If you're looking to naturally lower blood pressure, and are also after a way to lose weight, a low carb diet is your best bet according to some new research appearing in the January 25, 2010 issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
In the study, overweight or obese subjects who followed a low carb diet lost about the same amount of weight as those who cut down on their fat intake while also taking weight loss drug Xenical or Alli.
The surprise was that the low carb diet brought more beneficial effects to blood pressure numbers.
What makes this study different, according to William S. Yancy Jr. of the VA Medical Center in North Carolina, is that this work enrolled real people who had common health problems like heart disease or diabetes these conditions are usually not part of most studies of weight loss.
He and his team assigned 146 subjects to either a low carbohydrate diet, eating less than 20 grams of carbs a day, or to take 120 mg of orlistat three times a day and followed a low calorie, low fat diet. The instructions the subjects were given came at group meetings held every two weeks for the first six months of the study, monthly thereafter.
The meetings for diet advice were a big part of the success subjects who came to 80% (or more) of the meetings lost an average of 14 15% of their body weight.
Low carb diets, as the name implies, limit carbohydrates breads, grains, rice, starchy veggies and fruit and focus on sources of protein and fat.
The Atkins diet, the Zone diet and Protein Power are a few of the more popular low carb plans. Low fat plans rely on limiting the number of calories; even the ones in fat free, trans fat free and low fat foods and burning more than you take in. So, exercise is part of the weight loss equation here.
The drug in the study, orlistat, works by blocking the absorption of fat from food. If you take it, you must cut down on your fat intake or put yourself at risk for some nasty side effects, like gas and incontinence. In the current study, those who took the drug were more likely to report gas, bowel incontinence and diarrhea than those on the low carb eating plan. Only one subject stopped using the drug because of the side effects.
"Orlistat can work quite well if it's used correctly," Yancy points out.
At the end of 48 the weeks, the low carb subjects lost almost 9.5% of their body weight, compared to 8.5% for the orlistat group not a big difference. Cholesterol levels between the two groups had similar improvements. The difference came in blood pressure numbers. The low carb group had a 6% drop in their systolic (top) blood pressure and a 4.5% drop in diastolic (bottom) blood pressure. In the orlistat group the differences were much smaller 1.5% in their systolic number, 0.4% in the diastolic number.
When it comes to weight loss, the best bet is to choose the plan (low carb or low fat) that's best for you, taking into account the types of foods you like.
To naturally lower blood pressure through diet, look for a way of eating that you can live with long term, not just for a few weeks or months. The research also points out the value of regular support for your efforts, so be sure you find a reliable source or "buddy" to cheer you on during your efforts.
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