What if a single glass of a cheap and widely available juice could not only lower your blood pressure and reduce or eliminate arterial plaque buildup, but also soften your already hardened arteries in your heart?
It’s worth putting to the test, right?
Well, French researchers have already done that for you, with amazing results.
In a joint study from France by the French National Institute for Agricultural Research and the Institute for Health and Medical Research, scientists followed several participants over a period of 6 months.
They tracked the health of blood vessels (specifically the carotid artery) among people who drank 340 ml of grapefruit juice per day—and the benefits were amazing.
The level of atherosclerosis, or hardening of arteries, was measured before, during, and after the trials.
The participants spent a few weeks either in a grapefruit-drinking phase or in a control group, followed by a 2-month cleanse when no one drank grapefruit juice. Then, the groups were switched.
The researchers discovered that the carotid arteries of participants in the grapefruit-drinking phase were much softer and healthier compared to when they were not drinking grapefruit juice.
This is amazing, as doctors often claim that once arteries begin to harden, there is no way to reverse it. The only way to avoid stroke and heart attack is to force blood pressure down using dangerous medications.
High blood pressure is a leading cause of artery wall hardening. The constant force of blood pounding against the arterial walls with such strength prompts the body to thicken and stiffen the vessel walls to withstand the pressure.
Once the arteries become less flexible, blood pressure tends to rise even higher, eventually leading to stroke or heart attack.
Grapefruit juice improves arterial health by addressing half this problem—softening the arteries. The other half involves lowering your blood pressure, which grapefruit juice helps with as well.