Food That Lowers Blood Pressure

High blood pressure occurs when blood flows through arteries with more force than usual. Though it usually has no symptoms, it can affect your health and cause coronary artery disease, heart attack, stroke, blindness and kidney damage. Lifestyle changes including diet can lower your blood pressure.

Potassium

• Salt raises blood pressure, and 3,500 mg of potassium a day flushes salt from your body. Foods containing potassium include vegetables such as peas, potatoes, leafy greens, tomatoes and spinach, and fruit such as apricots, cantaloupe, apples, citrus and bananas.

Calcium

• Calcium can decrease blood pressure, and it's easily absorbed in skim milk and other low-fat dairy products. Include three or more servings of skim milk each day in your diet.

Fiber

• An important part of the DASH (dietary approaches to stop hypertension) diet is including fiber-rich foods. Eating a high-fiber diet which includes whole grains as well as vegetables and fruit lowers diastolic blood pressure by 17 percent.

Olive Oil

• Olive oil has a beneficial effect on the cells that line your blood vessels and lowers both diastolic and systolic blood pressure by 8 mm Hg.

Omega 3

• Omega-3 fatty acids have a beneficial effect on the elasticity of artery walls. Foods containing omega-3 include salmon, walnuts, flaxseed, canola oil and wheat germ.