In a recent study, scientists found that long-term drinking of lingonberry juice lowers high blood pressure and improves the function of blood vessels.
At some point in their lives, many people develop elevated blood pressure, even hypertension and functional disturbances in blood vessels related to inflammation.
In addition to drug therapies, nutrition has a key role in the management of these disorders. Scientists have shown that polyphenol-rich food reduces the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure.
Lingonberry, bilberry, cranberry, and blackcurrant are excellent sources of polyphenols.
In the study, researchers examined the effects of cold-pressed lingonberry juice, cranberry juice and blackcurrant juice as drinking fluid for 8-10 weeks on rats with high blood pressure.
They found that diluted lingonberry juice strongly lowered high blood pressure while juice that contained more polyphenols improved impaired blood vessel function to the level of healthy vessels.
The juice did not prevent the age-related elevation of blood pressure typical to the hypertensive animal strain.
The team says lingonberry juice prevented the expression of genes linked to low-grade inflammation in the aorta. The effect of other berry juices was weaker.
The underlying effect is probably the reduction of low-grade inflammation as well as mechanisms related to the renin-angiotensin system, a central regulator of blood pressure, and the availability of nitric oxide.
The researchers suggest that lingonberry juice is no substitute for medication, but it is a good dietary supplement.
If you care about high blood pressure, please read studies about widely used blood pressure may increase skin cancer risk and findings of common anti-inflammation drug may increase your blood pressure.
For more information about high blood pressure treatment and prevention, please see recent studies about your thigh size linked to high blood pressure risk and results showing that this high blood pressure drug may help prevent gout.
The study was conducted by Anne Kivimäki et al.
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