Decrease your blood pressure by adding one good tasting item to your normal meals

It’s important to keep the blood pressure low as we get older. High blood pressure especially increases the risk for stroke.Postmenopausal women often develop hypertension and arterial stiffness. For that reason the following research included postmenopausal women who had started to experience increased blood pressure (Johnson SA, et.al., 2015). Systolic and diastolic blood pressures were evaluated and arterial stiffness was assessed at the start of the study and at the end. This was an 8-week, randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial. The participants received either 22 g of freeze-dried blueberry powder or 22 g of control powder.

After 8 weeks, the systolic and diastolic blood pressure was significantly lower in the group that took the blueberry powder, and arterial stiffness had also improved.

Nitric oxide levels improved significantly in the blueberry group whereas there were no changes in Nitric oxide levels in the placebo group. Nitric oxide relaxes the muscles in the blood vessels and improves blood circulation. This may be the reason blueberries lowered the blood pressure. Eating blueberries every day is a good idea. If it is difficult to find fresh ones, you can usually find frozen blueberries.