Get Easy Health Digest™ in your inbox and don’t miss a thing when you subscribe today. Plus, get the free bonus report, Mother Nature’s Tips, Tricks and Remedies for Cholesterol, Blood Pressure & Blood Sugar as my way of saying welcome to the community!
The best drink for balanced blood pressure
Since high blood pressure increases your risk of serious problems like heart attack and stroke, it’s something you want to address immediately.
Your doctor might put you on blood pressure medication to drive that high BP down, but some of these medications come with side effects. Plus, you may not want to be stuck taking meds for the rest of your life.
Luckily, it is possible to control high blood pressure without medication. Simple lifestyle changes like losing weight, trimming fat on your waistline, exercising daily, eating healthy and cutting back on alcohol, caffeine and stress can have an amazing effect on your blood pressure.
But there may be another simple, delicious way to support healthy blood pressure…
Drink a daily glass of kefir.
«SPONSORED»
Fermented dairy does your blood pressure good
A recent study from researchers at Auburn University in Alabama and the University of Vila Velha in Brazil found that the fermented dairy beverage kefir could help manage high blood pressure by improving communication between the gut and the brain.
The study was conducted on rats, who were split into three groups. One group had high blood pressure and received kefir. Another group had high blood pressure but didn’t receive kefir. And a third group had normal blood pressure and didn’t receive kefir.
After nine weeks, researchers found that the rats who received kefir had lower blood pressure than the rats who didn’t.
Why did kefir bring their high BP down?
Well, previous research shows that sometimes a bacterial imbalance in the gut can cause high blood pressure. And studies also show that probiotic supplements can improve blood pressure. So, it makes sense that this fermented, probiotic-rich drink would do the same.
«SPONSORED»
But the benefits of kefir went beyond blood pressure…
Researchers also found that the rats drinking kefir had less toxic substances (known as endotoxins) in their blood and better intestinal permeability than rats who didn’t receive this probiotic drink.
In case you don’t know, intestinal permeability refers to your intestines’ ability to allow some substances to pass through to the rest of your body, while blocking bad bacteria and other harmful substances from doing the same. When your intestinal permeability gets out of whack, the bad stuff finds its way into your blood and can create inflammation that leads to disease. This is called leaky gut syndrome.
Researchers also found that kefir restored the balance of four healthy bacteria in the gut and an enzyme in the brain that promotes a healthy nervous system. That’s why they believe kefir (and other sources of probiotics) may lower blood pressure by improving communication between the gut and the brain. Probiotics have an impact on the gut and the brain, and the gut and brain both have an impact on blood pressure.
Adding kefir to your diet
So, should you drink kefir to support healthy blood pressure?
It couldn’t hurt. This study was done on rats, but there’s plenty of research in humans showing that eating (or drinking) foods rich in probiotics can improve blood pressure.
If you do decide to try it, make sure to buy one without added sugar. You don’t want too much of the sweet stuff to counteract the health benefits of this fermented drink. And if you can find one made from grass-fed or organic dairy, that will likely increase the health benefits too.
If you’re a DIY type of person, you can also make your own kefir. All you need are some canning jars, a small piece of cloth (a dish towel or coffee filter works too), rubber bands, a plastic strainer, a canning funnel, milk and milk kefir grains, which you can buy online. Look for DIY videos online.
Editor’s note: There are perfectly safe and natural ways to decrease your risk of blood clots including the 25-cent vitamin, the nutrient that acts as a natural blood thinner and the powerful herb that helps clear plaque. To discover these and other secrets of long-lived hearts, click here for Hushed Up Natural Heart Cures and Common Misconceptions of Popular Heart Treatments!
Sources:
- 10 ways to control high blood pressure without medication — Mayo Clinic. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
- Drinking kefir may prompt brain-gut communication to lower blood pressure — MedicalXpress. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
- Upadrasta and R. Sudha Madempudi. “Probiotics and blood pressure: current insights.” — Integrated Blood Pressure Control, 2016; 9: 33–42.
By Jenny Smiechowski
«SPONSORED»
