High Blood Pressure Levels Try Beetroot Juice
According to a study published in the Journal of Nutrition, drinking a glass of beetroot juice every day helps in significantly reducing blood pressure in people with hypertension. Yes, you read that right! Basically, the team of researchers conducted a placebo-controlled trial with many participants. Also Read – 7 Foods That Helps in Preventing Hypertension
Another similar study published in Journal of Hypertension found that a glass of beetroot juice can lower blood pressure levels even in those patients where high blood pressure was not controlled by drug treatment. In another study, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, beet juice benefited people aged 54 to 80 years who had peripheral vascular disease a stiffening of the arteries that carry blood to the legs, arms, stomach, or kidneys.
Can We Just Eat Beets For Blood Pressure Control
Beets contain exceptionally high levels of inorganic nitrate. This is the key to why beets are so good at lowering blood pressure. When you eat beets, the inorganic nitrates they contain are converted to nitric oxide and this enters your bloodstream. Nitric oxide in the bloodstream has a three-pronged effect in lowering blood pressure.
Effects On Intervention Measures
To analyze the clinical relevance in reducing blood pressure as a result of BRJ consumption, it is important to note that a decrease between 5 and 12 mmHg of SBP and between 5 and 6 mmHg of DBP is associated with a 1438% risk reduction in stroke, from 9 to 16% risk reduction of mortality from coronary heart disease, 21% risk reduction of mortality due to coronary disease, and 7% risk reduction in mortality from all causes . It is important to note that, after consumption of BRJ, there were no side effects or adverse interactions reported in the subjects included in the studies of this systematic review in fact, Kapil et al. 2015 suggested a role for dietary NO3 as an adjuvant therapy.
4.1.1. Age
4.1.2. Gender
4.1.3. Nutritional Status
Studies like that of Jajja et al. and Ashor et al. where patients with some degree of obesity or being overweight obtained positive effects on their blood pressure with BRJ intervention. In this way, BRJ supplementation had a greater effect on SBP compared to DBP, which agrees with the research of Bahadoran et al. , who found in their meta-analysis that overweight subjects experienced a greater reduction in SBP than subjects of normal weight . It could be taken as a preventive strategy to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases for this type of population that is more predisposed and at risk of cardiovascular events .
4.1.4. Baseline Blood Pressure
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Search Strategy And Data Sources
The RCT searching was carried out through the databases PubMed/MEDLINE and Science Direct, and further papers were sought by hand-searching. The data search was performed by using free language terms related to BRJ and blood pressure. The search string for all databases was the following beetroot juiceORred beetORbeta vulgarisAND . This search was enriched with terms NOT exercise NOT sport. The data search was performed during June 2018.
How To Prepare Beets
Beets are cool-weather crops that grow best in spring and fall. The roots are harvested when the leaves are still young and tender. If you want the sweetest, most tender beets, look for baby beets in the winter.
If beetroot isnt in season, canned or frozen beets are still highly nutritious. Beetroot powder is also popular as a nutritional supplement.
Beets are often roasted, as their natural sugars create a tasty caramelization when baked at high heat. They can also be eaten raw. Grate them on a salad, or fan the slices on a cheese plate for a pop of intense color.
Here are some more creative ways to enjoy beetroot:
- Add roasted beets to gazpacho to rev up the color and flavor.
- Pair beets with creamy ricotta in a salad.
- Grate raw beets and carrots and serve with a vinaigrette.
- Make an attention-grabbing purple dip with pureed beets and ranch dressing.
- Juice a small beet and add to fresh apple or orange juice.
- Serve roasted beets with a mint yogurt sauce.
- Microwave beets in a bowl with a little water for 10 minutes.
- Serve traditional Russian borscht made with beets.
- Roast them with sweet potatoes and add to couscous.
Brighten up minestrone soup with diced beets.
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What Is The Right Dose
The only trouble is that, while we know the appropriate daily dose of juice , we dont know how many beets it takes to make a cup of juice .
You may need to experiment while monitoring your own blood pressure to figure out how many beets it takes. To help you overcome hypertension naturally, we are sending you our Guide to Blood Pressure Treatment. It contains many non-drug strategies as well as summaries of popular blood pressure pills.
You may want to consider adding other vegetables that are naturally high in nitrates, such as spinach and Swiss chard. They probably also have blood-pressure lowering activity and can help with a blood pressure control diet. You will also find information on the DASH diet in our book, The Peoples Pharmacy Quick & Handy Home Remedies.
Ingredients To Make Beetroot Tikki
- 1/2 cup boiled, peeled and grated beetroot.
- 1/4 cup grated carrot.
- 1 tbsp finely chopped coriander .
- 1/2 tsp chaat masala.
- 1/4 tsp dried mango powder .
- 1/4 tsp garam masala.
- Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
- Divide the mixture into equal portions and roll each portion into a flat round tikki.
- Roll the tikkis in the rava.
