Mixed
Adherence to a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra virgin olive oil or mixed nuts significantly reduces diastolic blood pressure compared to a low-fat control diet in high cardiovascular risk adults, while systolic blood pressure differences are not statistically significant after multivariate adjustment.
If you are at high risk for heart disease or have high blood pressure, switching to a Mediterranean-style diet can help lower your diastolic blood pressure more effectively than a standard low-fat diet. You do not need to eliminate fat; instead, focus on consuming extra virgin olive oil (about 1 liter per week for the household) and a small daily handful of mixed nuts (30 grams, specifically walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts). This approach improves blood pressure control without requiring calorie restriction or sodium targeting, though these may also decrease naturally.
Participants allocated to either of the two Mediterranean diet groups had significantly lower diastolic BP than the participants in the control group (−1.53 mmHg (95% confidence interval (CI) −2.01 to −1.04) for the Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra virgin olive oil, and −0.65 mmHg (95% CI -1.15 to −0.15) mmHg for the Mediterranean diet supplemented with nuts). No between-group differences in changes of systolic BP were seen.
Why this rating
Large-scale, randomized, controlled trial (n=7,158) with long follow-up (median 3.8 years) and rigorous statistical adjustment.
Source
Effect of the Mediterranean diet on blood pressure in the PREDIMED trial: results from a randomized controlled trial
Estefanía Toledo et al. · BMC Medicine · 2013
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