Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in February 2014 shows that vegetarian diets rank as superior in reducing the risk of high blood pressure, or hypertension, and subsequent heart damage.
The study, led by Dr. Yoko Yokoyama of the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center in Osaka, Japan, found that meat eaters with hypertension could gain the most by switching to a diet with greater emphasis on fresh vegetables, beans and whole grains. For some study participants, plant-based diets lowered blood pressure better than did prescription hypertension medicine — and without the medication’s side effects.
The research performed by scientists in Japan and the United States, was a meta-analysis of 39 high-quality, previously conducted hypertension studies from 18 countries, with a total of more than 21,000 participants. The researchers found that people who avoid meat had consistently lower and healthier blood pressure levels.
Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and Dr. Dean Ornish have shown that a whole food plant based diet reverses coronary artery disease and Dr. Neal Barnard’s research that diabetes type 2 also disappears with the same plant based approach. And now this comprehensive study shows that high blood pressure also improves with the original diet for mankind.
Click here to read the entire JAMA article
