Vegetarian Diet Linked to Lower Blood Pressure

Lisa Franchi February 26, 2014

A diet rich in vegetables may have blood pressure lowering effects similar to the commonly recommended lifestyle modifications like weight reduction of at least 5 kilograms and a low-sodium diet, a review of studies found.

The review suggests that eating a vegetarian diet is associated with lower blood pressure levels compared with an omnivorous diet. Such benefit, according to the researchers from the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Centre in Japan, is similar to those observed in people who lose weight and reduce their sodium consumption, and is approximately half the magnitude of those observed with pharmaceutical therapy.

After analysing 32 observational studies, researchers discovered that a vegetarian diet is associated with a 4.8 millimetres of mercury reduction in systolic blood pressure in controlled trials, and a 6.9 millimetres of mercury decrease in systolic blood pressure in observational studies.

Meanwhile, consuming a vegetarian diet is associated with 2.2 millimetres of mercury decrease in diastolic blood pressure in controlled trials and 4.7 millimetres of mercury decrease in diastolic blood pressure in observational studies.

Past research has shown that a systolic blood pressure decrease of 5 millimetres of mercury would lower risk of dying from coronary heart disease by 9 per cent, the risk of dying from stroke by 14 percent, and the risk of dying from all causes by 7 per cent.

Several factors at play

The researchers noted that other factors may play a role between the vegetarian diet and low blood pressure link. They explained that people who adopt this diet generally have lower body mass indexes and obesity risk than meat-eaters. Also, a diet rich in vegetables is high in potassium, which plays a crucial role in regulating blood pressure. Furthermore, vegetarians tend to have low sodium intake and drink alcohol less often, the researchers add.

In the end, they note that more studies are needed to determine what kinds of vegetarian diet are best at lowering blood pressure.

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Vegetarian Diet Associated With Lower Blood Pressure