FollowIf you have blood pressure problems, you should start eating yogurt. If you were a fan of yogurt, keep eating it, as the dairy product might have improved your health over the years. We have been fighting bacteria for a long time, but bacteria is not inherently harmful. In fact, bacterial flora is crucial for the digestive system. The balance between bacterial types in your organism is one of the keys to a healthy life. According to a meta-study on some of the highest quality medical research, yogurt lowers blood pressure.
By looking at the nine different studies, the authors of the paper concluded that systolic blood pressure decreased by 3.56-mm Hg, and systolic blood pressure by 2.38-mm Hg in cases where probiotics were used as a treatment option for high blood pressure. The diastolic blood pressure decreased in all but one of the studies. The total number of participants in the nine studies was 543 and the studies lasted between three and nine weeks. The higher the blood pressure, the larger the improvement was by using yogurt rich in bacterial colonies. Overall, probiotics would be a helpful addition to treatment packages, the study concludes. A recent study brings good news as well. The rate of strokes in the U.S. dropped considerably in the last 20 years, due to increased usage of cholesterol medication and lower smoking rates.
Yogurt lowers blood pressure by fighting cholesterol
The conclusion of a meta-analysis on randomized controlled trials is that yogurt might slightly lower the blood pressure. A couple of reasons might stay behind the yogurt’s beneficial influence over blood pressure. One is that yogurt decreases cholesterol levels. Without so much fat clogging the vessels, the blood pressure would normalize. Another reason is because yoghurt controls the level of sugar in the blood. Because the probiotic drink influences the enzymes and proteins controlling the blood flow and the blood volume, yogurt lowers blood pressure.
Jing Sun, Ph.D., is the lead author of the paper published in the American Heart Association Journal, ‘Hyipertension. Sun is a senior lecturer at the Griffith Health Institute and School of Medicine, Griffith University, Australia. “We believe probiotics might help lower blood pressure by having other positive effects on health, including improving total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, cholesterol; reducing blood glucose and insulin resistance; and by helping to regulate the hormone system that regulates blood pressure and fluid balance,” Sun declared, according to Sciencecodex.com
