Because high blood pressure is a risk factor for heart attack and stroke, many doctors are quick to prescribe blood pressure-lowering medications. But there isn’t one that doesn’t have disturbing side effects, and most of the time they’re unnecessary. Eating a good diet that’s high in fruits and vegetables and low-to-moderate in carbohydrates; taking heart-healthy supplements like CoQ10, vitamin E, vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, garlic, hawthorn, taurine and curcumin; making sure you get 8 glasses of pure water a day; minimizing salt intake; learning to manage stress; losing weight if you’re overweight; and regular exercise will all help to lower your blood pressure if it’s over the ideal 120/80 or below.

But scientists are wondering if particular foods may also help.

It started when a study done at Queen Mary University in London, England, found that drinking a little over 8 ounces of beet juice decreased systolic blood pressure by about 5 points. Systolic blood pressure is the first number in a blood pressure reading (the “120” in 120/80). It measures the pressure exerted when the heart squeezes. Diastolic blood pressure (the “80” in 120/80) is the pressure exerted when the heart rests between squeezes.

Now beets are very high in nitrates, and nitrates make nitric oxide (NO) in the body. It was mentioned in the previous article that saunas increase NO, and that NO dilates blood vessels and makes them more flexible. This makes it easier for the heart to pump the blood through the cardiovascular system, so blood pressure goes down.

“Arterial stiffness” tends to increase with age (especially if you’re not getting enough exercise) and particularly affects systolic blood pressure, which also tends to rise with age. But plenty of NO can, at least in part, compensate for that. Exercise enhances NO production, but less so as we age.

NO also inhibits both inflammation in blood cell linings (the endothelium) and clumping of the blood (platelet aggregation).

The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, a diet that’s low in salt and high in fruits and vegetables, has been very effective in lowering high blood pressure. Since vegetables are our main sources of nitrates, it may be the nitrates in the DASH diet that make it so highly effective.

A recent study on another high-nitrate vegetable, spinach, found that eating enough spinach to supply 845 mg of nitrate reduced systolic blood pressure about 3.5 points and diastolic about 2.5 in healthy adults.

Vegetables that are especially high in nitrates include: celery, cress, chervil, red beets, spinach and arugula. Runners-up are beet greens, butter lettuce, Chinese cabbage, chard, cilantro, endive, fennel, kohlrabi, leeks, mesculin mix and parsley. (Processed meats high in and nitrates and nitrites, however, should be avoided.)

There’s almost always a better alternative to taking toxic medications.” When it comes to blood pressure, you have a whole smorgasbord of ways to lower it if it’s getting too high, and vegetable juices and salads made with high-nitrate vegetables may be one good choice to include.