The Juicy Way to Lowering High Blood Pressure

By M.K. Ansari, Ph.D. Thursday June 30, 2011

High blood pressure (140/90 mmHg or higher) is recognized as one of the risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes. In addition, long-standing high blood pressure is a strong risk factor for heart attack and stroke.

More than 25 percent of adults in the world have high blood pressure. In people with diabetes, high blood pressure is about two times more common than the non-diabetic people. The coexistence of high blood pressure with diabetes is critical because such a combination increases the chances of having a heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, blindness, and amputation of legs and feet.

The standard methods to control blood pressure include adopting healthy lifestyle measures such as reduced intake of salt, low- fat, low- cholesterol diet, regular exercise (preferably walking), weight loss if overweight or obese, no smoking, sparing use of alcohol if you drink, relaxation to cope with stress, and addition of medication when necessary. A variety of drugs are available to treat high blood pressure, and many people, including people with diabetes, have to take several drugs at a time for controlling high blood pressure.

Here is, however, a novel method that helps control high blood pressure. Research has found that drinking beetroot juice significantly lowers high blood pressure. An article appearing in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension in June 2010 has reported a study carried out in England, which found that people who drank just 250 mL of beetroot juice had a significant reduction in their blood pressure. The reduction in blood pressure occurred within 1 hour of drinking the juice, and some of the blood- pressure lowering effect continued up to 24 hours.

The investigators found that it is the nitrate content in the beetroot juice that causes lowering of high blood pressure. Nitrate is a chemical compound that dilates blood vessels, resulting in smoother flow of blood with reduced pressure in the blood vessels. The researchers also noted that the higher the blood pressure was at the start of the study, the greater the decrease caused by the nitrate.

Dietary nitrate in the beetroot juice may be a natural approach to control high blood pressure. However, it will be a good idea to talk to your doctor before using beetroot juice as a blood pressure-lowering remedy.

Source: M.K.Ansari. Unusual Methods of Preventing Diabetes and Related Complications, eBook, 2011.