British beetroot product lowers blood pressure but isn't available ...

Tag : beetroot

A study in Hypertension (March 2008) showed that two cups of beet juice daily loweredblood pressure by about 10 points, equivalent to the effect of manymedicines. A diet rich in natural nitrates seems to increase nitricoxide, a compound made in the body that relaxes blood vessels andlowers blood pressure.
Your husband should not stop taking his medication, but he mightconsider adopting a vegetable-rich DASH diet (Dietary Approaches toStop Hypertension) and including pomegranates, Concord grapes or alittle dark chocolate. Weight loss and relaxation exercises canalso help. We are sending you our Guide to Blood Pressure Treatmentfor more details about non-drug approaches.
Q. Five years ago, I read about a study done at Cardiff University inWales. They gave 1,000 milligrams of high-strength cod-liver oilfor 12 weeks to patients scheduled for knee-replacement surgery.Samples of tissue at the time of surgery showed that 86 percent ofthe osteoarthritis patients produced less of a cartilage-erodingenzyme.
I decided to try adding cod-liver oil pills to theglucosamine-chondroitin I already was taking. My pain was so badthat it would wake me from a sound sleep every night. Nothinghelped. Then one morning, I realized that I had slept through thenight with no pain! This was only 21 days after starting thecod-liver oil.
I recommended this to many people, and we all got the samewonderful results. I wonder how many surgeries could have beenavoided if people had tried cod-liver oil for a few months beforesubmitting to surgery.
A. Cod-liver oil is full of anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats. It isalso a rich source of vitamin A and vitamin D. If your vitamin Dlevel was low, replenishing it could reduce chronic joint pain.
We do worry about taking cod-liver oil for long periods of time,though. Some research suggests that high vitamin A intake mayweaken bones.