will beets lower blood pressure?
The foods you eat directly affect your blood pressure. Some foods can help lower it; others cause high blood pressure (hypertension). Your diet is so critical that it has the power to prevent and treat high blood pressure. In some cases, changing your diet can help you avoid medications.
The team at Woodlands Heart and Vascular Institute help each patient create a healthy eating plan, but there’s no need to wait until you develop a problem. Following the diet tips in this blog post will give you a head start on the road to preventing cardiovascular disease.
While there are more than five foods that lower blood pressure, the foods included here provide nutrients that are vital for lowering your blood pressure:
Beets may not be at the top of your shopping list, but you can improve your blood pressure by including these vegetables in your diet. Beets and beet juice are high in nitrates, substances that turn into nitric oxide inside your body.
Your body naturally produces nitric oxide, which is crucial for blood vessel health. Nitric oxide relaxes and widens your arteries, allowing more blood to flow through and significantly lowering blood pressure.
While beets are one of the best sources of nitrates, you can also boost your nitric oxide with spinach, celery, and radishes.
Oats are packed with two nutrients that reduce blood pressure: soluble fiber and magnesium. Magnesium helps blood vessels relax, while soluble fiber protects your blood vessels by reducing levels of damaging cholesterol.
As cholesterol builds up in your arteries, the fatty plaque enlarges and hardens. Both changes damage the artery’s health and lead to high blood pressure.
Soluble fiber also helps keep blood sugar in the normal range. High blood sugar leads to hypertension as the excess sugar inhibits nitric oxide production.
Leafy greens such as spinach, Swiss chard, kale, beet greens, and collards pack a punch when it comes to lowering high blood pressure. They’re sources of magnesium, as well as potassium, an essential nutrient for preventing or lowering high blood pressure.
Potassium eliminates sodium, a mineral that dramatically raises your blood pressure. Most people get way too much sodium and too little potassium in their daily diets, a double blow to your health that causes hypertension.
The more potassium you eat, the more your sodium levels drop. In addition to leafy greens, you can get potassium from bananas, potatoes, tomatoes, nuts, and seeds.
No matter what type of bean you like, it will help lower high blood pressure. Beans are great sources of potassium, magnesium, and soluble fiber.
Canned beans have all the same nutrient, but they’re often high in salt. You can buy canned beans with no sodium or reduced sodium. Rinsing the beans before you use them also helps eliminate excess salt.
Citrus fruits are among the top sources of vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant that supports healthy arteries and lowers blood pressure by reducing inflammation. Vitamin C also protects the artery lining by increasing nitric oxide levels.
A cup of orange juice gives you an entire day’s worth of vitamin C. Beyond citrus fruits, you can also get vitamin C from sweet red peppers, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts.
Drinking a cup of beetroot juice each day could significantly lower the blood pressure of people with high blood pressure, according to research we funded at Queen Mary University of London.
High blood pressure patients who drank 250ml of beetroot juice a day were found to have blood pressure levels back in the 'normal' range by the end of the study. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease, which can cause heart attacks or strokes. The effect is caused by the high levels of a type of chemical called nitrates, which is found in high quantities in beetroot, and other leafy green vegetables like kale and cabbage.
This study, involving 64 volunteers, provides the first evidence of a long-lasting reduction in blood pressure by supplementing the diet with nitrates in patients with high blood pressure. The level of reduction was similar to that from some forms of blood pressure medication. No adverse side effects were observed in people taking the daily dose of nitrates, in the form of beetroot juice.
The results suggest that supplementing the levels of nitrate in the diet can be simple and effective way to manage high blood pressure. But a study on many more patients is needed before this approach can become a recommended treatment for high blood pressure.
Professor Amrita Ahluwalia, who led the research, said:
“This research has proven that a daily inorganic nitrate dose can be as effective as medical intervention in reducing blood pressure and the best part is we can get it from beetroot and other leafy green vegetables.”
“For those looking to work dietary nitrate into their daily diets, the trick is not to boil the vegetables – as dietary nitrate is water soluble – but steaming, roasting or drinking in a juice all has a positive effect.”
This interesting study builds on previous research by this team and finds that a daily glass of beetroot juice can lower blood pressure in people with hypertension – even those whose high blood pressure was not controlled by drug treatment.
The possibility of using a natural product, rather than another pill, to help lower blood pressure, is very appealing. The trial is, however small, and the next step will be to see if this result can be repeated in a much larger group of people with high blood pressure and over a longer period of time.
Beets and beet juice are high in nitrates, substances that turn into nitric oxide inside your body. Your body naturally produces nitric oxide, which is crucial for blood vessel health. Nitric oxide relaxes and widens your arteries, allowing more blood to flow through and significantly lowering blood pressure.
High blood pressure is a serious public health concern. It increases the risk of more dangerous health conditions, such as heart attack, stroke, and chronic heart failure. High blood pressure is also a major risk factor for kidney disease.
Beetroot contains high levels of dietary nitrate (NO3), which the body converts into biologically active nitrite (NO2) and nitric oxide (NO). In the human body, NO relaxes and dilates blood vessels.
Other leafy vegetables, such as lettuce and cabbage, also have high levels of the compound. They take it up from the soil through their roots.
