Dietary strategies to help with blood pressure control have just expanded. Australian scientists analyzed nine randomized controlled trials and found that eating probiotic foods or products daily for at least two months lowered both systolic and diastolic blood pressure slightly.
Study subjects who had blood pressure higher than 130/85 showed the strongest response to the intervention. The lead author concluded, “…regular consumption of probiotics can be part of a healthy lifestyle to help reduce high blood pressure, as well as maintain healthy blood pressure levels.”
To be helpful, probiotic products needed a minimum of 109 colony forming units per dose. Foods rich in probiotics include yogurt with live cultures, aged cheeses or fermented vegetables such as kim chee or sauerkraut. There is also some evidence suggesting that diets rich in probiotic strains may help with cholesterol or blood sugar control.
Although the drop in blood pressure was very modest, from The People’s Pharmacy perspective, this non-drug approach of using probiotics for blood pressure reduction is well worth a try. Multiple probiotic strains worked better; perhaps it is time to adopt a diet enlivened with several kinds of fermented foods. You can learn more about it from our one-hour interview with Sandor Katz.
11/29/18 redirected to: https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/articles/probiotics-failed-to-help-kids-gastroenteritis/
