March 2, 2022
By Tracy Cox
HERSHEY, Pa. — Nearly 11% of U.S. households experienced difficulty accessing food in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. With limited food options, food-insecure people tend to eat more red and processed meats. A study by Penn State College of Medicine researchers shows a link between diets high in red and processed meats, food insecurity and increased risk of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension.
Red and processed meats are high in saturated fats, cholesterol and sodium, which can lead to hypertension and other forms of cardiovascular disease (CVD). College of Medicine researchers analyzed diets of more than 31,000 U.S. adults and found that those who ate more red or processed meat were more likely to have high blood pressure. In addition, they found that people who reported food insecurity were more likely to have hypertension.
“This study provides more evidence about the health hazards of eating red and processed meats in relation to hypertension and calls for increasing public awareness to limit intake, especially among those who are food insecure,” said lead investigator and assistant professor of public health sciences Laila Al-Shaar, who has a doctorate degree in population health sciences with a focus on nutritional epidemiology. “Healthy food choices should always be affordable and accessible to everyone.”
Researchers analyzed data from 31,314 U.S. adults, who participated in National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from 2003 through 2016. Nearly half of those surveyed (48.5%) had high blood pressure. Individuals answered questions about whether they had challenges in accessing adequate food during the past year.
“Healthy food choices should always be affordable and accessible to everyone.”
Laila Al-Shaar, assistant professor, public health sciences
Based on responses, households were categorized into four groups based on food security: high, marginal, low and very low. The study revealed around 18% of participants were food insecure.
According to the investigators, participants, regardless of food security level, who recorded the largest intake of red meat were 29% to 39% more likely to have high blood pressure. Food insecure individuals, who had recorded higher levels of red meat intake, had a stronger likelihood of having high blood pressure. Those who faced food insecurities and consumed larger amounts of processed meat had 36-50% higher odds of having hypertension compared to food-secure individuals who ate less processed meat.
“Our findings illustrate that high, total red meat consumption was associated with higher odds of hypertension are generally consistent with the results of prior research,” said co-investigator and assistant professor Djibril Ba, who has a doctoral degree in epidemiology with a focus on nutritional epidemiology. “Our research also showed that substituting plant-based foods for red and processed meats could help prevent hypertension.”
The researchers explored dietary substitutions and whether or not replacing red meat with other protein sources would affect blood pressure. According to the findings, by substituting one serving, or 3.5 ounces, of red meat per day with another protein source — such as poultry, fish, eggs and dairy or plant-based products — individuals could lower their odds of hypertension by 8-15%, regardless of food security levels.
Participants with higher total red meat intake were more likely to be non-Hispanic white men, who smoked, drank alcohol, had higher body mass indexes and had histories of CVD or diabetes.
The researchers said that this study provides important insight into preventing hypertension and reducing health disparities associated with food insecurity. The findings underscore the need to prioritize resources to improve diets among U.S. adults, particularly households experiencing food insecurities.
Xiang Gao of Penn State Cancer Institute; John Richie, Vernon Chinchilli and Duanping Liao of Penn State College of Medicine also contributed to this research. The researchers declare no conflicts of interest or specific funding support.
Blood pressure can increase when eating red meat. The process of metabolizing red meat in the body may also release compounds that elevate blood pressure even more.
Red meats include the following:
Red meat consumption should be kept to a minimum or leaner cuts should be chosen. The likelihood of raising blood pressure increases with the color of the meat.
What meals cause an increase in blood pressure?
These foods may cause blood pressure to increase:
- processed meats like hot dogs and bacon.
- foods in cans that have been preserved.
- foods high in salt, including pickles and potato chips.
- fried dishes like chicken strips and french fries.
- Vegetable oil and margarine, which are high in trans fat.
With high blood pressure, what meats should I stay away from?
