Against the Wall High: Blood Pressure

Continued from Yesterday

Given the focus of the DASH diet, it should be no surprise the oft-heralded Mediterranean diet, which also favors plant foods and healthy fat and protein foods, has also been shown beneficial to blood pressure control.3 In the 2009 study of a cohort of 8,594 participants aged 20 to 95, researchers found an inverse link between fruit/vegetable intake and risk of hypertension among those with low olive oil consumption (less than 15 g/d). However, a 2011 research report in the journal Hypertension detailed how Greek children have elevated sodium intake from hidden sources (not table salt or cooking salt), mainly processed versions of foods that are daily staples of the Mediterranean diet, such as cheese and bread.4

This dietary research raises the question: Are the plant foods in the DASH and Mediterranean diets beneficial due to substitution or do they have protective effects? If recent research on botanical-based products is any indication, plants have protective or therapeutic benefits to blood pressure management.

First, a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables is thus high in vitamin and mineral intake. Increased intake of calcium, magnesium and potassium has been inversely linked to blood pressure levels, with one study showing salt reduction, particularly in combination with increased intake of these minerals, substantially lowered blood pressure.5

On its own, magnesium intake may be inversely connected to incidence of hypertension, while deficiency has demonstrated a negative effect on arterial thickness and stiffness, arterial pressure and incidence of hypertension.6,7 The mineral has also shown the potential to regulate blood pressure,8 possibly by modulating vascular tone and influencing vasodilation and inflammation.9 Who benefits from magnesium’s blood pressure benefits is not entirely clear, as Korean researchers found oral magnesium supplementation in healthy adults (diabetes-free, normatensive and with normal magnesium levels) had no effect, while those with hypertension and normal magnesium levels experienced lower blood pressure after supplementation.10

Magnesium is needed for optimal absorption of calcium, another mineral that has shown some potential to positively affect blood pressure. A study of more than 900 middle-aged men found consumption of dairy products and dietary calcium were both significantly and independently associated with low levels of systolic blood pressure.11 As shown in the research on DASH, the key to dairy’s positive role in blood pressure is in being low-fat; A Harvard trial confirmed this theory, as a cohort of 28,886 U.S. women showed intakes of low-fat dairy products, calcium and vitamin D were each inversely associated with hypertension.12 Looking further at calcium’s role in cardiovascular health, a 2010 New Zealand study found two years of calcium supplementation (600 mg/d or 1200 mg/d) in 323 generally healthy men had no significant effect on ratio of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) to low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, weight, fat mass, lean mass, triglycerides or total, LDL, or HDL cholesterol, but there were downward trends in blood pressure in the treatment group.13 Specifically, those with low calcium intake who received 1,200 mg/d calcium had an average drop of 4.2 mm Hg systolic and 3.3 mm Hg diastolic pressure, compared to those taking placebo. Similar results were found for those with low magnesium intake.

Continued Tomorrow

http://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/articles/2011/04/against-the-wall-high-blood-pressure.aspx

http://www.depsyl.com/

http://back2basicnutrition.com/

http://bionutritionalresearch.olhblogspace.com/