Despite its deadly implications, 14.4 million people in the UK have high blood pressure, according to the British Heart Foundation. And of these, nine million have been diagnosed by their GP. That number could be much lower if these nine million followed the advice of Dr. Sarah, a blood pressure specialist who spoke with Express.es on ways to improve blood health. She revealed four nutrition-related changes to make.
Sunbathe sensibly to get vitamin D and nitric oxide
the owner of mylowbloodpressure.comHis first advice was to sunbathe sensibly.
Sunbathing, the doctor shared, is a powerful source of vitamin D and helps your body release nitric oxide, which helps lower blood pressure.
“After exposing your skin to sunlight for twenty minutes, it produces enough nitric oxide to lower your blood pressure for at least an hour,” he explained.
Nitric oxide is known as a vasodilator, which means it relaxes the muscles in your blood vessels, opening them wider to increase blood flow.
“It is likely that the benefits of sunlight for heart health outweigh the risk of skin cancer,” added the doctor.
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The overall effect of vitamin C in improving heart health is available for the world to see in peer-reviewed studies.
A new study in norfolk which involved 19,000 adults ages 45 to 79 found that the more vitamin C people consumed, the less likely they were to die from other causes during the four-year study period.
“The researchers concluded that even relatively small increases in vitamin C concentrations can have a measurable effect on the risk of a fatal heart attack; for example, eating an orange a day was estimated to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease heart disease up to 10 percent,” explained Dr. Sarah.
Vitamin C is found in citrus fruits, strawberries, tomatoes, white potatoes, and cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage and broccoli.
lycopene
Perhaps the least recognizable item on the list, lycopene is a carotenoid, the chemical known to create the red pigment in tomatoes.
It is found in papaya, red grapefruit, and watermelon and is linked to thinner artery walls as well as lowering the level of oxidized LDL cholesterol, which is harmful to blood vessels. Oxidized LDL cholesterol hardens the arteries, a process known as atherosclerosis.
Surprisingly, lycopene is difficult to retain from tomato because it is locked inside the cells. However, Dr. Sarah explains that cooking tomatoes can release five times more than when eaten raw.
“Ketchup and concentrated tomato puree are among the most common dietary sources. Lycopene even makes some pizzas a healthy option, as the olive oil added to pizza sauce triples the amount of lycopene you can absorb.
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