Simple to follow, this diet is the best for lowering blood pressure – doctors agree

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Simple to follow this diet is the best for lowering

These easy-to-adopt rules “apply to all patients” according to doctors.

High blood pressure (HBP) is a rapidly growing disease. In France, almost 30% of the population suffers from it and 1.6 million French people start hypotensive treatment each year. This is the most common chronic disease: it should not be ignored because it can lead to serious complications such as serious heart damage (angina pectoris, myocardial infarction).

Solutions to overcome the disease were updated at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Annual Congress 2024, which took place in London from August 30 to September 2. For people with hypertension, diet “plays a crucial role in both the management of blood pressure control and the broader benefit to cardiovascular health“, insist the doctors present at the CongressAccording to them, a healthy and balanced diet should be encouraged, based on simple principles to follow on a daily basis and which can “apply to all patients” :

  1. Consume less than 5 g of salt per day
  2. If it is difficult to restrict salt intake, substitute salts enriched with potassium (in the absence of advanced chronic kidney disease or hyperkalemia)
  3. Increase potassium intake through fruits and vegetables (prunes, dried fruits, blackcurrants, blueberries, pomegranate, banana, spinach, artichoke, zucchini, etc.)
  4. Limit the consumption of free sugars (sugar, glucose syrup, honey, etc.) and in particular sugary drinks to 10% of daily energy intake and discourage it in children.
  5. Avoid alcohol or do not exceed 100 g/week of pure alcohol.

These dietary rules are the basis of a regime well known to health professionals: the Mediterranean diet also called “Cretan diet” which is based on the eating habits of people living around the Mediterranean basin. The diet here is based on raw, local, seasonal, cheap and fresh food products (fruits and vegetables of various colors, whole grains, legumes, fish, white meat, olive oil, low-fat dairy products (sheep, goat), eggs) and the avoidance of sweets and processed foods.

To be beneficial for health, this diet must obviously be accompanied by other measures such as regular physical activity.Previous recommendations of at least 150 minutes (2.5 hours) of moderate physical activity per week remain, but 75 minutes (1.15 hours) of vigorous physical activity spread over three days can also be performed in addition to low- or moderate-intensity activity. In cases of uncontrolled hypertension at rest, vigorous-intensity exercise should be practiced with caution.“.

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