A change in your diet may help lower blood pressure, study shows – WTOP News

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Do you want to lower your blood pressure? Reducing salt in the diet can help do this, and for many people it may be as effective as taking a common blood pressure medication, according to new research.

The study, published Saturday in JAMA, found that reducing sodium intake significantly lowered blood pressure in most participants.

Researchers looked at 213 participants aged 50 to 75 on normal diets as well as high- and low-sodium diets. The high-sodium diets contained approximately 2,200 mg of added sodium per day, and the low-sodium diets contained approximately 500 mg of sodium per day. This group included a mix of people with and without existing blood pressure problems.

After one week on the low-sodium diet, they saw an average drop of 8 mmHg in systolic blood pressure (the first number in the reading) compared to the high-sodium diet, and a 6 mmHg drop compared to a normal diet. . The researchers noted that this was comparable to the average benefit of a commonly prescribed drug for the condition, hydrochlorothiazide (12.5 mg dose).

“A low-sodium diet reduced systolic blood pressure in approximately 75% of subjects compared with a high-sodium diet,” the authors wrote, adding that the results were “independent of hypertension status and overall antihypertensive drug use.” It was constant among subgroups. And it didn’t lead to excessive side effects.”

High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is known as a “silent killer” and can increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, chronic kidney disease, and other serious illnesses. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, high blood pressure will kill more than 691,000 people in the United States in 2021.

Defined as systolic blood pressure greater than 130 or diastolic blood pressure greater than 80, nearly half of adults have high blood pressure, according to the CDC. According to the agency’s estimate, only about 1 in 4 adults with high blood pressure has it under control.

Salt isn’t the only thing in our diet that may affect blood pressure.

Earlier this year, research published in the American Heart Association’s Journal of Hypertension found that regular alcohol consumption of as little as one drink per day was associated with increased blood pressure, even in adults without hypertension.