Some new research suggests that eating low-fat dairy products could lower your blood pressure. That’s according to research reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Millions of Americans are affected by high blood pressure (HBP), and it is a major risk for stroke, heart attack, kidney failure and heart failure. HBP also incurs higher health care costs.
Non-drug approaches to lowering blood pressure include exercise, weight loss and the well-known Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, which is low in salt and rich in fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products. The DASH diet is also rich in the minerals potassium, magnesium and calcium, which are found in dairy products.
However, studies on calcium have had inconsistent results, with several showing no effect on blood pressure, said Luc Djoussé, M.D., M.P.H., D.Sc., lead author of the study and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass.