A simple trick may help you decrease your blood pressure and protect your heart if you wish to adjust your diet: Reduce your intake of meat and dairy products while increasing your intake of veggies and nutritious grains.
That’s what experts at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom have concluded after conducting a detailed study. However, it’s hard to determine whether or not a plant-based diet improves heart health based on the numerous research published since they are primarily observational studies.
Only clinical studies in which a test group was given a specific plant-based diet, while a control group was assigned a more typical diet, were included in the current evaluation, published on July 23 in the Journal of Hypertension.
Professor Francesco Cappuccio of the University of Warwick’s medical school and a senior author on the study said, “By looking at clinical trials, we can prove causality that the diet in the experiment led to either a favourable or a poor result.” Furthermore, research investigations show that diet modification significantly impacts blood pressure. ”
It is well-known that high blood pressure is a risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and metabolic illnesses such as diabetes.
For this study, researchers looked at data from 41 separate studies that included an aggregate of 8,416 people across seven different plant-based diets. Among the seven diets were the DASH diet, the Mediterranean diet, a vegan diet, the Nordic diet, a high-fiber diet, and a high-fruit and vegetable diet. ”
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As a result of these observations, specific received knowledge may be challenged. For example, in decreasing blood pressure, diets with some animal protein had the most impact, while those that eliminated animal protein had the most negligible impact.
As Cappuccio points out, “that’s hardly unexpected given the absence of critical nutrients in a vegan diet.” “In actuality, a little protein is critical. So this is good news for those who want to eat better but don’t want to give up their favorite foods like meat and eggs. Try to cut down on red meat, increase your intake of vegetables, and limit your salt intake.”
Curb Your Appetite for Meat
The DASH diet, which promotes the consumption of more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains while restricting the consumption of sugar, saturated fat, and salt, was the most successful in decreasing blood pressure. In addition, it was more successful than any other diet in lowering systolic and diastolic blood pressure simultaneously.
Cappuccio says the results aren’t unexpected given the diet’s focus on hypertension, but it emphasizes the need for animal protein in a heart-healthy diet.
There have been multiple studies showing that diets that contained a modest amount of animal protein, either from fish or eggs and dairy, reduced blood pressure more successfully than those who were vegan. For example, a vegetarian diet that includes dairy and eggs and the Nordic diet were the two best diets for blood pressure after the DASH diet.
Suppose you’ve never heard of a Nordic diet. In that case, it “involves a larger consumption of plant items (such as fish, eggs, and vegetables), as well as a reduced intake of animal goods (such as meat, dairy products, and sweets),” according to the research.
This tendency notably deviated from the Mediterranean Diet, which promotes a high intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and olive oil while limiting consumption of red meat to a minimum.
Because of the Mediterranean diet’s salt content, “we didn’t find as great an impact as with the DASH diet,” Cappuccio adds.
Health care costs might be dramatically reduced if more people adopt a plant-based diet. According to the findings, a diet low in animal products would lower the risk of strokes by 14%, heart attacks by 9%, and total mortality from cardiovascular disease by 7%. He adds that the health advantages would extend beyond blood pressure-related disorders, such as colon cancer, and improvements in general health from better gut flora.
In addition to the positive effects on human health, the change to a plant-based diet has also been shown to positively impact the environment, according to the authors of the research. For example, livestock production is responsible for 80 percent of land usage and requires 43,000 gallons of water for each kilogram (kg) of beef produced, they say. In comparison, a kilogram of grain requires just 1,000 liters of water.
“This transformation to a plant-based diet is a no-brainer if we want to rescue the world and feel healthy,” adds Cappuccio.
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