Anyone who looks at managing their high blood pressure has had to wade through lists upon lists of foods that reduce high blood pressure. Recent findings may indicate why certain foods actually help with high blood pressure. Its not what is in the food, but what the body does with it once its digested. And it involves an important molecule not well-known by the public. Nitric oxide.
Reducing high blood pressure naturally
Don’t confuse nitric oxide (chemical formula NO) with nitrous oxide (chemical formula N2O) – laughing gas. The fact that most people have never heard of nitric oxide is because you can’t take it in a pill. Your body has to produce it from many sources, including amino acids, oxygen and certain enzymes. Consumed nitrates may also be converted.
Even if you haven’t heard of nitric oxide, iyou will be very familiar with drugs that affect nitric oxide. It relaxes smooth muscles and dilates (widens) blood vessels. Nitroglycerin is an effective angina treatment because the body converts it to nitric oxide. Viagra works primarily by enhanced signalling of targeted nitric acid pathways. High salt intake can inhibit nitric oxide production, providing an alternative explanation of why lowering salt intake can reduce blood pressure.
Several foods that research shows to affect blood pressure – beets, dark chocolate, and bananas – appear to do so by either contributing additional nitric oxide in the diet or by affecting nitric oxide synthesis in the body. Consuming beets, for example, contributes because the saliva in the mouth converts the dietary nitrate to nitrite. In the stomach, the nitrite is both absorbed directly or converted to nitric oxide. Flavonols in cocoa seem to increase enzymatic responses and produce more nitric acid from building blocks found in the body.
Cocoa may help high blood pressure by affecting nitric acid levels
This new understanding of alternative treatments and nitric oxide are not limited to the dinner plate. Nitric oxide may also explain some of the effects seen in patients treated with acupuncture. Increased concentrations of nitric oxide were found on the skin near meridians and acupoints. It appears that it plays an important role in mediating the cardiovascular responses to electro-acupuncture. It may be that may alternatives for blood pressure management all end up affecting the areas. These finding should make evaluating other non-traditional high blood pressure remedies easier.
