Vegetarian Diet May Help Lower Blood Pressure

A team of investigators from Osaka, Japan have found that vegetarian diets are associated with lower blood pressure in comparison to omnivorous diets.

In performing a meta-analysis of existing studies that looked at the relationship between vegetarian diets and blood pressure, the researchers analyzed the findings of 7 clinical trials involving 311 participants as well as 32 observational studies in which 21,604 individuals took part.

In their review, “vegetarian diets” were defined as excluding or rarely including meat, but including dairy products, eggs, and fish. The team measured the difference in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg)—the unit blood pressure is measured in—between those who followed a vegetarian diet and participants following an omnivorous diet.

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They found that, overall, the systolic blood pressure of vegetarians was 4.8 mm Hg lower than omnivores in clinical trials, and 6.9 mm Hg lower in observational studies. With respect to diastolic blood pressure, participants on a vegetarian diet were found to have blood pressure 2.2 mm Hg lower in clinical trials, and 4.7 mm Hg lower in observational studies.

According to the investigators, this reduction is similar to the health benefits found in a low-sodium diet, or a weight reduction of 5 kg. The researchers also noted that lowering systolic blood pressure by 5 mm Hg is linked with a 9 percent lower risk of death from coronary heart disease, and a 14 percent lower risk of death from stroke.

These findings “establish the value of non-pharmacologic means for reducing blood pressure,” says Yoko Yokoyama, PhD, MPH, a researcher at the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center in Osaka, Japan, and lead study author.

Unlike drugs, there is no cost to a diet adjustment of this type, notes Yokoyama, and all the byproducts of a plant-based diet—weight loss, lower cholesterol, and better blood sugar control, for instance—are desirable.

Yokoyama urges primary physicians to “prescribe plant-based diets as a matter of routine, and to rely on medications only when diet changes do not do the job. And I would encourage everyone to try a plant-based diet, and especially to introduce plant-based diets to their children. They could prevent many health problems.”

—Mark McGraw

Reference

Yokoyama Y, Nishimura K, et al. Vegetarian Diets and Blood Pressure: A Meta-analysis. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2014.