods with corn. The carbohydrate content in corn is not low. Even sweet corn can reach 17.8 g/100 g, which is not much different from rice (25.9 g/100 g). The dietary fiber content of corn (4.7 g/100 g) is 16 times that of rice (0.3 g/100 g). Replacing staple foods with corn not only satiety, but also control blood sugar fluctuations after meals and reduce total calorie intake. Secondly, give priority to sweet corn.

Sweet corn has only 60% of the calories of glutinous corn, and its carbohydrate content is half that of glutinous corn (33.4 g/100 g). In addition, glutinous corn has a higher proportion of easily digestible amylopectin, which can easily cause blood sugar to rise rapidly after being eaten hot. Therefore, when eating corn, sweet corn is preferred, which not only helps to lose weight, but also controls blood sugar levels. But you should also pay attention to the intake, and it is better not to eat more than one corn (200 g) at a time.

Third, no matter how good corn is, some people are not suitable to eat it often or eat too much. For example, the elderly with weak gastrointestinal function or people who often have diarrhea are not suitable. It is recommended that you pay more attention to your gastrointestinal state after eating corn, and reduce the intake in time if you feel uncomfortable.

Finally, I sincerely suggest that if you want to prevent and cure diseases and promote health, you must listen to doctors and professional nutritionists, and don't believe in rumors or superstition about a certain "magic food". Only by achieving scientific diet, regular life, and a healthy mentality can you truly maintain your health.

Looking in the mirror of rumors

We should not be superstitious about any kind of "magic food", nor should we use food instead of medicine to treat diseases. We should make sure that our diet is scientifically balanced.

Author: Wang Lu, registered dietitian

Review丨Zhang Yu, researcher/PhD, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, national health science expert