According to nutritionist Jonny Bowden, Ph. D., author of The 150 Healthiest Foo ds on Earth.

"My patients who eat four sticks of celery a day have seen modest re ductions in their blood pressure about 6 points systolic and 3 points diastolic," says Mark Houston, M. D., director of the Hypertension Institute at St. Thomas H ospital, in Nashville. It's possible that phytochemicals in celery, called phtha lides, are responsible for this health boon. These compounds relax muscle tissue in artery walls and increase bloodflow. There are many methods of lowering blood pressure, both natural and pharmaceutical, but in 1992 a study from the University Of Chicago Medical Center discovered one surprising weapon in the fight against hypertension --celery. Dr. William Elliott and Quang T. Le found celery had properties that lowered blood pressure. Mr. Le was prompted to investigate the vegetable when his father, who suffered from high blood pressure, ate a quarter-pound of celery a day and found this lowered his blood pressure from 158 over 96 to 118 over 82. This significant drop in blood pressure was replicated in the University Of Chicago Medical Center study. The researchers reported that a small amount of celery extract, equivalent to four celery stalks, lowered blood pressure in rats by 12 to 14 percent and lowered cholesterol by around 7 percent. Elliott and Le found it was an active chemical in celery that lowered blood pressure and that this chemical worked by relaxing the smooth muscles that line blood vessels and by lowering stress hormones in the blood. Stress hormones cause blood vessels to constrict, raising blood pressure. This active ingredient is called 3-n-butylpthalide, or phthalides Dr.William J. Elliott, M.D., Ph.D. Professor of Preventive and Internal Medicine and Pharmacology at the Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences in Yaki ma, WA, became intrigued when Vietnamese graduate student Quang T. Le mentioned that his father's high blood pressure had been successfully treated by a traditi onal Asian doctor who prescribed celery. After Minh Le, 62 years old, ate two stalks of celery every day for a week, his blood pressure dropped from a high 158/96 to a normal 118/82. Dr. Elliott made an "educated guess" about what chemical in celery might lower b lood pressure. He extracted the compound and gave it to rats with normal blood pressure. It wor ked. celery sticks Their systolic (upper number) blood pressure sank an average 12 to 14% when the animals were given celery extract for a couple of weeks. The doses were comparab le to eating four stalks a day. Their blood cholesterol levels also dropped seven points - about 14%. The pressu re-lowering chemical is called 3-n-butyl phthalide (3nB) and gives celery its ar oma. 3nB is a compound that is unique to celery and is responsible for the characteri stic flavor and odor of celery. 3nb was discovered as the active component of ce

lery in response to investigations by researchers seeking to explain some of the medicinal effects of celery including the lowering of blood pressure and the re lief of arthritis. 3nB first drew significant scientific attention when research ers at the University of Chicago Medical Center identified it as the factor in c elery responsible for the blood pressure lowering effect of celery.1 The researc h was prompted by one of the researcher's father, who after eating a quarter-pou nd of celery every day for one week observed his blood pressure dropped from 158 over 96 to a normal reading of 118 over 82. Subsequent animal studies found tha t a very small amount of 3nB lowered blood pressure by 12 to 14% and also lowere d cholesterol by about 7%.