PARADE – The nutritional advice to eat fruit daily is pretty commonplace, but are all fruits created equal?
We’ll say this: Different fruits have different health benefits, so it’s probably best to consider your health goals when picking a few out. For example, if heart health is a concern, particularly lowering blood pressure, blueberries may be the fruit to add to your grocery list.
It’s hard to be mad about this news when blueberries are so delicious.
But did you know they don’t have to be eaten plain to have benefits? We’ll get into the research, but don’t forget to bookmark these summer-friendly blueberry recipes until then. However you choose to eat them, blueberries are packing the punch that you (and your doctor) are looking for.
Read on for input from a cardiologist and dietitian about how blueberries help with blood pressure concerns, how many to eat per day and other heart-healthy foods to prioritize.
The easy explanation is that blueberries have a compound that boosts blood vessel flow, which can lower blood pressure.
The more scientific answer? “This may be due to their high levels of anthocyanin flavonoid, an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound that helps to improve the function of endothelial cells in blood vessels,” says Dr. Cheng-Han Chen, MD,a board-certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center.
“This, in turn, improves the blood vessel’s ability to relax and improves blood pressure control.”
More specifically, a 2019 study in The Journals of Gerontology found that eating blueberries daily can decrease systolic blood pressure by about 5 millimeters of mercury.
Further, systolic blood pressure (the upper number that shows how hard the heart pumps blood into the arteries) is the best way to predict future cardiovascular events, according to the American Heart Association …
