As featured in Body+Soul on Sunday 10th of April, 2016.

A large portion of our anatomy could best be described as a series of pipes taking things from one part of our body to another. Sounds simplistic doesn’t it, but pipes sometimes they get blocked, can start leaking or in more drastic situations, completely burst open! Our blood vessels are an intricate part of our internal plumbing system with good, undisrupted flow required for healthy blood pressure, optimal health and wellness.

What exactly is blood pressure?

Each time our heart beats, it pumps blood through our vessels so oxygen and nutrients can get to our organs and the waste products can be removed. There are two types of ‘pressure’:

  • Systolic: the pressure in our vessels when our heat is actively pumping.
  • Diastolic: the pressure in our vessels when our heart is relaxing (and refilling up with blood).

When our blood pressure is taken, there are always two numbers. The first one is the systolic, the second is the diastolic. The numbers you want should be below 120/80. A little higher or lower isn’t the end of the world, but if you’re creeping up towards 140/90, this is classified as high blood pressure or hypertension.

Unfortunately around 4.6 million Australians have problems with their pipes, resulting in high blood pressure or medication to control it. High blood pressure increases your risk of heart disease, stroke and having a heart attack and while there are many contributing factors, most are modifiable through diet and lifestyle. There is a genetic component, but as one of my favourite researchers says ‘Your genes load the gun; your environment pulls the trigger’ so even with familial hypertension, there are still things you can be doing to help. Here are a few:

Magnesium

Magnesium is a super important mineral when it comes to heart function and blood pressure as it helps relax connective tissue. If you have a deficiency in magnesium, your blood vessels can tighten up, meaning there is less space for the blood to flow, resulting in increased pressure. Good sources of dietary magnesium include: dark green leafy vegetables, wholegrains, pepitas and cacao.

Beetroot juice

Numerous scientific studies have confirmed the effective use of beetroot juice to help lower blood pressure. You need to drink about 500mls of the juice daily to see a reduction of around 10/8, systolic/diastolic points.

Garlic

A meta-analysis on the effectiveness of garlic on blood pressure found that garlic can be helpful to those people whose blood pressure is on the way up. Increase your dietary consumption by throwing a few extra cloves into your stir fry, stews or bone broths. If you’re worried about ‘garlic breath’, try combining with fresh parsley. It will take care of it!

Co Enzyme Q10 or CoQ10

This is an enzyme that is concentrated in our heart tissue and ensures that our heart not just beats well, but also beats efficiently. If your heart is struggling, this can affect your blood pressure and also vice versa. Supplementation might be needed so best to chat to your naturopath about this and they will let you know if you need it or not.