How to lower blood pressure at the table? Many people who suffer from high blood pressure resort to drugs or limit themselves to reducing salt, but neglecting the importance of dietary and lifestyle factors in the management and prevention of hypertension.

In this article we will start from the table instead.

Let’s see 8 foods useful for lowering blood pressure, taken from the Dash diet, a dietary protocol for those suffering from high blood pressure, judged to be the best diet in the world together with the Mediterranean diet.

8 FOODS TO LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE

1. Pomegranate juice.

   Drinking pomegranate juice or eating the fruit lowers systolic blood pressure, explain the researchers of a study that appeared in Pharmacological Research .

2. Potatoes and bananas.

   These two foods are rich in potassium, which helps balance the sodium level in the blood. We can combine a ripe banana with a glass of milk or skimmed yogurt for breakfast, in order to balance the glycemic load of the meal. While the potatoes, boiled with the peel, can be cooled to obtain the same effect and increase the percentage of resistant starch, which is beneficial for the intestine and metabolism. We can therefore eat them in salads, with legumes or octopus.

3. You.

   Tea should be preferred to coffee in people with high blood pressure, as it lowers both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The green or white one is perfect.

4. Skimmed milk and skimmed dairy products.

   Very few know that one of the minerals most present in milk and dairy products is precisely potassium. But there are also calcium and magnesium. For this reason, they should not be eliminated from the diet, but included in skim or reduced-fat alternatives. What if regular cow’s milk bothers us? Try goat’s milk, goat’s or buffalo’s milk products, sheep’s milk products. All more digestible variants of traditional milk and its derivatives.

5. Porridge.

   Oatmeal is perfect for breakfast because oats contain prebiotic fiber and beta-glucans. The latter reduce the pressure. You can cook oats in skimmed milk, to make it creamy (for every 10 grams of oats, calculate about 25 ml of liquid), stirring until the cereal flakes, obtaining the oatmeal. We can then eat it cold or hot, with a teaspoon of honey and a peach or half a banana in pieces, more than cinnamon.

6. Flax seed.

   Flaxseed according to a meta-analysis that appeared in the Journal of Nutrition, when consumed for a period of 12 weeks, had a pressure-reducing effect.

7. Blueberries and other fruits rich in anthocyanins.

   Numerous studies have been conducted on the properties of anthocyanins to reduce pressure. In fact, red fruits are also included in the Mind diet protocol , the diet to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia, which are linked to high blood pressure.

8. Walnuts.

   Thanks to their ratio between omega6 and omega3, walnuts are the best allies for cardiovascular well-being among dried fruit, as long as you don’t overdo it. 3-4 a day would be enough.

   See also : Dash diet, the menu. 

Sources.
Effects of pomegranate juice on blood pressure: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Pharmacological Research. 2017 Jan.
Sodium, Potassium, and Stroke. American Heart Association. January 22, 2018.
Dairy Consumption, Blood Pressure, and Risk of Hypertension: An Evidence-Based Review of Recent Literature. Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports.
Effects of tea intake on blood pressure: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. ” British Journal of Nutrition. Volume 112, Issue 7. October 14, 2014.
Dairy Consumption and Incidence of Hypertension: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies. ” Hypertension. 2012.
Whole grain intake and cardiovascular disease: a meta-analysis. Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases. 2008 May.
Effects of dietary fiber type on blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of healthy individuals. Journal of Hypertension. 2015.
Flaxseed consumption may reduce blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled trials. Journal of Nutrition. 2015
Circulating Anthocyanin Metabolites Mediate Vascular Benefits of Blueberries: Insights From Randomized Controlled Trials, Metabolomics, and Nutrigenomics.The Journals of Gerontology. Volume 74, Issue 7, July 2019