Nearly half of adults in the United States have high blood pressure.
That isn’t good — high blood pressure puts you at increased risk for heart disease and stroke, which are the leading causes of death in the U.S.
Exercise is one of the most powerful tools to combat high blood pressure. The food we eat can also play an important role keeping blood pressure in check.
Here are 3 foods proven to lower blood pressure:
Oat Bran
A study published in April 2021 in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Diseases found that oat bran benefits the gut microbiome and lowers blood pressure.
In the study, 50 participants with hypertension were assigned to either an oat bran intervention or a control group (split evenly, 25 people in each group). The intervention group was given 30 grams of oat bran daily, which contained 9 grams of fiber. After 3 months of daily consumption, the oat bran group had significantly lower blood pressure compared to the controls, and their use of antihypertensive drugs was also greatly reduced.
The oat bran eaters also improved their microbiome composition –increasing the amounts of healthy bacteria that supports the digestion of fiber and production of beneficial short-chain fatty acids.
