High blood pressure can creep up on you, leading to symptoms like chest pain, headaches, and dizziness. And since the condition is linked to more serious health complications like heart attack and stroke, it’s important to stay on top of your numbers. Blood pressure management is complex, and usually involves making a slew of lifestyle changes, including adjusting your exercise routine, tweaking your diet, and even taking medication.
But when it comes to those dietary adjustments, consuming fewer packaged and ultra-processed foods and “replacing them with whole foods and antioxidant-rich foods like fruits can be helpful,” says Jessica Cording, RD, author of The Little Book of Game-Changers. Meet the experts: Scott Keatley, RD, is co-owner of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy. Jessica Cording, RD, is the author of The Little Book of Game-Changers.
Keri Gans, RDN, is a dietitian and host of The Keri Report podcast. There's some research to back up these claims too: A 2022 study in the Journal of Clinical Hypertension monitored their blood pressure at home in over 2,200 participants ages 50 to 65. They self-reported how often they ate bananas, apples, pears, and citrus fruit (response options were: not every week, once or twice a week, three to four times per week, and at least five times per week), and those who ate those fruits more frequently had significantly lower systolic home blood pressure.
Ahead, dietitians break down the best fruits that may help lower your blood pressure to regularly add to your plate. The big draw with bananas is their potassium content; one medium-sized banana delivers about 375 milligrams of potassium, per the USDA, which helps you meet your daily goal of 2,600 milligrams of the nutrient, according to the NIH. Potassium “balances sodium in the body and relaxes blood vessel walls, directly lowering [blood] pressure,” explains Scott Keatley, RD, co-owner of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy.
Having some sodium in the body is important, but too much will cause your body to hold onto water, according to Harvard Health. When that happens, the amount of fluid in your blood vessels increases and raises blood pressure along with it. Blueberries contain anthocyanins, which are plant compounds that improve blood vessel flexibility and support nitric oxide production, says Keri Gans, RDN, a dietitian and host of The Keri Report podcast.
Nitric oxide helps relax the smooth muscles in the blood vessels, helping them widen so blood can flow more freely, decreasing blood pressure, she explains. This green fruit is loaded with vitamin C—59 milligrams, to be exact. (That's over half the daily recommended goal for women, which is 75 milligrams, per Mayo Clinic.) Vitamin C “enhances nitric oxide availability," Keatley says. Again, nitric oxide helps to relax the smooth muscles in your blood vessels, lowering blood pressure along with it.
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