High blood pressure: The 20p food that could lower hypertension
High blood pressure: Lifestyle changes to reduce reading
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Blood pressure describes the force of your blood against your arteries. If this force is consistently high enough to cause health problems, it becomes a condition called hypertension. The good news is that simple diet modifications can have a significant impact on this problem.
Around a third of adults in the UK are targeted by hypertension.
What’s worse, many might not even know it as this condition doesn’t cause many symptoms, the NHS explains.
One way to prevent high blood pressure is switching up your diet.
Eating healthily and cutting down on salt can help lower hypertension.
The 20p food which can cut high levels is banana, according to Blood Pressure UK.
The reason why this yellow fruit can target high blood pressure is its potassium content.
Potassium is a mineral that is needed by the body to work properly.
When it comes to high blood pressure, its role is more complex.
The mineral affects how much fluid is stored in your body as well as how much is released from it.
When your body holds onto water, your blood also contains more fluid.
You might see no problem with this as keeping hydrated is a good thing for your health.
However, the problem with too much fluid in the blood is that it puts extra pressure on your blood vessel walls, raising your blood pressure.
Any excess fluid is usually removed from the blood by your kidneys. This is where sodium and potassium step in.
Sodium holds onto water and is known to boost blood pressure.
But if you eat foods high in potassium, you can help your kidneys to work better and even lower blood pressure, the charity explains.
So, the food famous for being packed with potassium presents a good choice as its source.
The charity recommends aiming for at least five portions of various fruit and vegetables daily.
To put things in perspective, bananas in particular contain around 450 milligrams of potassium.
The NHS recommends a daily intake of 3,500 milligrams daily so adding a banana can put you in the right direction to meeting this target.
The final advice from Blood Pressure UK states: “As well as eating foods high in potassium, cutting down on salt will help to keep your kidneys and blood pressure in good health.”
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