High blood pressure puts you at risk of heart disease and stroke, two of the leading causes of death in America.
There are many ways you can regulate blood pressure, but there’s one food that makes blood pressure control easy and delicious – yogurt.
The protein- and probiotic-packed snack has been found to help control both systolic (the top number) and diastolic (the bottom number) blood pressure, thanks to the snack’s gut-loving bacteria. Results were published in the American Journal of Hypertension.
The study analyzed 55,898 female subjects and 18,232 male subjects who suffered from high blood pressure, who had their diets supplemented with two or more servings of yogurt every week.
The findings showed the yogurt supplementation decreased the women’s cardiovascular disease (including stroke) risk by 17 percent, while men’s risk was slashed by 21 percent, compared to people who consumed less than one monthly serving of the snack.
Related: If Your Blood Pressure is 130, It’s Now Considered High
“We hypothesized that long-term yogurt intake might reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems since some previous small studies had shown beneficial effects of fermented dairy products,” Justin Buendia, one of the study’s authors, explained to Science Daily.
“Here, we had a very large cohort of hypertensive men and women, who were followed for up to 30 years. Our results provide important new evidence that yogurt may benefit heart health alone or as a consistent part of a diet rich in fiber-rich fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.”
So how do you know what yogurt is right for you? Make sure to choose a tub that boasts less than 10 grams of sugar per serving; is high in healthy fats and metabolism-revving protein; and contains zero artificial sweeteners, dyes, preservatives, or additives.
Photo Credit: Sea Wave/Shutterstock.com; nadianb/Shutterstock.com