A meta-analysis of 16 trials was published in The Journal of Nutrition in 2013.
The researchers found that “Inorganic nitrate and beetroot juice supplementation was associated with a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure.”
One major trial was carried out at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) in the United Kingdom and published in the journal Hypertension. The research was funded by the British Heart Foundation.
They found the following results:
For the trial, Prof. Amrita Ahluwalia of the vascular pharmacology department at QMUL and her colleagues recruited 64 people aged between 18 and 85 years.
Half of the participants were taking prescribed medication for high blood pressure but did not reach their target blood pressure, and the rest had been diagnosed with high blood pressure but were not yet taking medication for it.
The participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group consumed a 250-milliliter (ml) glass of beetroot juice, and the other group had the same, except their beetroot juice was nitrate-free.
The nitrate-free beetroot juice was the basis of the placebo group.
All groups consumed the juice daily for 4 weeks. They were also monitored for 2 weeks before and after the study, bringing the total trial period to 8 weeks.
The trial was double-blind, which means neither the administering clinicians nor the patients knew whether the beetroot juice they were given was the placebo or the active supplement.
During the 4 weeks in which they were taking the juice, patients in the active supplement group, whose beetroot juice contained inorganic nitrate, experienced a reduction in blood pressure of 8/4 millimeters of mercury (mmHg).
The first figure is systolic pressure, generated when the heart is pumping, and the second figure is diastolic pressure, created when the heart is relaxing and filling with blood. The 8/4-mmHg reduction brought the blood pressure of many participants back into the normal range.
In the 2 weeks after they stopped drinking the juice, their blood pressure returned to the higher levels noted at the start of the study.
This is the first study that shows evidence of dietary nitrate supplementation’s long-lasting benefit in a group of patients with high blood pressure.
The patients in the active supplement group also experienced a 20 percent or so improvement in blood vessel dilation capacity, and their artery stiffness reduced by around 10 percent.
Studies show that these changes are linked to a reduced risk of heart disease.
There were no changes in blood pressure, blood vessel function, or artery stiffness in the placebo group.
The authors note that the reduction achieved in the active supplement group is close to that achieved by medication. The average reduction in blood pressure caused by a single anti-hypertension drug is 9/5 mmHg.
The study concludes:
To put the importance of these findings in context: The authors note that large-scale observational studies show that for every 2 mmHg increase in blood pressure, the risk of death from heart disease goes up 7 percent and the risk of stroke by 10 percent.
It’s estimated that 2 of 3 people with diabetes have high blood pressure. When blood pressure is elevated, your heart works harder to pump blood throughout your body. High blood pressure increases your risk of a heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, and eye problems.
You have already heard about how added salt can increase blood pressure, but did you know that certain foods can help to lower blood pressure? Foods that are high in potassium, magnesium, and calcium can help to regulate blood pressure. Taking these minerals as supplements doesn’t have the same effect as eating foods that contain these. Try eating some of the following foods to boost your intake of nutrients that can lower blood pressure naturally.
Nuts are a good source of plant protein and contain the amino acid L-arginine which makes nitric oxide and helps blood vessels relax. While all nuts are a healthy choice, both almonds and pistachios contain the trifecta of potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Nuts are low in carbohydrates and eating nuts has been linked to improved glucose levels.
Beets contain nitrates, which are converted to nitric oxide which helps to control blood pressure. Beetroot juice contains higher amounts of nitrates than cooked beetroot. Beetroots contain potassium. For added calcium and magnesium, eat the beet greens as well.
Yogurt has a bad rap for containing a lot of sugar. It’s true that yogurt may contain both natural sugar (from milk and fruit) and added sugar. There are many yogurts now that are lower in sugar. Yogurt contains calcium and potassium to help blood pressure. It also contains probiotics which can help your gut absorb and use these nutrients better.
Berries are high in a phytonutrient called flavonoids. These plant compounds function as an antioxidant, support brain function, and can help to lower blood pressure. All types of berries are a healthy choice and contain fiber which helps to slow the rise in blood glucose. If berries aren’t in season, try frozen berries without added sugar.
Beans such as white, navy, pinto, black, and kidney beans and rich in potassium and magnesium and some contain calcium. Canned beans make a quick addition to a meal. Purchase beans without added salt or drain and rise before eating. Beans contain carbohydrates but they are also high in fiber and contain protein to help slow the rise in glucose.
Spinach, kale, swiss chard, arugula, beet greens, cabbage, and collard greens contain potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Each type of green contains varying amounts of these minerals, so eat a variety of greens. Greens also contain nitrates to naturally lower blood pressure. Greens are very low in carbohydrates and high in fiber to help with glycemic control.
Seeds are a good source of magnesium and potassium to help lower blood pressure. Flaxseed, chia seeds, hemp seeds, and pumpkin seeds are all good choices to add to a meal or snack. Look for seeds that are unsalted. Seeds are low in carbohydrates and contain protein and fiber.
If you have high blood pressure, it’s still a good idea to avoid the salt shaker and flavor foods with herbs and spices. Limiting alcohol intake will also help to control high blood pressure. If you are looking for more information on diet and blood pressure, check out the DASH Eating Plan.
by Christine McKinney, RD LDN CDE
