Blood pressure secret… in your GUT?!

If there’s one thing that makes MY blood pressure (BP) shoot through the roof…

It’s this incessant MYTH that one (or a few) “high” BP readings mean you definitely have HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE.

Maintaining a healthy BP isn’t a silly game of throwing a pill at the problem and hoping for the best.

It’s about monitoring things over the long haul… being mindful of your BP readings… and knowing that a slight uptick in your BP isn’t going to put you six feet under!

But before you tear that Velcro and do your own BP reading, I’m going to clue you in on a sure-fire way to help keep your BP levels consistently down… starting in your GUT.

A study published in the journal Circulation Research found that an intermittent fasting diet can actually ‘reshape’ your overall gut health which can lead to lower blood pressure.

Intermittent fasting is where you eat all your meals within a specific 6-to-8-hour window each day.

But what’s the gut/BP connection?

Turns out, intermittent fasting helps your gut store valuable acids called bile acid… which provide numerous health benefits – including lowering blood pressure.

In this latest study, the researchers found that animals with hypertension (high blood pressure) who ate normally tended to have lower bile acid in their gut. Whereas animals in the intermittent fasting group had higher levels of bile acid in their systems and, consequently, LOWER blood pressure.

(To further prove the point, supplementing the high BP animals with acid resulted in a reduction of their blood pressure levels.)

The thought is that intermittent fasting directly benefits to the composition of your gut microbiota – including higher levels of acid. This results in the BP level improvements.

So we have to ask… what if controlling your blood pressure is as simple as monitoring WHEN you eat?!

If you ask me, it’s worth a try.

Plus, intermittent fasting has proven to have many other health benefits from managing blood sugar to controlling your weight.

Getting started is simple, just begin with eating in a 6 or 8-hour window. For example, you could eat your first meal of the day at 11 a.m. and your ‘final’ meal of the day (aka dinner) at 6 p.m.

Meals should have a quality source of protein (like eggs or chicken), a nutrient-rich vegetable (like broccoli or asparagus), and a satisfying starch (like brown rice or a sweet potato). This will ensure you’re getting plenty of vitamins and minerals WITHOUT sacrificing taste.

Just be sure to have a conversation with your doctor if you’re looking to start intermittent fasting… especially if you’re taking medication for high blood pressure.

And speaking of myths around heart health, check out this afternoon’s edition of eAlert. I’ll debunk yet another claim about something being bad for your heart.

To practical blood pressure management,

Sarah Reagan

Sources:

Melore, Chris. “Intermittent fasting can lower blood pressure by reshaping a patient’s gut.” https://studyfinds.org/intermittent-fasting-blood-pressure/