More than one in four people are affected by high blood pressure in the UK, and many people are not even diagnosed with hypertension. High blood pressure is often known as the silent killer, which can cause symptoms that barely even show up on the radar of normal people. The result is that a significant chunk of the population is left untreated and is at a high risk of developing disorders like heart diseases and stroke.
Peanuts can help with hypertension
Doctors suggest many ways by which high blood pressure can be taken care of. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that different flavors of peanuts such as salty, spicy, honey roasted and even unsalted ones can bring about positive health benefits in people suffering from the disorder.
Conducted at Purdue University over 150 men and women, the study introduced peanuts into the diet of these patients for 12 weeks. Dr. Richard Mattes, Professor of Nutrition Science at the University, revealed that all flavors of peanuts resulted in elevated serum lipids and a fall in mean diastolic blood pressure in all patients.
Arginine helps in reducing High Blood Pressure
It was also found that the most significant changes were observed among patients who already had high blood pressure. Maximum changes were seen during the first two weeks of the study, and then the changes remained the same throughout the rest of the weeks.
The changes for salted and unsalted peanuts were the same. The potential explanation for this phenomenon is the presence of arginine in peanuts. Arginine produces nitric oxide, which acts as a vasodilator and leads to a fall in blood pressure.
