Diet , Weight Tied To Blood Pressure

Certain nutrients appear to help reduce the risk for high blood pressure but losing weight is the most important factor, Harvard researchers reported in the journal Circulation.

A study of 30,381 men ages 40 to 75 found those who ate the most fruit and were the thinnest had the lowest risk of developing high blood pressure.

Dr. Meir Stampfer, co-author of the study said, “Just like previous studies, we saw a strong increase in hypertension with increasing obesity. But we were looking beyond the role of obesity, which is so well known, in order to study the roles of specific nutrients, which are still unknown.”

Findings showed the men in the study who ate the least fiber were 46 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure compared to those who ate the most, the researchers found. But the heaviest men in the study had nearly five times the risk of developing high blood pressure compared to the thinnest.

“Our study shows diet has an influence on blood pressure, but clearly the most important lifestyle variable determining your blood pressure is whether or not you are overweight,” Stampfer said. Besides fruit fiber, magnesium was the only other nutritional factor that seemed to be associated with blood pressure. “And our study just reinforces what we already knew- that increasing our intake of fruits and vegetables is a good idea,” he added.