Elevated blood pressure is a risk factor for heart disease and strokes, so control is important. However, research has shown that medication is not as helpful as we would all like unless untreated blood pressure is quite elevated. (We’ve written about that research here.)
One approach that can be helpful is keeping blood pressure under control naturally with exercise, diet and stress reduction practices. When it comes to diet, there are many foods that have been shown to be helpful. One that has received as lot of research attention is beet juice (or beetroot juice, outside the U.S.).
The only problem with beet juice is that it can be difficult to find and is often pretty pricey. That is why a lot of people would like an answer to the question this reader poses.
Q. I have read in your column that drinking beet juice can lower blood pressure. My question is, do we have to drink the juice or can we just eat beets for blood pressure control?
Can We Just Eat Beets for Blood Pressure Control?
A. Nearly all of the research that has been done on this topic has used beet juice, presumably because it is more practical to provide a placebo for the juice than for actual beets on your plate. There is no reason to believe that the components of beet juice differ from those of the beet root, and one study used bread with beet baked into it (Journal of Nutrition, Sep., 2013).
What Is the Right Dose?
The only trouble is that, while we know the appropriate daily dose of juice (250 ml, approximately one cup), we don’t know how many beets it takes to make a cup of juice (Hypertension, Feb., 2015).
You may need to experiment while monitoring your own blood pressure to figure out how many beets it takes. To help you overcome hypertension naturally, we are sending you our Guide to Blood Pressure Treatment. It contains many non-drug strategies as well as summaries of popular blood pressure pills.
You may want to consider adding other vegetables that are naturally high in nitrates, such as spinach and Swiss chard. They probably also have blood-pressure lowering activity and can help with a blood pressure control diet. You will also find information on the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) in our book, The People’s Pharmacy Quick & Handy Home Remedies.
