Treating High Blood Pressure With A Whole Food Plant-Based Diet

High blood pressure is the number one risk factor for death in the world.^[1] It is beneficial to have blood pressure down around 110/70, and people who eat a whole food plant-based diet naturally have blood pressure in this range.

Populations in rural Africa and in rural China who ate primarily plant-based foods had blood pressure in this health supporting range.^{[2] [3]} Whole food plant-based diets offer the best protection against obesity, type-2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and cardiovascular death compared to other diets.^[4]

Based on the above study of 89,000 people, people who ate lacto-ovo-vegetarian meat-free diet (eggs and dairy were included in their diets) cut their risk of high blood pressure by 55%. People who ate a strictly plant-based diet cut their risk of high blood pressure by 75%.

Though a whole food plant-based diet has been shown to be effective in treating high blood pressure, several plant-based foods offer greater protection against high blood pressure. A few tablespoons of flaxseeds possess one of the strongest anti-hypertensive effects of plant-based foods.^[5] The good ole watermelon is very protective of high blood pressure, but you have to eat around two pounds a day to really see its benefits.