Yogurt may prevent high blood pressure: Study

Sunday 06 Mar 2016 - 15:09 Makkah mean time-26-5-1437

Image from Corbis

Boston, (IINA) - Women who eat five or more servings of yogurt a week are less likely to develop high blood pressure, research has found, Mail Online health news reported.
The study, the largest of its kind, involving data from hundreds of thousands of people, found that the risk of high blood pressure was reduced by a fifth. This was compared to people who ate just one portion of yogurt a month.
The effect was most noticeable in women because men eat much less yogurt, the researchers said. And the benefit of eating yogurt five times a week was even greater in people who also ate lots of fruit, vegetables, nuts and beans.
They saw a 31 percent reduction in risk for high blood pressure, compared to those who ate yogurt just once a month.
Justin Buendia, a PhD candidate at Boston University School of Medicine, said: ‘No one food is a magic bullet, but adding yogurt to an otherwise healthy diet seems to help reduce the long-term risk of high blood pressure in women.
‘I believe this is the largest study of its kind to date to evaluate the specific effects of yogurt on blood pressure.’
Buendia, who presented the study at a conference of the American Heart Association, added: ‘Our study shows that daily intake of dairy products, particularly yogurt, lowers the risk of developing high blood pressure, which is a key risk factor.
The research was funded by the National Dairy Council (NDC) in the US.
It used data taken from studies of nurses’ health involving more than 240,000 people, mainly women between the ages of 25 and 55, and a second study of 51,000 health professionals, mostly men between 40 and 75. How yogurt reduces blood pressure was not explained.
However, it has previously been suggested the bacteria in yogurt may play a role in helping to lower cholesterol - which can cause the restricted blood vessels that led to higher blood pressure. It may also help control blood sugar levels. How yogurt reduces blood pressure was not explained.
Researchers have also found that yogurt may help against osteoporosis, and lead to lower levels of cardiovascular disease.
However, Spanish research on 4,000 adults, published last April, found no benefits to health from yogurt.
And the potential benefits of eating yogurt does may also be undone by its high levels of sugar, which may increase weight and the risk of tooth decay in children.
Yogurt consumption has risen by 30 percent between 2001 and 2011 in the UK, while cheese consumption grew by only 5 percent in the same period.
SM/IINA

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