A new study finds that people that eat more flavonoid-rich food also have lower blood pressure. Flavonoids, which are a variety of natural compounds found in plants, fruits, and vegetables. Considered antioxidants, they can protect against certain health issues like diabetes, cancer, and diabetes.
Certain foods such as red wine, apples, pears, and berries are considered flavonoids, and consuming these types of food helps benefit the community of microorganisms living in your gut, leading to the composition and diversity of the microbiota in the gut.
Because of this discovery, scientists can discern how flavonoids can have varied cardiovascular benefits on different people.
Most of the time, people find that the dietary advice that comes from most healthcare professionals is corny at best, normally requiring their patients to steer clear of certain foods and treats because they tend to cause “bad” breath, or other negative issues. Some exceptions to this rule though tend to be flavonoid-rich foods such as blueberries, strawberries, and dark chocolate.
According to the research, such flavonoids can help protect individuals from such serious health issues, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke, and particular kinds of cancer.
According to the research in the new study, the bacteria that lives in our gut, which is called the gut microbiota, could be partially responsible for the positive effect of dietary flavonoids on a person’s blood pressure.
In fact, one major link of cardiovascular disease (CD) is high blood pressure, while Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shares that CD is also the leading cause of death within the United States.
The new study was conducted by a team from Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom. The results of their study showed that people that ate higher amounts of flavonoid-rich foods also had lower blood pressure.
The study also took into account the diversity of the gut microbiota in the participants of the study. This accounted for a substantial portion of the link found between blood pressure and dietary flavonoids.
The research group’s analysis specifically found that ‘eating 1.6 servings of berries a day – where one serving equals 1 cup or 80 grams of berries – was associated with an average reduction of 4.1 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) in systolic blood pressure.’
When reading one’s blood pressure, the systolic blood pressure checks a person’s pressure in their arteries when the heart contracts. The diastolic blood pressure, on the other hand, checks the pressure when the heart relaxes. When reading one’s blood pressure, the first or the top number is the systolic value, while the lower number is the diastolic value.
The CDC shares that a healthy blood pressure is normally at a less than 120/80 mm, while a high blood pressure value is usually at 140/90 mm or more.
When it comes to the gut microbiota, its diversity and composition explain around 11.6% of the link between blood pressure and berry consumption.
In the same way, consuming 2.8 glasses of red wine a week, or 125 milliliters per glass, is linked with ‘a 3.7-mm Hg reduction in systolic blood pressure. The gut microbiota accounted for 15.2% of this association.’
According to the lead author of the study, Aedin Cassidy, Ph.D., who is also chair and professor in nutrition and preventive medicine at the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University, “Eating 1.5 servings of berries a day resulted in clinically relevant reductions in systolic blood pressure.”
She also explained to Medical News Today that the anthocyanins, which is a class of flavonoids, is what causes this to occur.
Anthocyanins are responsible for the pigment molecules that make the blue or red color of a number of fruits, such as blackcurrants, blueberries, blackberries, and red grapes.
Former research found that a person’s gut bacteria causes a breakdown of flavonoids into compounds, and this has a stronger effect and offer more protection on the heart. On the other hand, eating flavonoid-rich foods on a regular basis can also influence the composition of one’s gut microbiota.
Professor Cassidy said in a press release about the study, which was released in the journal Hypertension, “A better understanding of the highly individual variability of flavonoid metabolism could very well explain why some people have greater cardiovascular protection benefits from flavonoid-rich foods than others.”
Conducting a Food Questionnaire
For the study, the research group took and analyzed the data of 904 adults between the ages of 25 to 82. These participants were part of a medical database from Germany that was classified under the PopGen biobank.
The scientists looked at the participants’ flavonoid consumption over the previous year using a food questionnaire that checked their intake of at least 112 different foods. In order to measure the composition and diversity of the participants’ gut microbiota, the research group used what it known to be a standard technique. This ‘involves sequencing the genetic material of bacteria in stool samples.’
So that the research team could get an accurate and uniform measure of the volunteer’s blood pressure, they asked them to fast overnight. By morning, the participants were made to rest for five minutes, after which the team took their blood pressure for three consecutive times, at three minute intervals. The research team then used the average score of the second and third measurements for their study analysis.
The research team also took into account important factors that could possibly affect the volunteers’ blood pressure, at a wide range at that such as age, sex, medication use, smoking status, physical activity, as well as if they have a family history of coronary artery disease. Meanwhile, the paper doesn’t explain whether they took into account the participants’ ethnicity or race.
They did find that those that consumed higher amounts of flavonoid-rich foods like apples, berries, pears and red wine, were linked with lower systolic blood pressure, but not the same with the diastolic.
Moreover, volunteers’ that consumed the most flavonoid-rich foods were associated with a higher diversity of bacteria in their gut as compared to those that ate the least.
Notably, they also had ‘a lower abundance of a genus of bacteria known as Parabacteroides and a higher abundance of species in the Ruminococcaceae family of bacteria.’
Finding Berries On a Budget
Fresh berries like blueberries, strawberries and blackberries tend to be more expensive than other fruit, which makes it harder for everyone to eat them on a regular basis.
But according to Professor Cassidy in response to MNT, she says that eating frozen berries could be a cost effective alternative, since they normally keep their anthocyanin content. She also shared that while there are supplements, there is not enough research on whether these flavonoid supplements give the same benefits as the actual dietary flavonoids.
Professor Cassidy shares that in the long term, scientists can possibly create prebiotic or probiotic foods that can aid in reducing blood pressure by promoting the flavonoid breakdown by the gut bacteria.
“At the moment, this research area is in its infancy, but down the line, once we establish which bugs are required to metabolize and break down flavonoids into more bioactive forms in the gut, there is the potential to design pre- or probiotics to enhance flavonoid metabolism,” she said.
Professor Cassidy, who is an advisor to the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, also gets funding from the institution.
Meanwhile, the senior dietitian of the British Heart Foundation, Tracy Parker, who was not a part of the study was happy to hear about these new findings.
Although she also told MNT, “However, this isn’t the all clear to crack open a bottle of red wine.” She made sure to point out that there are a number of negative risks that come with alcohol consumption, such as vascular dementia and increased risks of stroke, which highly outweigh the potential benefits of consuming red wine.
She explained, “The best way to keep your blood pressure under control is by eating a balanced diet, including plenty of fruit and vegetables, getting regular exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight.”
However, the study authors also note that there are limitations to the study, such as the fact that flavonoid-rich foods also have other types of health-promoting chemicals, like resveratrol. These chemicals are also considered to lower blood pressure.
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