Understanding Hypotension: Causes, Patterns, and Dietary Therapy

Hypotension is a general term for the condition of having abnormally low blood pressure. It can be classified clinically as "orthostatic hypotension" or "spontaneous hypotension," with the former being temporary and the latter being persistent. Generally, when the highest blood pressure in the body is less than 100-110mmHg, it can be considered as hypotension. However, the definition of hypotension is strict before the time of this writing. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that this condition is mainly caused by constitutional weakness, insufficient vital energy, or old age and physical decline, leading to deficiency of yang energy or depletion of essence and energy, or due to medication harm resulting in insufficient yang energy and loss of nourishment, or deficiency of essence and blood and failure to nourish and support. Hypotension belongs to the category of "dizziness," "collapse syndrome," "deficiency fatigue," and other disease patterns according to traditional Chinese medicine. The basic pathological mechanism of this condition is mainly deficiency of yang energy, but it can also be combined with internal deficiency and external excess, as well as phlegm stagnation and blood stasis, involving the spleen, kidneys, heart, liver, and lungs. According to clinical manifestations, it can be classified as kidney yang deficiency, heart and spleen deficiency, and insufficient vital energy patterns.

Clinical manifestations of hypotension with heart and spleen deficiency pattern: fatigue, shortness of breath, limb fatigue, dizziness and vertigo upon exertion, palpitations, spontaneous sweating, poor appetite, yellowish complexion, thin coating on the tongue, and weak pulse.

Below are recommended Chinese dietary formulas for the treatment of hypotension with heart and spleen deficiency pattern. Please refer to and use them after diagnosing and differentiating syndromes according to traditional Chinese medicine.

1. Beef jelly

Ingredients: 1000g beef, 250g yellow wine.
Efficacy: Tonifying qi and invigorating the spleen.
Method: Cut the beef into small pieces, put them into a pot, add an appropriate amount of water to boil, remove any floating foam, and collect the meat juice once every hour. Add water and boil again, collect the meat juice four times in total, and combine the meat juice. Continue to simmer over low heat until the meat juice becomes thick and sticky. Add yellow wine and simmer until it becomes thick and sticky again. Pour the sticky liquid into a bowl and refrigerate for later use.
Usage: Take 3 tablespoons of beef jelly three times a day.

2. Honey jujube and Chinese yam dish

Ingredients: 1000g Chinese yam, 150g honey jujube, 10 canned cherries, 1 sheet of pig omentum (the size of a bowl), 15g lard, 200g sugar, and an appropriate amount of osmanthus sugar.
Efficacy: Tonifying the spleen and stomach, nourishing the kidneys, and nurturing the heart.
Method: Boil and peel the Chinese yam, wash the honey jujube with warm water, cut them in half and remove the seeds. Wash and dry the pig omentum. Remove the cherry pits and set them aside. Grease the inside of a bowl with lard, place the pig omentum flat at the bottom of the bowl, place the cherries around it, and surround the cherries with honey jujube. Cut the Chinese yam into 3-4 cm long segments, cut each segment into 4 pieces along its length, and stack them on top of the honey jujube. Place a layer of Chinese yam, remove a layer of sugar, and continue stacking the Chinese yam in this manner. Sprinkle a little lard and sprinkle osmanthus sugar on the top layer. Steam until cooked. When serving, remove the bowl, invert it onto a plate, and remove the pig omentum. At the same time, pour clear water into the pot, add sugar and dissolve it, use wet starch to thicken it into a thin sauce, and pour it over the Chinese yam.
Usage: Eat as an accompaniment to meals.


Dietary therapy for other types of hypotension: kidney yang deficiency pattern, insufficient vital energy pattern.