RELATED: Girl, 11, contracts gonorrhea while bathing in Italian hot spring"The most surprising finding to me was that the simple addition of herbs and spices to an average Western diet had a blood pressure-lowering effect," Kris-Etherton told FOX Television Stations. "In combination with a healthy diet (which is the next study to conduct), I would expect quite significant diet-related blood-pressure-lowering effects." For the study, the researchers recruited 71 people with risk factors for heart disease.