High Blood Pressure or Hypertension is one of the most common preventable risk factors for heart disease. This article discusses the ten best foods for high blood pressure.
Studies found certain medications, healthy dietary changes, and other lifestyle modifications can regulate high blood pressure or hypertension.
So, along with other lifestyle modifications, adopting a healthy diet can significantly lower blood pressure levels and help reduce your heart disease risk.
Here are the best foods for high blood pressure:
1. Berries
Berries are one of the best foods for high blood pressure. They are rich in impressive health benefits, including their potential to reduce heart disease risk factors like high blood pressure.
Moreover, they are a rich source of antioxidants, including anthocyanins, pigments that give berries their vibrant colour.
Anthocyanins are good for increasing nitric oxide levels in the blood and reducing the production of blood-vessel-restricting molecules, which may help lower blood pressure levels.
However, more research on humans is needed to confirm these potential mechanisms.
One study found that consuming blueberries can improve blood vessel function and decrease systolic blood pressure.
Blueberries, raspberries, chokeberries, cloudberries, and strawberries are some of the berries associated with blood-pressure-lowering effects.
2. Beets
Beets are exceptionally nutritious, and eating them may help promote healthy blood pressure levels. They’re high in nitrates, which help relax blood vessels and may lower blood pressure.
Some research has shown that adding beets and beet products to your diet may help promote healthy blood pressure levels.
Moreover, beets are rich in high levels of nitrates. The digestive system ultimately converts these nitrates into nitric oxide, a molecule that acts on blood vessels. Nitric oxide relaxes and dilates blood vessels, lowering blood pressure, improving blood flow, and reducing strain on the heart.
That’s why experts recommend beets as one of the best foods for high blood pressure.
3. Garlic
Garlic is another one of the best foods for high blood pressure.
It is a good source of vitamin C and B6 and a healthy way to add flavour to your meals. Even though there is some evidence it may protect against high blood pressure, it isn’t recommendable as a substitute for standard medical care.
Of course! Garlic is a safe and effective natural blood-pressure-lowering remedy.
One can consume it in various forms, including raw garlic, garlic oil, aged garlic extracts, and garlic powder supplements.
4. Bananas
Bananas are also one of the best foods for high blood pressure.
You’ve heard that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. But you might not know that a banana daily keeps high blood pressure at bay.
Banana is a superfood fully packed with potassium — an essential blood pressure-lowering mineral. Potassium helps balance sodium in the body. The more potassium you eat, the more sodium your body gets rid of.
In addition, they are a great source of fibre and lend a natural sweetness to smoothies, baked goods, and frozen treats. Peel and freeze mushy bananas when they start to go bad.
5. Spinach
Like beets, spinach is high in nitrates. It’s also loaded with antioxidants, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, making it an excellent choice for people with high blood pressure.
Spinach and other leafy greens are low-sodium foods and a great way to up your intake of vegetables, an essential part of a diet to lower high blood pressure. Greens are also a relatively good source of calcium — half a cup of cooked spinach provides about 9 per cent of an adult’s recommended daily value, according to the NIH.
Use spinach in salads or add cut-up spinach leaves to pasta, casseroles, and other dishes. Besides food to help lower blood pressure, spinach is also packed with dietary fibre, iron, and vitamins A and C, making it an essential food in any diet.
The spinach soup also decreased artery stiffness, which may help reduce blood pressure and improve heart health.
Hence, you can include spinach in the list of the best foods for high blood pressure.
6. Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are a good source of hypertension-fighting resistant starch and vitamin C and are rich in blood pressure-lowering beta-carotene.
Eating potassium-rich sweet potatoes helps promote a healthy heart. Higher potassium intake allows you to excrete more sodium, lower your blood pressure and reduce your risk for heart disease.
That’s why sweet potatoes are one of the best foods for high blood pressure.
7. Oatmeal
Oatmeal is a great breakfast choice if you have high blood pressure, but oat bran can provide even more health benefits since it’s higher in fibre, which can help to lower blood pressure and improve digestive health. Oatmeal also contains soluble fibre, which can reduce cholesterol levels.
Therefore, you can consider oatmeal one of the best foods for high blood pressure.
8. Salmon
Salmon is one of the best foods for high blood pressure.
It is an excellent source of omega-3 fats, which offers essential heart health benefits. These fats may help reduce blood pressure levels by reducing inflammation and decreasing levels of blood-vessel-constricting compounds called oxylipins.
9. Avocado
Avocados may also do wonders for high blood pressure levels. They are fully packed with oleic acid, reducing high blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
In addition to that, avocados contain monounsaturated fats that are great for improving your cholesterol and reducing inflammation. So, they are very effective at managing blood pressure.
They are also rich in potassium and folate, which are good for the heart.
Numerous studies have shown that eating avocado can improve heart disease risk by lowering your overall cholesterol level, increasing your good cholesterol (HDL), and lowering blood triglycerides.
That’s why doctors suggest avocados become one of the best foods for high blood pressure.
10. Tomato
High blood pressure is also a silent killer because it usually does not show any early warning signs. That’s why in most cases, it remains undiagnosed, and people come to know about it when it reaches a dangerous level.
Drinking a glass of unsalted tomato juice is one of the easiest ways to manage your high blood pressure.
Studies suggest that tomato juice can lower blood pressure, help manage cholesterol levels, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Therefore, tomatoes are one of the best foods for high blood pressure.
Bottom Line
Dietary and lifestyle choices can help manage high blood pressure.
Therefore, adding certain foods like berries, beets, salmon, bananas, fatty fish, avocado, and kiwi to your meals and snacks may help you reach and maintain optimal blood pressure levels.
What are you looking for?
If you have high blood pressure levels or want to maintain healthy blood pressure, adding the best foods for high blood pressure listed in this article to your diet may help.