Blood pressure, also known as hypertension, can pave the way to serious health problems, ranging from heart attacks to strokes.
Worryingly, poor dietary choices often lay the groundwork for hypertension.
On the other hand, certain foods can pose as an antidote and keep your reading in check.
Dr Michael Mosley, who is famed for creating the famous 5:2 and Fast 800 eating plans, has revealed a vegetable that does this with gusto on his podcast Just One Thing.
Joined by Professor Tim Spector, a doctor and epidemiologist, Dr Mosley discussed dietary tweaks for maximising health and wellbeing on the latest episode.
One food that has been hailed as a “medicine” was the humble beetroot which could be purchased for as little as 62p.
Dr Mosley said: “It turns out one thing that beetroot does is it is rich in nitrates.
“It leads to the release of nitric oxide which expands your blood vessels all over your body.”
Professor Spector agreed that the nutritious vegetable was a great example of “food as medicine”.
He said: “It actually reduces blood pressure in proper randomised controlled trials.
“This is actually a lot more effective and a lot more pleasant than getting rid of salt.”
This isn’t the first Just One Thing episode that looked at the benefits of beetroot for high blood pressure.
Previously, Dr Mosley explained that beets can lower your systolic blood pressure – the higher number – by three to even nine millimetres of mercury (mmHg).
The expert even put it to a test by monitoring his blood pressure at home after having a beetroot-rich week and he saw his reading “come down a bit”.
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