Scientists have just demonstrated an important advance for the future of cardiology: a specific diet can reduce blood pressure in one week, offering a 100% natural alternative to medications.
At a major medical event in 2023, heart health experts shared a surprising discovery: A certain type of diet can reduce blood pressure in just one week. This information is crucial because high blood pressure, known as hypertension, is a major risk factor for serious heart diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes. Hypertension is often treated with medication, but it turns out that our diet also plays a key role in managing this condition.
The study, called CARDIA-SSBP, presented at this American Heart Association conference and published in a prestigious medical journal, JAMA, shed light on the importance of our diet in rapidly reducing blood pressure. . Dr Deepak Gupta, head of this study, stressed: “The reduction is really significant.” He compares the effect of this diet to that of medication for high blood pressure, but without taking medication.
For their research, 213 people, aged 50 to 75, with or without hypertension, were selected. Their blood pressure was initially measured over 24 hours. Then, they were put on two types of diets for one week each. The first diet included a high amount of sodium (a major component of salt), while the second diet contained much less. The results were astonishing. Nearly 75% of people who followed the lower sodium diet saw their blood pressure drop compared to those who followed the higher sodium diet. What is even more remarkable is that this reduction in blood pressure occurred “without excessive adverse events”, thus ensuring the safety of this method.
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Dr. Gupta, in an interview with Medscape Cardiology, made an interesting analogy: “It’s like walking: you don’t need to take 10,000 steps a day. Any amount of walking or exercise physical activity is beneficial.” It suggests that reducing sodium in our diet, even moderately, can have positive effects on heart health. This simple and accessible discovery offers a natural alternative to medications, highlighting the importance of diet in maintaining good heart health.