HOW TO LOWER YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE NATURALLY

Part 14 : Red Wine

It seems that while excess drinking is harmful to your blood pressure (as we saw in part 13) moderate drinking may be beneficial and have a protective effect on your heart as you get older.

If your doctor says it's ok for you to drink alcohol, a small glass of red wine or two a day may help keep your heart healthy by improving the ratio of HDL and LDL-cholesterol, an important factor in controlling blood pressure.

Although moderate drinking of other alcoholic drinks has a similar beneficial effect, red wine is often recommended. That's because it is rich in antioxidants which help neutralise free-radical damage to the arteries, reducing the risk of furring up or hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis). 

Red wine contains a polyphenol called resveratrol. Resveratrol has been shown (in a lab) to help raise levels of beneficial HDL cholesterol and reduce blood clotting activity and the better blood flows, the better it is for your blood pressure.  

Drinking moderate amounts of red wine is thought to help explain the so-called French paradox whereby the French eat more saturated fat than the British and smoke more but have less incidence of death from cardiovascular disease (more than 50% less!).  But there are probably other factors at play too, for example, a higher consumption of fruit and vegetables, olive oil and fish.

If you prefer not to drink red wine, red grape juice and cranberry juice contain similar compounds to red wine (without the protective benefit of the alcohol). And peanuts also contain more resveratrol gram for gram than any of these although an the negative side they are very high in calories!

It is best to drink your red wine with meals. It will be absorbed more slowly and extend the beneficial effects over a longer period. It also means the protective compounds are available to the body during a time when the blood is having to deal with dietary saturated fats. 

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