High Blood Pressure? Blueberry Help Pressure Release

According to a report published by "Elsevier Health Sciences," any measure that lowers blood pressure has the potential to save lives. Sarah Johnson of Florida State University and her colleagues administered 22 grams of frozen blueberry powder or 22 grams of placebo per person per day for 8 weeks to 48 menopausal women with essential hypertension. They reported their findings in the "Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics Association," demonstrating that eating blueberries every day for 8 weeks can dramatically improve systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Blueberry is one of the greatest sources of phenolic compounds, including flavonoids, phenolic acids, and stilbenes, and is noted for its high antioxidant capacity and extensive biological activity. Experimenters consuming the average of the blueberries had a 5.1% decrease in systolic blood pressure and a 6.3% fall in diastolic blood pressure at the end of the trial period, while the control group taking the placebo had no matching decline. Furthermore, nitric oxide, which is implicated in endothelial vasodilation, increased dramatically in the blueberry group, rising from 9.11 to 15.35 micromole, but not in the control group. "Daily eating of blueberries may lower blood pressure and arteriosclerosis, which may be induced in part by increased production of