High blood pressure – otherwise known as hypertension – is a global nightmare. Isn't it sickening that more than 1 billion people on our beloved planet have high blood pressure?
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Wait, let us bring it home. Almost half of American adults (running into 108 million people) have hypertension or are taking medications for high blood pressure. More specifically, over 40% of non-Hispanic African-American men and women experience hypertension.
Yes, high blood pressure kills, and it kills in droves. In 2018, about 500,000 deaths in the U.S had high blood pressure either as the primary cause or a contributing condition.
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Health practitioners commonly prescribe medications like angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors to suppress heightened blood pressure levels.
But aside from this medication, a commitment to a healthy lifestyle can lower your blood pressure levels, reducing your vulnerability to heart disease.
Research has shown that foods with sizable content of magnesium and potassium help lower blood pressure levels. In this guide, we will explore five heart-healthy foods that can help you stave off hypertension.
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1. Beans and lentils
Beans and lentils are a wealthy bank of heart-healthy nutrients. These foods are richly composited of potassium, magnesium, and fiber.
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Research has shown that beans and lentils reduce systolic blood pressure (SBP). Indeed, studies show that lentils come only after soya beans in the ratio of protein per calorie in the legume family.
Further researchers have shown that lentils can reverse the deterioration in your blood vessels. Beans and lentils are easy to integrate into your diet.
2. Beets
Beet juice has proven to be efficient in reducing blood pressure. Insightful research in 2015 showed that hypertensive patients who drank 250 millimeters of beet juice daily (equivalent to a cup across a span of a month) reported notable improvements in their blood pressure.
Diving deeper into the findings, it was reported that participants in the study who drank a cup of beet juice daily saw an 8/4 mm Hg drop in their blood pressure.
The efficiency of such beet juice therapy can be better appreciated when measured against a single blood pressure medication, which reduces blood pressure levels by 9/5 mm Hg.
The researchers attributed the blood-pressure-reducing-potency of the beet juice to its significant composition of inorganic nitrate.
Therefore, it can do you a million good to drink a cup of beet juice daily. You could either prepare the veggies as a side meal or just integrate them into your salads. Sounds yummy?
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3. Berries
We all love berries, don't we? Well, the deliciousness of berries only comes next to their healthiness.
Berries improve your heart health, reversing heightened blood pressure. Berries like cloudberries, raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries are effective in reducing blood pressure.
How?
Berries are rich in antioxidants. This includes the likes of resveratrol, anthocyanins (which give berries their coloring), and ellagic acid.
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Particularly, anthocyanins are angelic antioxidants that simultaneously suppress the blood vessel-restricting molecules (consequently slashing blood pressure levels) and raise nitric oxide content in the blood.
4. Fatty fish
Your body is terribly in love with fatty fish. Why wouldn't it be when fatty fish contains rich amounts of healthy omega-3 fats?
Omega-3 fats are super-effective in improving your heart health. This group of fats is beneficial in suppressing oxylipins and other blood-vessel-constricting compounds. Fatty fish, by virtue of their omega-3 oil composition, also reduces inflammation.
5. Bananas
Banana cheesecake, banana milkshake, banana bread, it is hard to imagine the human civilization without bananas! More than their delicacy, bananas are heart-healthy fruits that avert hypertension.
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Interestingly, a medium-size banana boasts a potassium content of 422g. It is recommended that adults have a minimal intake of 470mg every day.
The American Heart Association has established that potassium reverses sodium's negative effects, reducing the pent-up tension in your blood vessels.
We have come to the thrilling end of this section on foods that reduce high blood pressure. Other than these five stated foods, other delicacies like natural yogurt, pomegranates juice, and watermelon can reduce high blood pressure.
