WASHINGTON, 16 February 2005 — Troubled with high blood pressure? Want to lower it safely? Well, put your pills down and pick up some vegetables. New scientific findings have proved that high blood pressure can significantly be lowered without the use of expensive drugs; all you have to do is change your eating habits.
Hypertension, or high blood pressure (BP), affects approximately 50 million individuals in the United States and approximately 1 billion worldwide.
The repercussions of this disease are serious: As blood pressure increases, so does the risk of coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, stroke and kidney failure.
Turns out what you put in your mouth plays a major role in how high, or low, your BP will go. A newly published report analyzes 30 years of published studies of vegetarian populations, and found they have lower rates of hypertension, often called “the silent killer.”
The report, authored by nutritionists Susan E. Berkow and Neal D. Barnard and published by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, is the lead article in the January issue of the peer-reviewed journal Nutrition Reviews.
“Many people fear the side effects of blood pressure-lowering drugs, along with the expense. Our analysis of 80 scientific studies suggests that a vegetarian diet may be a simple, drug-free treatment for the ‘silent killer’,” says Dr. Berkow, lead author of the study. “My advice to people at risk for hypertension is to substitute a veggie burger for a hamburger tonight and have pasta marinara without the meatballs tomorrow. After about six weeks of such simple changes you might see your blood pressure-and your body weight-begin to drop.”
Because high blood pressure is dangerous, the researchers caution that individuals should see their doctors and assess whether diet alone is sufficient, or whether drugs are also needed.
Working with the National Library of Medicine, in Bethesda, Maryland, Berkow and Barnard used 30 years of published medical studies to compare the relationship between vegetarian diets and blood pressure in adults. Their studied included all vegetarians, including vegan, lacto-ovo-vegetarians, and omnivores (those folks who will eat just about anything), and studied their dietary patterns, dietary intake plus blood pressure or hypertension.
“Individuals from cultures where diets are predominately plant-based historically have had lower BP compared to omnivores living in industrial societies,” said the report, adding: “When these individuals migrate to industrialized societies, BP and the prevalence of hypertension increase.”
The study cites numerous studies that support the BP-lowering effect of a vegetarian diet, which are high in fruit, vegetables, legumes and nuts. As a result, they say, vegetarian diets are relatively low in fat, but have a high potassium, magnesium and fiber content.
“The protective effect of these foods likely to immediately reduce body weight and modulate blood viscosity, along with BP-lowering properties of individual nutrients,” said the study, which can be found at www.pcrm.org/news/downloads/berkow_barnard_blood.pdf. “The effect appears to be independent of BMI, sodium intake and other lifestyle factors, such as exercise and alcohol consumption.”
Although genetics account for approximately 20 to 40 percent of BP in the general population, it is your lifestyle, and especially your diet, that plays a major role in BP regulation.
Noting “vegetarians have lower BP than the general population,” it said randomized clinical trials have shown that BP is lowered when animal products are replaced with vegetable products in both normotensives and hypertensives.” The study notes the beneficial consequences of a reduction in BP include a reduction “in major artery events.”
Vegetarians have been shown to have a “lower incidence of coronary heart disease, ischemic heart disease and a reduced risk of ischemic heart disease-related death compared to non-vegetarians.”
