Are you a vegetarian? Then it would be good for your health. A new Japanese study has found that vegetarian diets help in lowering blood pressure.
The vegetarians encourage eating green vegetables for various health benefits including the reduction of bad cholesterol, improved weight control and lowered risk of certain cancers.
For the study, the researchers included 21,604 participants. They found that the participants in the study saw a drop of 6.9 mm of Mercury (Hg) in the systolic blood pressure and 4.7 mm of Hg in the diastolic blood pressure.
In seven separate clinical researches, 311 patients achieved a 4.8 mm Hg drop in the systolic rate and 2.2 mm Hg reduction in the diastolic blood pressure.
The researchers compared the two studies. They found that the participants improved their systolic rates by 5.8 mm Hg and lowered their diastolic rates by an average of 3.45 mm Hg. The figure is approximately half of the improvement in blood pressure levels resulting from blood pressure drugs, and about the same improvement gained from lifestyle changes.
Following the analysis of historical and epidemiological data, the researchers found that the adoption of a vegetarian diet could result in a 7 percent reduction in overall mortality, 14 percent reduction in stroke rates, 9 percent reduction in coronary heart disease.
For the studies, the researchers incorporated a number of different types of vegetarian diets, including those that allow the use of fish, eggs, and milk products in the menu plans. It also had soy based food products as the study was conducted in Japan.
This is the first study that provides scientific proof of a specific health benefit with respect to lowering blood pressure.It was reported in the February issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.
