Beef it up to lower blood pressure

By 23. July 2014Blog, Health

With so many publications advising us to cut our red meat consumption it is refreshing to have one that says we should include it in our diet.

In a paper published in the Journal of Human Hypertension, the researchers noted that diets rich in fruit and vegetables, low fat dairy products and protein from plant sources had been shown to reduce blood pressure but that there was not a study looking at the protein coming from lean beef.

They conducted a study with 4 diets deishned to lower blood pressure, with increasing amounts of lean beef.  They found that the blood pressure of the group with the highest amount of lean beef decreased the most. They suggest that it is the total protein content of the diet and not the type or protein that lowers blood pressure.

The researchers did declare that they have received travel grants and some money from “The Beef Checkoff Program”, a research program designed to increase demand for beef.

The paper is published in the Journal of Human Hypertension