“Reshape” your GUT for lower BLOOD PRESSURE

This morning’s eAlert looked at how fiber can help lower your cholesterol…

But what if I told you about another “meal trick” can also do wonders for your health—like lowering your BLOOD PRESSURE?!

But before your blood pressure goes sky high just thinking about having to tweak your diet further…

This one isn’t restrictive… and can help your body maintain healthy BP levels from the inside, out.

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

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

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 without restriction 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, resulting in the BP improvement.

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 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.

To practical blood pressure management,

Cory Templeman
Senior Editor, eAlert

Sources:

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