If you’re an older man (≥ 65 years) and have high blood pressure, you may want to consider talking to your doctor about using the Mediterranean Diet to help lower your blood pressure. Give this diet about a year, and see if it doesn’t reduce your blood pressure. ~ Dr. Broussard
Mediterranean-style diet improves systolic blood pressure and arterial stiffness in older adults: Results of a 1-year European multi-center trial
Hypertension — Jennings A, et al. | February 15, 2019
In this year-long, European, multicenter, randomized controlled trial, researchers evaluated the impact of a Mediterranean-style diet (specifically designed according to dietary recommendations for individuals aged ≥ 65 years) on blood pressure (BP) and arterial stiffness among older adults. They measured blood pressure in 1,294 healthy participants (aged 65-79 years) who were recruited from 5 European centers, and assessed arterial stiffness in a subset of 225 participants. The intervention involved the provision of individually tailored standardized dietary advice and commercially available foods to increase adherence to a Mediterranean diet. Habitual diet was continued in the control group, and current national dietary guidance was provided. A total of 1,142 participants completed the trial (88.2%). Following the year-long intervention, the investigators observed a significant reduction in systolic BP, which was evident in men but not women. Overall, this dietary intervention resulted in clinically relevant attenuations in blood pressure and arterial stiffness.
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