Dietary Fiber Linked to Lower Blood Pressure
MrPepper11
Increasing Intake of Dietary Fiber Linked to Lower Blood Pressure
By Jennifer Warner, WebMD Medical News
March 4, 2005 -- Bulking up on fiber may help people keep their blood
pressure under control, a new study shows.
Researchers tallied the results of 25 studies on the effects of dietary
fiber on blood pressure and found that a high-fiber diet was associated
with a significant reduction in blood pressure levels among people with
high blood pressure or hypertension.
Nearly 50 million Americans and 1 billion people worldwide have high
blood pressure.
Aside from treatment with blood pressure-lowering medications, several
other lifestyle and dietary modifications have already been shown to
help keep blood pressure levels under control, including weight loss,
reduced sodium intake, moderation in alcohol use, increased potassium
intake, increased physical activity, and following the DASH (dietary
approaches to stop hypertension) diet.
Although other dietary changes have been suggested for blood pressure
control, researchers say there hasn't been enough evidence to recommend
their use to the public.
Researchers say their findings represent the first comprehensive report
of the effect of increasing dietary fiber on blood pressure and warrant
additional studies in larger groups of people on the long-term effects
of dietary fiber on blood pressure.
"We performed a comprehensive analysis of data from 25 clinical trials
and all the data pointed to one strong conclusion -- adding fiber to a
person's diet has a healthy effect on their blood pressure," says
researcher Seamus Whelton, a medical student at the Tulane University
School of Medicine, in a news release. "Analyzing a large number of
studies lends strength to the conclusions of clinical trials that
involved too few participants to show an effect of dietary fiber on
blood pressure."
Dietary Fiber May Lower Blood Pressure
In the study, which appears in the March issue of the Journal of
Hypertension, researchers evaluated the results of 25 studies on the
effects on blood pressure of adding fiber to the diet. Fiber intake in
the studies ranged from 3.8 grams per day to 125 grams per day.
The type of fiber added to the diet in the studies included fruit,
cereal, fiber pills, and vegetables.
Overall, the results showed that adding fiber to the diet was
associated with a significant reduction in both systolic (the bottom
number in a blood pressure reading) and diastolic (the top number)
blood pressure in people with high blood pressure.
In studies lasting at least eight weeks, the average reduction in blood
pressure was 3.12 mmHg systolic and 2.57 mmHg diastolic.
A small drop in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings was
also seen in people without high blood pressure.
"Our results suggest that increased dietary fiber consumption may
provide a safe and acceptable means to reduce blood pressure in
patients with hypertension," write Whelton and colleagues. "Increased
intake of fruits and vegetables may provide the best means to
supplement dietary fiber intake because of its potential beneficial
health effects."
SOURCES: Whelton, S. Journal of Hypertension, March 2005; vol 23: pp
475-481. News Release, Tulane University Health Sciences Center.
James Michael Howard
This is probably due to reduced testosterone (J Clin Endocrinol Metab.
2005 Mar 1; [Epub ahead of print]).
cesell
Aren't men with hypertension something like twice as likely to have
low testosterone levels?