Blood Pressure Friendly Diet Also Reduces Risk of Heart Disease and Stroke

by Tony Wang,
High Blood Pressure/Hypertension Volunteer Co-ordinator
(Insidermedicine Project Queen's University
Canada)

InsiderMedicine - Last updated 14th April, 2008

A published research article featured in the Archives of Internal Medicine has revealed that if you follow a blood pressure-friendly diet, it can help reduce the risk of developing heart disease and stroke.

What does a blood pressure-friendly diet involve? Here a are a list of tips you can introduce into your diet to turn it into a blood pressure-friendly one, helping to lower your risk of these diseases:

Control how much cholesterol, salt, and saturated fat you eat to keep cholesterol levels and blood pressure normal.

Eat more heart-healthy food such as non-fat dairy, soy products, whole grains, egg whites, fruit, vegetables and legumes (lentils, beans etc).

Have the correct balance of essential fatty acids (EFAs). For the majority of people, omega-3 fatty acids contained in fish, should be consumed more than omega-6 fatty acids, which are present in vegetable oils.

Diets of almost 90,000 women who participated in the Nurses` Health Study were analysed by a research team from Simmons College, Boston. They investigated the close comparison of the women`s diets carried out between 1980 and 2004 and the Dash Diet which stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension; a diet developed and recommended for hypertension sufferers and that recommends the consumption of plenty fruit and vegetables, moderate low-fat dairy products, but limited amounts of meat, salt and sugar.

They discovered the closer that the women`s diets matched the DASH diet, the less chance they had of developing heart disease or stroke. To be precise, a fifth of the women who`s diets matched the DASH dietary recommendations were 24% less at risk of developing heart disease and 18% less at risk of suffering stroke, compared to another fifth of the women who`s diets did not match the DASH diet.

Another benefit they discovered was that those who followed the DASH diet were less at risk of developing high amounts of "markers" that reveal inflammation in the blood.

Up-to-date research clearly demonstrates too that the DASH diet helps lower the risk of developing heart disease and stroke. To conclude, stick to plenty vegetables and fruit, Omega-3 and a little of Omega-6 fatty acids, but reduce saturated or trans fats and too much sugar and salt. You will then reduce your risk of developing heart disease and stroke.

This information is Edited and taken from InsiderMedicine in Depth by Dr. Susan Sharma.

Blood Pressure Friendly Diet Also Reduces Risk of Heart Disease and Stroke

Read more about the Dash Diet and other diets that are suitable for high blood pressure.