Vegetable Protein Can Save Lives by Jason

by Jason, July 16th, 2009

You probably don’t know what glutamic acid is, but it could help with lowering your blood pressure. The acid is found in abundance in vegetable protein. This is just the latest research that supports the notion that vegetable proteins reduce blood pressure.

Researchers believe that these finding may explain why the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) helps lower blood pressure. The DASH diet is low in sodium and includes lots of vegetables, whole grains, and beans. Beans are also a great source of vegetable protein.

The nearly 5,000 participants in the study were from all over the world, including residents of the U.S., U.K., China, and Japan. The researchers found that when the participants simply increased their glutamic acid intake by five percent as a percentage of their total protein, they lowered their blood pressure. The systolic blood pressure was lowered by an average of 1.5 to 3.0 points and diastolic blood pressure by 1.0 to 1.6 points.

While the reduction is modest, it doesn’t take much to make a big difference in your health.

“It is estimated that reducing a population’s average systolic blood pressure by two [points] could cut stroke death rates by six percent and reduce mortality from coronary heart disease by percent,” says researcher Jeremiah Stamler, MD, professor emeritus in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois.

According to the American Heart Association, that six percent reduction in stroke deaths would be equivalent to saving 8,600 lives. If there was a 4 percent reduction in heart disease deaths, that would save 17,800 lives a year.

(via: WebMD)

Info Source: http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/07/vegetable-protein-can-save-lives/