Eating foods made with probiotic bacteria is good for your blood pressure. This is what a recent study suggests.
“Consuming probiotics may slightly help lower blood pressure. This is what concludes a study published on July 21 in the newspaper Hypertension. These living microorganisms are bacteria found in certain food products such as cereals or fermented dairy products.
Combinations of bacteria
Based on nine existing studies, researchers looked at the relationship between blood pressure and the consumption of probiotic bacteria in 543 adults. According to the study, eating probiotics would lower blood pressure by 2.97 mml of mercury on average (we speak of hypertension when the value is greater than 90 mml). On the other hand, consuming probiotics with multiple bacteria would help lower blood pressure while those containing only one bacteria would not produce any such effect.
A healthy diet
“We think probiotics can help lower blood pressure, but that’s not all. They also have the ability to lower cholesterol levels, ”notes Jing Sun, the study’s lead author. However, probiotics cannot be eaten with just any food. Indeed, for its powers to be effective, the consumption of probiotics must be accompanied by a healthy and balanced diet which consists in eating “everything” while avoiding as much as possible meals too rich in lipids (fats).
Results that have yet to prove themselves
In 2001, the World Health Organization (WHO) defined probiotic bacteria as “bacteria or yeasts which, when ingested in sufficient quantity, improve the health of the host by balancing the intestinal flora”. A definition as praised as it is contested in the scientific community. “It’s like making everyone try the same pair of shoes!” Probiotics have a personalized action, they work in some, and not in others, ”says Dusko Ehrlich, director of research in microbiology and the food chain at INRA. Jing Sun herself has reservations about the results of her own research, saying that “additional studies must confirm these findings so that a doctor can safely prescribe probioitics to his patients prone to hypertension.”
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