Hibiscus Sabdariffa

Hypertension is a global health problem with significant magnitude of morbidity and mortality, in recent years, most of the developing countries such as Sudan depend largely on the herbal remedies which are used for the treatment of hypertension such as: Hibiscus Sabdariffa. In folk medicine it is used for variety aspects such as: wound dressing, bronchitis and diabetes. The extract of this plant exerts its antihypertensive activity by at least three major specific mechanisms of action:  diuretic, vasodilator and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE inhibitor).The object of the work was to to discuss and evaluate the effectiveness of Hibiscus Sabdariffa as antihypertensive agent. In vitro, H. sabdariffa (HS) act as a vasodilator via relaxed the pre-contracted endothelium-intact and endothelium-denuded aortic rings. In man and laboratory animals, aqueous extraction of HS significantly reduced BP in essential hypertensive man, and the calyx extract reduced BP in the spontaneously hypertensive rat. It's also significantly reduced BP in normal rats and anesthetized cats. In addition, there are an evidence reports that the regular use of (HS) can protected the body from the cardiovascular disorder by lowering: total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglycerides in the majority of normolipidemic, hyperlipidemic and diabetic animal models. All the studies had agreed that Hibiscus Sabdariffa can significantly reduce the blood pressure, but all the problems that reported later on in the discussion that have founded on the conducted articles need further evaluation of this herbal remedy to be approved as an effective antihypertensive agent.