High blood pressure means that your heart has to work harder than normal to pump blood around your body. Over time it puts additional pressure on the members.
If left untreated, it can lead to a number of life-threatening conditions such as strokes and heart disease.
And eating specifically too much salt along with not enough fruits and vegetables can lead to high blood pressure.
Therefore, the diet can also help lower levels.
Combining two added ingredients as a side dish to your meals can be a way to help achieve this.
Spinach and balsamic vinegar are supposed to have blood pressure-lowering properties, as well as make a delicious dish out of them.
A study published in Clinical Nutrition Research found that eating spinach daily for a week lowered both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
The research team, from St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, Canada, concluded that the benefits came from spinach's higher nitrate content.
According to the Food Standards Agency, spinach is one of the main sources of dietary nitrates, along with lettuce. And nitrates are able to cause dilation — widening or relaxation — in arteries and veins. This reduces stress on the heart by improving blood flow to the heart muscle.
As part of the study, 27 participants with "normal" blood pressure were recruited.
They were given either a high nitrate (spinach - with 845 mg of nitrate) or a low nitrate soup (asparagus - with 0.6 mg of nitrate per day).
The study said: “The high-nitrate intervention versus the low-nitrate intervention also reduced central systolic, diastolic, and brachial systolic blood pressure in 180 minutes after supplementation for only seven days. These findings suggest that dietary nitrate from spinach may contribute to beneficial hemodynamic effects.” of vegetable-rich diets and highlights the potential for developing a targeted dietary approach in the management of hypertension."
Research also showed the benefits of balsamic vinegar in lowering blood pressure.
One study, published in the journal Bioscience, Biotechnology and Biochemistry, concluded that a specific component of vinegar could help treat high blood pressure.
She said: “As a result, it was observed that acetic acid itself, the main component of vinegar, significantly reduces blood pressure. As for the mechanism of this function, it has been suggested that this decrease in blood pressure may be due to the significant decrease in renin activity and the subsequent decrease in angiotensin.” 2. From this study, it was also suggested that the hypotensive effect of vinegar is mainly due to the acetic acid present in it.”
Please check with your physician before proceeding with the use of food additives in your food.
Source: Express
Citizens of which Arab countries are the most obese? Get to know the ranking!
On the fourth of March every year, the world celebrates World Obesity Day to spread more awareness about the dangers of obesity and overweight.
Obesity is one of the most common health problems around the world, however, some countries have higher rates of obesity than others.
Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that poses a health risk.
A body mass index (BMI) above 25 indicates overweight, and more than 30 indicates obesity. In fact, the problem has grown to epidemic proportions, with more than 4 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese, according to 2017 statistics according to the "global burden of disease" programme.
The Global Obesity Observatory provides updated statistics on obesity rates all over the world, and the list includes, in fact, Arab countries in advanced positions in the ranking.
According to the data of the Global Obesity Observatory, Kuwait comes first in terms of obesity rates for men in the Arab countries, with a rate of 34.28%, and it ranks 15th in the global ranking of obesity among adult men, among 200 countries around the world.
It is followed by Qatar in 16th place globally and second in the Arab world, with an obesity rate of 33.46%, then in 17th place globally, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and third in the Arab world, with a rate of 31.73%.
Jordan comes in 23rd place, fourth in the world at a rate of 29.17%, then the UAE in 26th place according to the global ranking of obesity in men, and fifth in terms of Arab countries, at a rate of 28.44%.
Lebanon comes in 27th place in the world, then Palestine in 31st place, and Bahrain in 34th place.
Libya ranked 38th, Iraq ranked 55th, Oman ranked 60th, and Egypt 61st.
Syria ranks 77th, followed by Morocco 85th, Tunisia 89th, Yemen 127th, Mauritania 141st and finally Sudan 174th.
As for obesity rates among women in the Arab world, Kuwait also tops the Arab ranking and ranks 14th globally, then Qatar ranks 15th, followed by Jordan ranks 16th, and Saudi Arabia ranks 17th.
Egypt comes after them in 19th place, then the UAE in 20th place, and Libya in 22nd place.
Palestine ranks 25th in obesity rates for women, followed by Lebanon 27th, followed by Iraq 28th, and Bahrain 29th.
Algeria was ranked 33rd in the world rankings, followed by Syria, Tunisia and Oman in 34th, 35th and 38th positions, respectively.
Morocco occupies the 42nd place, then Yemen 106th, and Mauritania and Sudan come at the end of the ranking in the 130th and 159th places, respectively, out of 200 countries around the world.
Globally, the island of Nauru ranked first in terms of obesity rates for men, with a rate of 59.85%, and American Samoa came first in terms of obesity rates for women.
Source: RT
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HEALTH UPDATE