This post was most recently updated on July 25th, 2023
What to drink to lower blood pressure? Fruit juice, milk, or even water are some typical drinks to help you troubleshoot when it is unclear what people with high blood pressure drink.
If you have high blood pressure, it’s important to monitor your blood pressure readings. Be sure to discuss methods to control blood pressure with your doctor as soon as possible to prevent long-term complications.
In addition to prescribing medication to treat high blood pressure, your doctor will also advise you on a healthy diet for the best results. In addition to the DASH diet, leading researchers in this pathology have also found drinks that meet three criteria simultaneously: lowering blood pressure, delicious, and nutritionally complete. Using these drinks will help your blood pressure return to a stable range.
Here, Health My Lives will introduce you to the 9 best drinks to help you find out what people with high blood pressure drink.
What is high blood pressure?
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a condition in which blood pressure is higher than normal. Your blood pressure will change throughout the day based on your activities. Continuously above-normal blood pressure readings can lead to a diagnosis of high blood pressure. The higher your blood pressure level, the greater your risk of other health problems, such as heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.
Some healthcare professionals diagnose patients with high blood pressure if their blood pressure is consistently 140/90 mm Hg or higher. So what should people with high blood pressure drink?
Drinks to lower high blood pressure
Red artichoke flower tea
Tea is a beverage with many active ingredients that significantly support a healthy lifestyle. Any healthy drink list would be incomplete without tea. Therefore, it is not surprising that red artichoke tea topped the drinks for people with high blood pressure drink ranking. This tea is especially important in the process of lowering blood pressure because it contains bioactive phytochemicals, which have similar properties to antioxidants.
Both are chemical compounds extracted from plants that are certified to be useful for human health. The bioactive phytochemicals in the red artichoke flower have long been known to act as a natural ACE inhibitor, making it one of the best drinks for people who need to treat high blood pressure.
You can easily add this drink to your daily diet. If you have a taste for coffee and want to lower your blood pressure, consider using red artichoke tea instead. Studies have shown that three cups of red artichoke tea per day is enough to significantly lower systolic blood pressure.
Beetroot juice (sweet radish)
For some people, beetroot juice really isn’t a delicacy due to its rather strange taste. However, you should know that experts have reason to rank it second on the list of drinks that is useful for people with high blood pressure. Researchers have proven that beetroot juice has a blood pressure-lowering effect. They share that you can experience almost immediate results with just one to two cups of beetroot juice per day.
Beetroots are essential in regulating blood pressure because they contain a variety of vitamins and healthy nutrients that work to help promote optimal blood function. A typical beneficial nutrient in beets is nitrate. Once consumed, the nitrates present in radishes convert to nitrite, which relaxes muscle tissue and facilitates increased blood flow. Besides, this vegetable also provides natural potassium and folate, two important factors in controlling blood pressure extremely well.
Unlike red artichoke flower tea, not many people can enjoy beetroot juice comfortably. If the taste of beetroot juice is too overwhelming for you, try combining it with your post-workout smoothie to improve the taste. You might be in for a big surprise.
Filtered water
Filtered water is a simple drink, but it is capable of treating many diseases. Water is not as effective as beetroot juice, but it can still help lower blood pressure over time.
Although water has many uses, many people still drink less water, leading to dehydration. In fact, people who are dehydrated for a long time will have severely affected blood pressure. Long-term dehydration causes a decrease in blood circulation in the body, forcing blood vessels to save water exchange into the environment through daily excretory functions such as sweating and going to the toilet. In this case, the ability to circulate blood will be markedly less efficient, eventually leading to high blood pressure.
Compared to the remaining six drinks on the list of drinks to lower blood pressure, filtered water is the most economical choice because of its low cost and also brings the most health benefits.
Experts like JUST Water recommend that we drink about 8 glasses of water (equivalent to 2 liters of water) per day to provide enough fluid for the body. However, a more practical method to prevent you from drinking enough water is to have a 500ml water bottle and carry it with you at all times. Just drink four such bottles a day; your body will definitely not be dehydrated.
Drinking milk is a safe way to lower blood pressure
How good is its use for high blood pressure?
To answer the above question, milk analysts will create miracles for your blood pressure. Some researchers say there is a link between high blood pressure and calcium deficiency. The more calcium you absorb, the lower your risk of developing high blood pressure from a deficiency of this mineral. However, the manufacturing process of each type of milk is different, meaning that not all milk has the effect of lowering blood pressure.
To achieve the best effect on blood pressure, you should choose milk with high calcium content and low fat. Therefore, low-fat milk will be the most appropriate choice in this case. Low-fat milk not only contains high levels of calcium but also has a small amount of fat that helps the body absorb the other mineral better.
