Scientists from Peking University found that eating a modified version of traditional Chinese food containing half the amount of sodium may strongly lower blood pressure for Chinese adults in just a few weeks.
They found that altering traditional Chinese cuisine to also reduce fat intake, double dietary fiber, and increase protein, carbohydrates and potassium helped people with high blood pressure bring down both systolic (the top number) and diastolic (the bottom number) levels.
The research is published in Circulation and was conducted by Dr. Yangfeng Wu et al.
In the study, the modified Chinese food diet was modeled after the heart-healthy Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet.
Eating an unhealthy diet, especially one high in sodium, is considered a modifiable risk factor for high blood pressure, also known as hypertension.
Healthy Western diets such as DASH and Mediterranean have been developed and proven to help lower blood pressure.
In the study, the team tested 265 Chinese adults with high blood pressure and were randomly assigned to eat a diet that matched their regular eating style or a modified, heart-healthy version of their traditional Cantonese, Szechuan, Shandong, or Huaiyang cuisine for 28 days.
Eating the heart-healthy diets lowered participants’ calories from fat by 11%, increased calorie intake from carbohydrates by 8% and increased calories from protein by 4%.
Fiber, potassium, magnesium and calcium intake increased in the group eating the modified cuisines, while sodium decreased by half – from nearly 6,000 milligrams daily to about 3,000.
Blood pressure was measured before and after the study period and once a week while participants ate the assigned diets.
Although blood pressure declined in both groups, participants who ate heart-healthy versions of their traditional diets saw much bigger declines.
Their systolic blood pressure fell by an extra 10 mmHg on average compared with the control group; diastolic blood pressure dropped nearly an extra 4 mmHg. Results were comparable across the four regional styles of cuisine.
The findings suggest that if the heart-healthier diet were sustained, it could reduce major cardiovascular disease by 20%, heart failure by 28% and death from any cause by 13%.
The team says the cost of preparing the modified version of the diet was equivalent to 60 cents per day in U.S. dollars, which is considered affordable.
They also reported that the flavor and taste in the modified diet were comparable to the traditional meals and that participants ate similar amounts of food.
The researchers suggest that health professionals should recommend a heart-healthy diet with low sodium and high potassium, fiber, vegetables, and fruits as the first-line treatment for their patients with high blood pressure.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies about a new cause of high blood pressure, and most widely used high blood pressure drug may harm heart health.
For more information about blood pressure, please see recent studies about diet that could lower risks of diabetes and high blood pressure, and results showing this exercise could boost blood vessel health, improve blood pressure.
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