On the Coast – Over 55 Issue 30 I July/August 2019 | Page 22
Dietary & Lifestyle Strategies
to lower blood pressure
BY NICOLE SALIBA
B
lood pressure is the pressure of
your blood on the walls of your
arteries as your heart pumps it
around your body. 1 It is a vital part of
how your heart and circulation works. 1
Your blood pressure naturally goes up
and down all the time, adjusting to your
heart’s needs depending on what you are
doing. 1 High blood pressure is when your
blood pressure is persistently higher than
normal. 1 Every one in three Australian
adults has high blood pressure also
known as hypertension. 2
Despite the risk of hypertension
increasing with age, it can affect adults at
across a wide range of ages. 2 Hypertension
is a serious health concern as it is one of
the major risk factors for developing and
dying from cardiovascular disease, a group
of diseases that involve the heart and/or
blood vessels and include Coronary Artery
Disease, stroke and heart failure. 3 At
Eatsense, we know just how important
the food on your fork can be when it
comes to managing your blood pressure. In
fact, lifestyle modifications, including
healthier eating and regular exercise, can
greatly reduce the number of patients
who need to go on to blood pressure-
lowering medication.
Here are our top tips for lowering blood
pressure:
Go easy on the salt Salt works on
your kidneys to make
your body hold on to
more water. This extra
stored water raises
your blood pressure.
It’s for this reason
that excess salt
consumption raises
your blood pressure
and reducing your salt (or
sodium) intake is a good idea.
This can be achieved by:
Limiting the amount of packaged,
processed and canned foods you eat,
and choosing fresh foods more often
(especially fruits and vegetables)
Choosing salt-reduced varieties of
foods wherever possible
Removing salt shakers from the table
and in your cooking, and using herbs,
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spices, lemon or lime juice
and vinegar to flavour
meals
Being label savvy and
choosing low sodium
foods that have less than
120mg of sodium per 100g
Commercially made breads
and crackers are high in sodium. Buy
wholemeal or whole-grain bread from
small bakers or specialty bread shops
or try your hand at making your own!
Some may find that even after
removing salt from their diet, their
blood pressure remains the same. This
is because some individuals are not salt-
sensitive, meaning that they will not see
a change in blood pressure even if their
sodium intake varies. In cases such as
this, it is still best to reduce your sodium
intake where possible.
Rethink your drink
Studies show alcohol intake has a
detrimental effect on blood pressure. A
large study which included over 360,000
adults showed that men who averaged 1-2
drinks daily had an increased risk for
hypertension compared to non-drinkers.
Their risk increased as their alcohol
intake increased. For women,
hypertension risk began to increase at 3
or more drinks per day. Binge drinking
has also been shown to be detrimental
when it comes to high blood pressure too.
Researchers from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention looked at
almost 4,000 current drinkers
without hypertension and found
that alcohol increased their blood
pressure by 1 mmHg for every 10
grams consumed per day. The
good news is that the effects of
alcohol and high blood pressure are
considered “rapidly reversible”.
Have a diet rich in fresh fruit and,
vegetables Consuming enough fresh
fruit, vegetables and wholegrains is key
for having a healthy blood pressure.
Regularly having 4-5 serves of vegetables
is linked to a lower risk of high blood
pressure. This recommendation can be
seen in the DASH (Dietary Approaches to
Stop Hypertension) diet. 4 The DASH diet
emphasises the consumption of
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vegetables, fruits and whole
grains while limiting foods
high in saturated fat, sugar
sweetened beverages and
sweets. 4 Dairy products, fish,
poultry, beans and nuts are
also emphasised. 4 A major
study which looked into the
effects of the DASH diet compared to a
diet high in sodium observed an 11.5 mm
Hg drop in blood pressure for those with
hypertension. 4 All individuals with high
blood pressure should increase their
consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables
while reducing their sodium intake. 1
In the Dietary Approaches to Stop
Hypertension (DASH) eating pattern,
people who ate more vegetables and
fruit compared to their regular diet
(which was probably low in these natural
superfoods) had lower blood pressure
than those who didn’t.
Make friends with wholegrains
Despite many fad diets warning people
to avoid eating them, regular consumption
of wholegrains is linked with healthier
hearts, and a lower risk of high blood
pressure. Research shows that high intakes
of wholegrains reduces your risk of dying
from cardiovascular disease by 30%.
Choose wholegrain versions of
your regular foods: such as wholegrain
or sourdough bread wholegrain or
buckwheat pasta. Other good quality
wholegrains include brown rice, rolled
oats and buckwheat, quinoa, barley, spelt,
kamut and teff.
Include dietary nitrates Nitrates are
compounds found naturally in some
foods. Root vegetables such as beetroot,
and green leafy vegetables like spinach,
cabbage, lettuce and kale are the best
dietary source of nitrates by far. Nitrate is
a substance that converts into nitric oxide
in the body. One important benefit of
nitric oxide is that it sends signals to the
tiny muscle cells around the arteries,
telling them to relax. When these cells
relax, our blood vessels dilate and blood
pressure goes down. A large scale study
found that beetroot juice supplementation
is associated with a significant reduction
in systolic blood pressure. Research has
found that foods high in nitrates, such as
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