Blood pushing against blood vessel walls results in blood pressure. The arteries (blood vessels) that carry blood throughout the body are filled with blood by the heart. When you have high blood pressure, commonly known as hypertension, your artery pressure is higher than it should be. Most of the time, nobody is really sure what raises blood pressure. Your blood pressure might be impacted by what you eat.
How does nutrition affect blood pressure?
- Blood pressure can rise as a result of some foods.
- Blood pressure can be lowered by specific meals.
- Blood pressure might rise as a result of weight gain.
- Blood pressure can be lowered by losing weight.
What should I eat to control high blood pressure?
- Consume foods with fewer calories, fat, and salt.
- Instead of salt, flavor meals with herbs, spices, vinegar, lemon, or fruit juices.
- Reduce your use of salad dressings, margarine, butter, margarine, and oil.
What are some of the foods I should eat?
- Greek yogurt, skim or 1% milk, and yogurt (calcium-rich foods can lower blood pressure).
- Chicken and turkey without skin.
- Ready-to-eat cereals with less salt.
- prepared hot cereal (not instant).
- cheeses with less salt and fat.
- Obstacles: fruits (fresh, frozen, or canned without added salt).
- Fruits and vegetables (fresh, frozen or canned, no added salt).
- Items with vibrant colors, such as green, orange, and red ones, are rich in minerals and potassium, which lower blood pressure.
- 5 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables should be consumed daily.
- potatoes, spaghetti, and white rice.
- loaves of bread (English muffins, bagels, rolls, and tortillas).
- made convenience meal with less salt.
Unsalted nuts and seeds, such as those from pumpkin, squash, and sunflower, are high in minerals that decrease blood pressure.
What’s the difference between sodium and salt?
Most salt is sodium, a mineral that naturally occurs in food. Your blood pressure could rise if you consume too much sodium. Food also contains other types of salt. Another example of a sodium added to food is MSG (monosodium glutamate) (common in Chinese food).
How does salt increase blood pressure?
Too much sodium in the form of salt causes your body to retain more water, which it uses to “flush” the salt out of your system. This can make some people’s blood pressure go up. Your heart and blood arteries are under stress from the additional water.
How much sodium is too much?
No more than 1,500 mg of sodium should be consumed per day, according to the American Heart Association. 2,400 milligrams of sodium are present in one teaspoon of salt. These sodium recommendations are typically considerably exceeded.
How can I reduce my sodium intake?
- Keep table salt out of it.
- Choose items with less salt by reading nutrition labels.
- Select items with the labels “sodium-free,” “reduced sodium,” and “unseasoned.”
- Use alternatives for salt (ask your healthcare provider first).
- Never swap regular salt for lite salt.
- Verify the content labels. (Contents are ordered from most to least in quantity.)
- Purchase seasoning blends and herbs free of salt, such as Mrs. Dash.
What foods are high in sodium?
- processed meals including ham, bacon, sausage, and lunch meats.
- Bouillon, dried soup ingredients, and canned soups.
- A condiment (catsup, soy sauce, salad dressings).
- mixes for pasta, rice, and potatoes that are frozen and packaged.
- Snack items (pretzels, popcorn, peanuts, chips).
- brine-pickled or brine-marinated food. (Marinades based on vinegar and lemon juice are OK.)
Comparison of Sodium in Foods
Fresh or frozen veggies, canned goods without additional salt, and 1/2 cup: 70 mg or less
*Unless low-fat or reduced-fat options are chosen, these may also be high in saturated fat.
What should someone with high blood pressure avoid eating?
High blood pressure and heart disease are largely caused by salt, or more precisely the sodium in salt. This is as a result of how it alters the blood’s fluid balance.
About 40% of table salt is sodium. It’s simple to consume too much salt, yet a certain amount is necessary for health. The American Heart Association advises consuming no more than 2,300 mg of sodium (or 1 teaspoon of salt) each day.
Instead of being added at the table, packaged, processed food makes up the majority of the sodium in the American diet. Unexpected locations could contain sodium.
