Certain foods have a positive effect on blood pressure—one in particular.
It starts with having healthier gut bacteria.
This led researchers from Monash University in Australia to conduct what has been described as an “ingenious” study to learn more about the correlation between this food group and healthy blood pressure levels.
The findings were published in the journal Circulation.
The answer is fiber…
Researchers performed a study on mice. They gave one group of mice a high-fiber diet and another group a low-fiber one.
Predictably, the fiber eaters had lower blood pressure. But, more importantly, those on the low-fiber diet actually had blood pressure higher than that of an average mouse.
This suggests that fiber consumption protects you against developing high blood pressure. It also suggests that not eating enough of it also causes high blood pressure.
When they examined the mice’s gut bacteria, they found that the two groups had very different types of bacteria.
To investigate the relationship between gut bacteria and blood pressure in more depth, they implanted the gut bacteria of the low- and high-fiber mice into germ-free mice, which had been raised in an isolator to prevent them from developing their own gut microbiome.
The germ-free mice that received bacteria from the fiber-deficient mice developed high blood pressure, while those who received bacteria from the fiber-consuming mice did not.
But why gut bacteria?
Our gut bacteria help digest and ferment fiber, and during the process, certain metabolites are produced. According to the researchers, these metabolites activate immune cells that protect against high blood pressure.
While the recommendation is to eat approximately 30 grams of fiber per day, researchers estimate that the average Westerner only consumes around 5 grams.
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