- Heat the oil in a pan.
- Fry the tikkis till they turn golden brown from all the sides.
- Serve hot and enjoy!
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What Are Beet Supplements
You are probably wondering what the fuss is all about when it comes to the best beet supplements. Well, beet supplements have nitrate in them that can help with improving your cardiovascular health. What this supplement does is to enhance the flow of blood in your body so that more oxygen will be received by your muscles and organs for better performance. Not only that, there is less pressure being placed on your arterial walls, so your blood pressure will go back to its normal level.
The best beet supplement can also help regulate your response to insulin because of the antioxidants that it contains. You will find that taking this supplement as directed can help lower your blood sugar levels even if you do consume foods that are high in carbohydrates. This means that you will be able to regulate your blood sugar levels too so that you can reduce your risk of diabetes and sugar crash as well. Add to this a host of vitamins and minerals and you will see a huge difference not just in your blood pressure but to your overall health too.
How Much Beet Juice To Lower Blood Pressure
The study consisted of 15 adults with stage 1 hypertension who drank around eight ounces of beet juice or eight ounces of water with low nitrate content.
For reference, beet juice has about as many nitrates as two whole beets.
Measuring their blood pressure for 24 hours, they found that blood pressure had dropped by about 10 mm Hg.
The highest drop in blood pressure happened three to six hours after participants drank the beet juice.
Dr. Ahluwalia had done a previous trial where the participants had healthy blood pressure levels.
In those trials, participants required about twice as much beet juice to see the same drops in blood pressure.
In this study, we saw that a dose that had a really small effect in healthy people had a really impressive effect in people with high blood pressure, said Dr. Ahluwalia.
Lowering blood pressure in people with raised blood pressure is very important because we know that approximately 50 percent of all heart attacks and 60 to 70 percent of all strokes are a direct consequence of having high blood pressure.
Its important to keep in mind, though, that these trials demonstrated the short-term effects of drinking beet juice.
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Beets And Blood Pressure Explained
In recent years, beets and blood pressure correlation has grown to be of significant interest among hypertension patients and hypertension researchers. The claim, which we shall show to be scientifically proven, is that beets indeed reduce blood pressure in individuals suffering from high blood pressure.Beets, which are considered among the so called functional foods due to their health benefits, have also been shown to offer significant benefits to cardiovascular health. In addition, this vegetable has also been thought to help fight cancer due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory molecules.
Beets as they are called in the United States, whose botanical name is also Beta vulgaris rubra, are the same vegetable called beetroot or red beetroot in other parts of the world. Beets are predominantly composed of 88% water. Don’t let this huge water content fool you. The benefits of beetroot towards lowering blood pressure emanate from their inorganic nitrate content. Our bodies utilize nitrate found in vegetables and plants to reduce blood pressure.A 2001 study published in The Lancet , indicated that a 5 mm Hg reduction in systolic blood pressure translates to an approximately 10% reduction in cardiovascular related deaths at population level. This is significant and highlights the importance of any blood pressure reduction that beets or any other hypertension treatment brings to the table.
Cautions When Drinking Beet Juice
The study authors found no side effects in people consuming beet juice. But when considering whether to have beet juice, it’s important to realize that no patients in this study were taking nitroglycerin, other nitrate preparations, or phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors a medication class used most often for erectile dysfunction and sold under brand names like Viagra and Cialis. The combination of inorganic nitrates with these medications may cause a significant drop in blood pressure. In addition, everyone in this study had high blood pressure before consuming beet juice. Since beet juice lowers blood pressure, people who have naturally low blood pressure should use caution when drinking it, as it may result in an unsafe drop in blood pressure.
Beet juice could be an exciting new therapy for people who have high blood pressure and have developed some degree of heart wall stiffening. It can help lower blood pressure, and more importantly improve exercise capacity and endurance. Maintaining a healthy exercise regime and activity level is important for nearly everyone who has heart disease or wants to prevent it. Beet juice also had very interesting blood pressure-lowering benefits that in the future may benefit people who are looking at ways to lower their blood pressure.
Important: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not Everyday Health.
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Are Beets Good For High Blood Pressure
Nov 24, 2020 | Blood Pressure
People have been using beetroot for hundreds of years for their health benefits but are beets good for high blood pressure? Lets find out.
High blood pressure is one of the main contributing factors in developing heart disease and stroke. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that nearly half of all adults in the U.S. suffer from hypertension.
While the figures may not seem so bright, there are things you can do to lower blood pressure including the consumption of beets. According to researchers, drinking one glass of beetroot juice per day can significantly lower blood pressure levels.
Lentils And Other Pulses
Lentils are a staple of many diets around the world, as they are an excellent source of vegetarian protein and fiber.
In 2012, researchers who studied the effects of a diet rich in pulses on rats reported decreased levels of blood pressure and cholesterol. A total of 30 percent of the rats diet comprised pulses, including beans, peas, lentils, and chickpeas.
