Just Switch to Whole Grains for a BP Benefit

Whole-grain foods are high in soluble or insoluble fiber - barley for soluble, whole wheat or brown rice for insoluble. And scientists at the US Department of Agriculture have reported that increasing whole-grain foods in the diet can reduce blood pressure.

Twenty-five volunteers, all with slightly raised cholesterol levels, but otherwise healthy, ate a controlled Step I diet for 2 weeks, and then had the refined carbs in the diet replaced with whole-grain foods for a further 5 weeks. (The Step I diet restricts total fat to no more than 30% of total calories, saturated fat to no more than 10% of total calories, and cholesterol to less than 300 mg/day. No longer used today, it was intended as the starting point for patients who had high cholesterol levels.)

Systolic blood pressure fell an average of 2.2 mmHg while the subjects ate the Step I diet, and another 1.4 to 6.7 mmHg during the whole-grain phase. In the same way, diastolic pressure fell 2 mmHg on Step I, and then a further 2.9 to 3.7 mmHg on the whole-grain diet. The changes on whole-grain food were statistically significant. Best results were obtained with half wheat-rice/half barley, rather than entirely whole wheat/brown rice, or entirely barley.

As an added benefit, the subjects lost an average of 1 kg (2.2 pounds) during the study. So now you know what to do, as an early step in your efforts to lead a healthy lifestyle. It’s not painful or very expensive, although I must admit that newly baked white bread is very hard to resist.