title: Effect of sour tea (Lipicom) pill versus captopril on the treatment of hypertension.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Herbal medicines are traditionally prescribed to manage blood pressure.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to evaluate effect of sour tea pill containing the herb's extract versus captopril on the treatment of hypertension.
  
  
  METHODS
  In our crossover clinical trial 20 patients were enrolled in the study and advised for life style modification then the participants were randomly divided into 2 groups. Sour tea pills was prescribed at a dose of 500 mg and captopril at a dose of 12.5 mg twice daily. In order to improve precision and final measurement, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) was performed both prior and after measuring the hypertension in 2 successive visits. After 6 weeks of therapy, the methods changed and 6 weeks later ABPM was performed three times (baseline, at end of the 6th and 12th week). The 2 groups were merged together before data analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 20 patients, 13 (65%) were male and 7 (35%) were female. No significant difference of sex, age, and job was detected between 2 groups (P ≥ 0.05). Mean decreasing in systolic blood pressure was 7.75 ± 8.3 and 13.3 ± 16.1 mm Hg in the captopril and sour tea groups, respectively. Also, mean decline in diastolic blood pressure decreases was 2.15 ± 4.14 and 5.8 ± 7.8 mm Hg for captopril and sour tea groups, respectively. No side effect was observed in the sour tea pill group in the study.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to the effect of sour tea pill on decreasing blood pressure, without giving priority over captopril, sour tea pill containing the herb's extract can be prescribed as an adjuvant therapy for lowering the prescribed dosage of captopril.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Diseases, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali-Reza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Soleimani
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akbari
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Diseases, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
authors.forename: Saeid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Soleimani
authors.affiliation: Chronic Renal Failure Research Center, Ahvaz Junishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Seifollah
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Beladi Mousavi
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohamad-Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Tamadon
keywords: Captopril; Hypertension; Sour tea