4 nutritional changes to reduce hypertension

HIGH blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is the leading cause of numerous diseases, including heart attacks, strokes, aneurysms, kidney disease, and vascular dementia. However, it is also avoidable through lifestyle changes. However, the 4 nutritional changes to reduce hypertension, for example, can have a significant impact. We discuss four changes that can help, including dietary and behavioral changes.

According to the British Heart Foundation, 14.4 million people in the UK have high blood pressure, despite its deadly consequences. Nine million of these people have been diagnosed by their doctor. That figure could be significantly lower if these nine million people followed the advice of Doctor Sarah, a blood pressure specialist who spoke to Express.co.uk about ways to improve blood health. She revealed four dietary changes to make.

Sensible sunbathing for vitamin D and nitric oxide

The first piece of advice given by the owner of mylowerbloodpressure.com was to avoid excessive sunbathing.

Sunbathing, according to the doctor, is a good source of Vitamin D and helps your body produce Nitric Oxide, both of which help lower blood pressure.

"After twenty minutes of exposure to sunlight, you produce enough nitric oxide to lower your blood pressure for at least an hour," she explained.

Nitric oxide is a vasodilator, which means it relaxes the muscles in your blood vessels and widens them to increase blood flow.

"The benefits of sunlight for heart health are likely to outweigh the risk of skin cancer," the doctor added.

However, for those who are concerned about overexposure to the sun, studies have shown that supplements are an adequate replacement.

Doctor Sarah cited research from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, which discovered that moderate doses of vitamin D supplements – between 1000 and 4000 iu – can help lower blood pressure.

Vitamin C

According to Doctor Sarah, vitamin C is another effective blood pressure treatment. It can aid in the breakdown of substances produced when we are stressed, such as fibrinogen.

High fibrinogen exposure, like cortisol, can increase the risk of blood clot formation.

Peer-reviewed studies show that vitamin C has a positive effect on heart health.

A new study in Norfolk involving 19,000 adults aged 45 to 79 years old discovered that the more vitamin C people consumed, the less likely they were to die from other causes over a four-year period.

"The researchers concluded that even relatively small increases in vitamin C concentrations may have a measurable effect on the risk of a fatal heart attack; for example, eating an orange a day was estimated to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by up to 10%," Doctor Sarah explained.

Citrus fruits, strawberries, tomatoes, white potatoes, and cruciferous vegetables like cabbage and broccoli are high in vitamin C.

Lower Sodium

Sodium is the most abundant molecule in salt. It is involved in your body's ability to retain water.

This extra water puts pressure on your blood vessel walls.

Doctor Sarah advocates for low-sodium diets for people with high blood pressure. The DASH diet is one of these, and it can help the kidneys flush out excess sodium and water.

Consuming potassium can also assist in flushing out excess sodium, which can help to improve blood pressure.

In one study, more than 80% of people taking antihypertensive medication were able to halve their drug doses (under medical supervision) simply by increasing their potassium intake.

Lycopene

Lycopene, perhaps the least recognizable item on the list, is a carotenoid – the chemical responsible for the red pigment in tomatoes.

It is found in papaya, red grapefruit, and watermelon and has been linked to reduced artery wall thickness as well as lower levels of oxidised LDL cholesterol, which is harmful to our blood vessels. Oxidized LDL cholesterol causes artery hardening, also known as atherosclerosis.

Surprisingly, because lycopene is locked away inside tomato cells, it is difficult to retain. However, doc Sarah claims that cooking tomatoes can release five times as much as eating them raw.

"Among the most common dietary sources are tomato ketchup and concentrated tomato purée." Lycopene even makes some pizzas healthier as the olive oil added to pizza sauce triples the amount of lycopene you can absorb,” explains the doctor.

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