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Natural yoghurt relieves high blood pressure
Women who eat five or more servings of yogurt per week have a significantly lower risk of high blood pressure than women who rarely consume the milk product. This was shown by a study of American scientists. In men, this effect was not detected.
Yoghurt can potentially lower high blood pressure risk
US researchers may have found another natural home remedy for hypertension. Justin Buendia, a Boston University School of Medicine researcher from Boston, Massachusetts, has found in a recent study that regular consumption of yogurt may lower the high blood pressure risk in women. The findings were recently presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association (AHA) and published in several specialist journals, such as "EurekAlert!".
Image: Mizina - Fotolia Effect only found in women
For their investigation, the researchers evaluated data from three large-scale studies, mostly women between 25 and 55 years and men between 40 and 75 years participated. It was found that women who ate five or more servings of yogurt per week had a roughly 20 percent lower risk of high blood pressure than women who rarely consumed yoghurt. In men, this effect could not be determined. Scientists believe that this could be due to the fact that men generally consume less yogurt than women.
Effect of yogurt stronger than other dairy products
In addition, the researchers investigated whether the protective effect of yoghurt can be further enhanced by a generally healthy diet. To do so, they analyzed how close the study participants were to the conditions of the so-called DASH diet. DASH ("Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension") is specifically designed to counteract high blood pressure, such as low salt and low fat dairy products. According to the scientists, the protective effect was highest among the women who followed the DASH guidelines most intensely, eating a lot of fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, low-fat dairy and whole grains. According to Buendia, even though several servings of milk and cheese per week had positive effects on blood pressure, "the effects of yoghurt seemed to be stronger than other dairy products".
Hypertension increases risk of heart disease
"Our study shows that daily consumption of dairy products, especially yoghurt, lowers the risk of developing high blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for the development of heart disease and stroke," said Buendia. Since the scientists had no information about the types of yogurt consumed by subjects, the study author said, "It would be interesting to know if popular yogurt varieties, such as Greek yogurt, had different effects than regular yogurt."
Health benefits
While it was a pure observational study, researchers could not prove that yogurt consumption is responsible for the lower risk of high blood pressure, but previous studies also showed that foods such as low-fat yoghurt, sesame and rice bran oil lower blood pressure can. And although yoghurt has fallen into disrepute in recent years, scientific research shows its health benefits over and over again. For example, scientists at the University of Cambridge, UK, several years ago discovered that regular consumption may protect against diabetes. As the researchers reported at the time, it can be assumed that the food generally has a positive influence on health through ingredients such as vitamin D, calcium, magnesium and probiotic bacteria. (Ad)