High Blood Pressure? You Might Have it This Week–Find Out Why!

Hi and welcome to this week’s look at headlines in natural health on iHealthTube.com…

About 30 million more Americans have what is considered high blood pressure today… because of new guidelines released by the American Heart Association this week.  The new guidelines drop the numbers where high blood pressure should be treated at 130 over 80… instead of 140 over 90.  The new numbers nearly half of all Americans… or 50 percent of men and 38 percent of women in the country will technically have high blood pressure.  Does that mean more blood pressure medication will be prescribed?  The authors say only a small fraction will fit that category and that all patients will be told about lifestyle changes like exercise and diet.

One issue however is the variability in blood pressure in people throughout the day or different days versus a one time doctor visit… the new recommendations could lead to more out-of-office blood pressure monitoring.

You’ve heard it before… but there’s yet another reason to eat your fruits and vegetables!  More research is showing how antioxidant-rich foods lower the risk of type-2 diabetes.

Research out of Europe analyzed a previous study of more than 64 thousand women.  The study found a diminished risk of type 2 diabetes for those who consumed antioxidants up to 15 nano moles per day.  That level could be reached by consuming things like walnuts, blueberries,  strawberries, dark chocolate, tea among others.  The lead researcher said more research is needed to determine why antioxidants not only effect free radicals, but also their effect on the sensitivity of cells to insulin.

And speaking of antioxidants… one food you might want to take a closer look at is mushrooms…

Research out of Penn State found that mushrooms have high amounts of the antioxidants ergothioneine and glutathione.  The research also found that mushrooms had the highest combined amount of the two antioxidants, but that the amounts varied greatly among different mushroom species.  Porcini mushrooms had by far the highest amount of the two compounds… the common white button had less… but still had higher amounts than most other foods.

One author also pointed out that cooking mushrooms did not seem to significantly affect the antioxidant levels.

That’s what’s making headlines in natural health this week… go to iHealthTube.com and sign up for our free email newsletter to stay connected to the latest in natural health.