If the person is lactose intolerant, you may be confused about what to help someone with high blood pressure drink. You can turn to alternatives, such as unsweetened almond milk with added calcium, to lower blood pressure.
Pomegranate juice
Another drink on the list for people with high blood pressure should drink is pomegranate juice. According to many experts, this is a drink that is both palatable and helps lower blood pressure levels back to a stable range.
The active ingredients in pomegranate juice have a similar mechanism of action to ACE inhibitors. This means they have the ability to inhibit a natural enzyme in the body called the angiotensin-converting enzyme. If these enzymes accumulate in large amounts in the body, they will raise blood pressure by constricting blood vessels in a similar way to dehydration.
Thanks to its ACE inhibitory properties, pomegranate juice is a relatively good choice for the treatment of high blood pressure by adopting a healthy diet. Some studies have even found that pomegranate juice can lower systolic blood pressure by up to 30%.
However, like beetroot juice, the taste of pomegranate juice does not suit some people. To overcome this small defect, you can mix more carbonated water and enjoy. On the other hand, you can also add pomegranate to smoothies.
Cranberry juice
Cranberries are berries known for their versatile uses. The outstanding property of cranberry juice is its powerful anti-inflammatory as well as antioxidant properties.
These two properties contribute significantly to preventing and limiting damage to internal blood vessels, thereby minimizing the risk of hypertension. In addition, experts also say that cranberry juices’ blood pressure-lowering mechanism is to dilate blood vessels and increase blood flow. On the other hand, this red berry also provides abundant vitamin C, one of the factors that help reduce blood pressure naturally.
If you love berries, you may be extremely pleased to see that cranberry juice is also on the drinks to lower blood pressure list. For this drink, you can use as much as you want as there are no standards or recommendations for how much cranberry juice you can drink each day.
However, this drink is high in sugar and calories. Therefore, you should choose unsweetened juices. In addition, adding carbonated water to this glass of berry juice will make the drink lighter and more refreshing.
Red wine
You would never have thought that alcoholic beverages like wine would appear on the list of the healthiest drinks. Although there are six names nominated above, none can be as interesting as red wine on the list of drinks to lower blood pressure.
Some researchers show that red wine can help increase high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, which helps remove plaque that builds up inside artery walls. High levels of HDL mean less plaque, allowing for easier blood flow. Once blood flows through the capillaries smoothly, blood pressure automatically returns to normal.
Besides, red wine can also help treat high blood pressure if you have high blood pressure due to too much plaque buildup. A large number of blood clots in the arteries can increase the risk of plaque development, which in turn leads to increased blood pressure. Combined with its ability to reduce the amount of plaque that appears above, red wine may also work to lower blood pressure with resveratrol. The resveratrol in red wine acts as an anticoagulant and lowers blood pressure.
Despite its amazing health benefits, if red wine is consumed in excess, the risk of developing alcohol-related health problems increases. To be on the safe side, doctors have recommended that you have no more than two glasses of red wine a day in men. This number for women will be halved. Limiting your alcohol intake like this will help you maintain the health benefits of red wine while minimizing the risks of side effects.
Use green tea
Green tea extract is thought to have antioxidant and ACE inhibitory properties. The polyphenols in green tea also inhibit the absorption of lipids from the gut and facilitate the conversion of cholesterol into bile acids. Many people have a common question: “Can I drink tea with high blood pressure?” Epidemiological studies have shown that green tea has cardioprotective effects and affects the ability to dilate blood vessels.
Consumption of green tea significantly reduces systolic blood pressure and LDL cholesterol. In addition, the maximum effect of green tea occurs when the amount of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (the most abundant and biologically active compound in green tea extract) is about 200 mg, which is equivalent to 5-6 cups of tea every day. If you take more than this dose, you may experience some unwanted side effects.
Use celery juice
A recent study found that taking celery seed extract improved high blood pressure in patients with mild to moderate elevations. Because celery contains phytochemicals called phthalides, it has the ability to relax the tissues of the artery walls to increase blood flow and lower blood pressure.
Drinking celery juice can reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure in patients with systolic hypertension.
Conclusion
The greatest desire of every person is to have perfect health. Adopting a healthy lifestyle is the first step in treating high blood pressure, the most basic of which is eating a nutritious diet. A balanced diet, hard exercise, and home blood pressure monitoring are all you need to do.
High blood pressure can be influenced by uncontrollable factors such as genetics and age. So, controlling your diet and being physically active are just a few ways you can actively reduce your risk of high blood pressure while maintaining this effect long-term. Above are the sharing of Health My Lives about: “Best Drinks to lower blood pressure“, through this article, we wish you a long and healthy life soon!