The “salty six” foods listed below are substantial sources of people’s daily salt intake:
- cured meats and cold slices
- tacos and burritos
Deli meat
Processed luncheon and deli meats are frequently high in salt. This is because salt is used by manufacturers to cure, season, and preserve these foods.
Just two slices of bologna contain 910 mg of salt, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) database. There are 567 mg in a single hot dog or frankfurter.
A sandwich can quickly increase in sodium content by adding other high-salt ingredients including bread, cheese, other condiments, and pickles.
Frozen pizza
Pizzas that are frozen are made with a mixture of components that makes them heavy in sodium, saturated fat, and sugar. Particularly high salt levels have been found in frozen pizza.
Cheese frequently has a lot of salt. 512 mg of salt can be found in just two slices of American cheese. Usually, this is combined with tomato sauce, cured meats, and a salty or sweet pizza crust.
Manufacturers frequently use a lot of salt to preserve flavor in the pizza after it has been baked.
3,140 mg of salt, or much over the 2,300 mg daily limit, can be found in one 12-inch pepperoni pizza that was cooked from frozen.
Try cooking pizza at home instead using handmade dough, low sodium cheese, and your preferred vegetables.
Pickles
Salt is necessary for food preservation. It delays food deterioration and prolongs its shelf life.
Vegetables absorb more sodium the longer they soak in canning and preserving liquids.
Canned soups
When you’re pressed for time or feel under the weather, canned soups are quick and simple to cook.
But canned soups have a lot of sodium. Similar levels may be present in bottled and canned broths and stocks. They are therefore capable of raising your blood pressure.
While a can of chicken and vegetable soup has 2,140 mg of salt, a can of tomato soup only has 1,110 mg.
Instead, try picking soups with less salt or making your own homemade soup with fresh ingredients.
Canned tomato products
The majority of pasta sauces, tomato liquids, and tomato sauces in cans are rich in sodium. This implies that they have the potential to increase your blood pressure, particularly if you already have high blood pressure.
The salt content of 135 grams of marinara sauce is 566 mg. 615 mg are present in one cup of tomato juice.
Use these substitutes or fresh tomatoes, which are high in the antioxidant lycopene, to decrease your blood pressure. Heart-healthy advantages of fresh vegetables abound.
Sugar
According to research, both adults and children who consume sugarespecially through sugar-sweetened beveragesare more likely to gain weight. Obesity and being overweight raise the risk of high blood pressure.
Additional research is required, but it’s possible that added sugar directly raises blood pressure.
According to a 2019 research of women with high blood pressure, cutting back on sugar by 2.3 teaspoons could lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 8.4 mm Hg and 3.7 mm Hg, respectively.
The following daily added sugar limits are advised by the AHA:
- For females, 6 teaspoons, or 25 grams
- 36 grams or 9 teaspoons for men
Processed foods with trans or saturated fat
It is best to cut back on saturated fats and stay away from trans fats to maintain heart health. For those who have high blood pressure, this is especially true.
Trans fats are synthetic fats that lengthen the shelf life and stability of packaged goods.
However, consuming them increases levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol and decreases HDL (good) cholesterol, which can boost the risk of hypertension.
Trans fats are particularly detrimental to your health and are associated with poor heart health, which increases your risk of:
Trans fats and saturated fats, as well as significant levels of sugar, sodium, and carbs with little fiber, are frequently found in packaged, pre-prepared foods.
The majority of saturated fats are found in animal products, such as:
fatty milk with cream
To support heart health, the AHA advises consuming fewer saturated and trans fats.
Replace certain animal foods with plant-based substitutes as one approach to lower your consumption of saturated fat.
Healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids can be found in a lot of plant-based diets. Plant-based food examples include:
Alcohol
Your doctor might advise you to cut back on your alcohol consumption if you have high blood pressure. People who typically drank more than two drinks per day were shown to have a lower blood pressure when they consumed less alcohol, according to a 2017 study.
Limiting alcohol consumption may help persons who do not already have hypertension lower their chance of becoming hypertensive.