Lentils are very versatile. Many people use them as a vegetarian alternative to minced beef or to add bulk to salads, stews, and soups.
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Search Strategy Identification And Quality Assessment
This review used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses to report study findings . All English-language medical literature was searched with the use of PubMed, Scopus, and Embase databases. A structured search strategy with the use of various combinations of keywords and Boolean terms were conducted to identify records in each database. Reference lists from previous reviews and randomized clinical trials that investigated the potential effect of beetroot supplementation on resting blood pressure in apparently healthy humans or those with hypertension, type 2 diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure, or hypercholesterolemia were also observed.
In the initial screening phase, based on the titles and abstracts, irrelevant records, animal studies, reviews, and conference papers were excluded because these studies investigated the acute effects of single doses of a beetroot supplement, assessed nonresting blood pressure, or used beetroot alongside other interventions . To assess study eligibility, we independently reviewed the records for initial inclusion and exclusion criteria, and potentially relevant full-text articles were retrieved for data extraction . The quality of the articles was independently assessed with the use of the Jadad scale , which includes reporting of the randomization method, allocation concealment, blinding of outcome assessment, and completeness of follow-up .
Flow chart of the literature search.
High Blood Pressure Statistics
- Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.High blood pressure puts you at risk for heart disease.
- 80 million Americans have high blood pressure
- 33% of Americans have pre-hypertension
- Only 50% of Americans have their blood pressure under control
- Over 400,000 Americans die from high blood pressure per year
- High blood pressure costs around 50 billion dollars per year
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Publication Bias And Heterogeneity
An overall symmetric distribution of the studies around the mean effect size was observed in funnel plots for both SBP and DBP, indicating a low risk for publication bias . According to the results of the Egger’s regression test, no evidence was observed for both SBP and DBP outcomes regarding publication bias. There was moderate heterogeneity for SBP and no heterogeneity for DBP in the meta-analysis models. The subgroup analysis indicated that trials with a shorter duration and those that used lower doses of beetroot juice or NO3-depleted beetroot as placebos might be potential sources of heterogeneity for SBP outcomes.
Data Collection And Synthesis
To complete the data extraction form, we used the first author’s name, date of publication, number of participants in the RCT groups, age, sex, dose of beetroot, NO3 concentration of beetroot dose, frequency and duration of the supplementation, placebo used in control groups, mean values, and SDs of baseline and final values for blood pressures in the treatment and control groups if a study had several intervals for follow-up measurements of blood pressures, each time interval was considered as a separate study. Furthermore, in studies with a subgroup analysis, each subgroup was included as a separate study. The primary outcomes of the analyses were mean differences of both SBP and DBP after beetroot supplementation between intervention and control groups secondary outcomes were mean changes in SBP and DBP in the beetroot-supplemented groups .
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Foods To Eat To Lower Blood Pressure
Its estimated that 2 of 3 people with diabetes have high blood pressure. When blood pressure is elevated, your heart works harder to pump blood throughout your body. High blood pressure increases your risk of a heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, and eye problems.
You have already heard about how added salt can increase blood pressure, but did you know that certain foods can help to lower blood pressure? Foods that are high in potassium, magnesium, and calcium can help to regulate blood pressure. Taking these minerals as supplements doesnt have the same effect as eating foods that contain these. Try eating some of the following foods to boost your intake of nutrients that can lower blood pressure naturally.
Nuts are a good source of plant protein and contain the amino acid L-arginine which makes nitric oxide and helps blood vessels relax. While all nuts are a healthy choice, both almonds and pistachios contain the trifecta of potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Nuts are low in carbohydrates and eating nuts has been linked to improved glucose levels.
Beets contain nitrates, which are converted to nitric oxide which helps to control blood pressure. Beetroot juice contains higher amounts of nitrates than cooked beetroot. Beetroots contain potassium. For added calcium and magnesium, eat the beet greens as well.
Is Beets Juice Good For High Blood Pressure
Researchers found that people who drank 250 milliliters of beet juice daily lowered both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.Improves exercise stamina According to a small 2012 study , drinking beet juice increases plasma nitrate levels and boosts physical performance.During the study, trained cyclists who drank 2 cups of beet juice daily improved their 10-kilometer time trial by approximately 12 seconds.May improve muscle power in people with heart failure Results of a 2015 study suggest further benefits of the nitrates in beet juice.The study showed that people with heart failure experienced a 13 percent increase in muscle power 2 hours after drinking beet juice.After participants consumed a high-nitrate diet that included beet juice, their brain MRIs showed increased blood flow in the frontal lobes.Helps you maintain a healthy weight Straight beet juice is low in calories and has virtually no fat.Betalains are thought to be free radical scavengers that help find and destroy unstable cells in the body.If youre of childbearing age, adding folate to your diet can help you get the daily recommended amount of 600 micrograms . .
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