Can beet juice lower your blood pressure?

Hi @iluvkatz,

A small study showed that beet juice lowered blood pressure by 4-5 points in 15 men, but the effect didn't appear to be the same in women. Here is more information about the study from WebMD http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/news/20121212/beetroot-juice-blood-pressure

Changing your lifestyle can go a long way toward controlling high blood pressure. Your doctor may recommend you eat a healthy diet with less salt, exercise regularly, quit smoking and maintain a healthy weight. But sometimes lifestyle changes aren't enough and medications are needed. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/basics/treatment/con-20019580

I'm also tagging @cynaburst @donnac1969 @mlemieux @audrapopp to ask if they can share their experience with lowering blood pressure.

@iluvkatz - what medications and lifestyle changes have and haven't worked to help you lower your blood pressure?

I have had high blood pressure for for 20 years and was tacking 3 pills a day.

My DR. put me on slow release nitrate for my heart. ( isosrb mono er 60MG ) my blood pressure went so low that he had to take me off blood pressure medication. I do not know if this will work on everyone.

Loyd Coperland

I was on Lisinopril siince 2014, and it gave me an annoying cough and I developed Burning Mouth Syndrome last year. My doc just took me off of it--my cough is going away, and the pain from my tongue has diminished. So I am drinking beet juice, but it doesn't seem to be helping me.

Thank you. I will keep this in mind. I'm trying to get off my meds, since I don't like their side affects.

Hi @iluvkatz,

You nailed it! Beets are great for you. I love my beets 🙂

All kidding aside, if you hack out (some) fatty foods, deep fried, salt, salt, and more salt, you'll be well on your way to eating healthier and helping your blood pressure. Also, let's not forget the non-wonders of smoking if you're a smoker. Spices are good for you as well (i.e Ginger).

It all depends on your diet and daily activities?

What I mean by that, if you're very active, you still want to increase your protein (i.e. nuts), but if you can't be active due to pain, you'll want to decrease foods that are hard to digest so that they don't sit without processing for long periods.

I try to keep a balance between eating perfect & guilty pleasures from time to time.

Martin

I am definitely going to try this! I love making my own juice.

My blood pressure recently started running high so I was put on 20mg lisinopril daily, but after a week my bp would drop to 80/50 making me weak and dizzy. So I lowered my dose to 10mg, after a few days my bp was again dropping down to 80/50, so I stopped the lisinopril. Off the medication my bp fluctuated from 140-160 over 80-100. I take my bp at least twice a day and if it gets close to 160/100 I will take a pill. Yesterday after taking a pill my bp dropped again to 80/50, but then I had an ah-ha moment and remembered reading something recently on the Mercola website about beet juice and blood pressure, and I had a beet smoothie for breakfast. So this morning my bp was 158/95 but instead of taking a pill I had a beet smoothie. 90 minutes later my bp was 100/60 which I find amazing. I will continue tracking it through the day to see how long it stays in the normal range. Tonight I will have another beet smoothie and check my bp in the A.M. I now realize all those days in the past when my bp was dropping to 80/50 were probably the days that I was having beet smoothies. I have read about the studies where beet juice drops blood pressure a little, but raw beet smoothie really seems to drop it dramatically.

There are a number of articles on the internet about the use of beet juice to lower high blood pressure. I wonder if any one has tried it and about the results.

I am now controlling hypertension with pure ginger tea and also dried ginger and was able to eliminate Lisinoprol and now only take one 25mg Atenolol daily. I would like to eliminate the Atenolol if the beet juice does the same thing. The directions on the beet juice bottle says to take 2 tablespoons daily but says nothing about whether it should be mixed with water or taken as it comes from the bottle.

Hi @ladybugmg, I merged your message with a pre-existing discussion on this very topic where @iluvkatz asked, "Can beet juice lower your blood pressure?" Click VIEW & REPLY to read through the past discussion and add your thoughts and questions.

I would like to try the beet juice especially in the morning when my bp is higher than in the afternoon even before I take the Atenolol. Do I mix the two tablespoons of bottled beet juice with water or juice and if so, how much, for example 6 ounces or 8 ounces. And do you take the beet juice more than one a day? I have read all the suggested articles and none of them give directions. I appreciate any information anyone can share with me.