Most Important Ingredient for High Blood Pressure

In order to maintain a healthy blood pressure, it is important to balance your intake of sodium and potassium. That is why people with high BP are always advised to eat less salt.

But what if you focused on increasing your potassium intake instead? Will that work and how can you load up on potassium?

Instead of decreasing your salt intake, what about a focus on increasing your potassium intake? Studies have shown that an increase in potassium also had a positive effect on our health.

Potassium is an essential mineral that is used by the body in many different ways. But most importantly, in the case of high blood pressure, it drives out excess sodium. And sodium/salt has repeatedly been found to raise blood pressure.

In fact, studies have shown it’s more important to consume higher amounts of potassium than to reduce your salt consumption.

Lynn L. Moore, associate professor of Medicine at BUMC, performed a ten-year study on 2,185 girls aged between 9 and 10 years old.

They compared the girl’s eating habits to their blood pressure over the years. Girls with the highest intake of potassium were recorded to have the lowest blood-pressure readings at the end of their adolescent years.

Another study showed the influence of an increased potassium intake for a whole population.

Dr. Geleijnse from the Wageningen University in the Netherlands concluded that if everyone increased their potassium intake to 4.7 g/day, we would have up to 8% fewer people with high blood pressure.

So why not put this information into practice?

You can start today with increasing your potassium intake. The current recommendation for potassium is 4.7g/day for those over the age of 14.

Potassium can also be found in many healthy foods, but you can also take it as a supplement. Surprisingly, a recent study at St. Georges Hospital in London showed there is no real difference between the two concerning the effect it has on your health.

Here are a few types of foods high in potassium:

– Potatoes
– Sun-Dried Tomatoes
– Kidney Beans
– Dried Fruits: Apricots, Peaches, and Figs
– Bananas
– Avocado
– Fish
– Acorn Squash
– Milk
– Dark Leafy Greens

In general, a diet based on a large amount of fresh fruit and vegetables is always going to be higher in potassium and lower in sodium.

But loading up on potassium is probably not enough to cure your high blood pressure. In addition, do these 3 easy exercises that are guaranteed to bring your blood pressure below 120/80 – starting today…