Through prescription interactions, alcohol can potentially stop blood pressure drugs from working as intended.
Many alcoholic beverages also include a lot of sugar and calories. Alcohol consumption can lead to obesity and overweight, which can raise the risk of hypertension.
The AHA advises limiting alcohol consumption to two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women if you do drink.
How can I instantly drop my blood pressure?
How Can I Safely Lower My Blood Pressure the Quickest?
- Outside of a medical setting, there is no rapid and secure technique to reduce blood pressure.
- Over time, blood pressure can be gradually lowered through lifestyle modifications that include exercise, a healthy diet, and stress management practices.
Does pork lower blood pressure?
According to Purdue University research, lean, unprocessed pork can be consumed as part of a DASH diet.
According to Wayne Campbell, a professor of nutrition science, “this study suggests that the DASH diet can incorporate lean, unprocessed red meats in the right serving amounts.”
Only slices of unprocessed lean pork, such as tenderloin and fresh, uncured ham that have been trimmed of visible fat, are covered by this study. Three ounces were the size of each dish.
The diet restricts red meat in order to lower salt and total and saturated fat. The DASH diet, which emphasizes consuming more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, nuts, poultry, and fish while consuming less fat, red meat, including pig, and added sugars, is frequently advised to lower blood pressure.
Numerous cuts of red meat that fall below the USDA’s definition of “lean”less than 10 grams of total fat and less than 4.5 grams of saturated fat per 100 gramsinclude beef or pig tenderloin and fresh ham. Less than 5 grams of total fat and fewer than 2 grams of saturated fat per 100 grams is considered extra lean.
According to Drew Sayer, a doctoral nutrition science student and a co-author on the study, “If people have to rely only on fish and chicken their diet choices can be limited, and our findings support that lean pork may be a viable option for people who are consuming a DASH diet without compromising the effectiveness of the diet plan.”
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a risk factor for kidney and cardiovascular disease. In America, about 30% of adults have hypertension, while 65% of people 60 and older have high blood pressure.
The average age of the 19 study participants, who had increased high blood pressure, was 61.
Participants in the study followed a DASH-style diet for two six-week periods, with lean pork, chicken, or fish as the primary protein sources. After a four-week interval, they ate the substitute meat. At the start of each six-week period as well as at the conclusion of the trial, blood pressure readings were recorded.
Both DASH options of pork or chicken and fish did not differ in pre- and post-intervention manual and 24-hour blood pressure readings. There were no differences in blood pressure-lowering effects between the DASH with chicken and fish and the DASH with pork after consuming these diets for six weeks.
What kind of meat lowers blood pressure the best?
Omega-3 fatty acids, which are included in fatty fish like mackerel and salmon, have been demonstrated in studies to help manage high blood pressure.
Cheese and other dairy products can be a rich source of calcium, which helps to maintain healthy bones, but they can also be high in saturated fat and salt, depending on the cheese.
Goat cheese and low-fat cheeses like soft or cottage cheese are the best options.
In addition to raising the risk of high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease, consuming too much cheese can raise blood pressure.
Porkis it a red meat?
Depending on how much myoglobin is present in the animal’s muscle, meat is either classified as white or red. Meat contains a protein called myoglobin, which turns red when it comes into contact with oxygen. White meats like fish and poultry both contain considerably less myoglobin than red meat.
Despite occasionally turning a lighter color when cooked, pork is still categorized as red meat. Along with lamb, veal, and beef, pork is considered to be a type of livestock.
Despite the culinary practice of referring to white meat as a meat that is pale in color both before and after it is cooked, even the United States Department of Agriculture considers pork to be a red meat.
Does water help to reduce blood pressure?
The body benefits from water. To maintain proper hydration, it is advised to drink water frequently throughout the day. It can aid in lubricating the body, lowering the chance of illnesses like kidney stones and urinary tract infections, and it can help improve brain function in addition to lowering blood pressure.