Keeping your blood pressure levels in check is incredibly important for good health. Long-term high blood pressure can lead to many serious conditions, such as strokes and even heart attacks.
Because of that, a healthy diet rich in foods that lower your blood pressure can be beneficial, even if you’re not prone to high blood pressure. Luckily, there are many foods that can help you do that, and it includes bananas.
Is Banana Good for High Blood Pressure?
Banana is a wonderful fruit for people trying to maintain healthy blood pressure levels. This is because bananas are loaded with potassium, which is a nutrient responsible for lowering your blood pressure and offsetting the negative effects of sodium.
As a result, people with high blood pressure or those prone to this issue should definitely include bananas in their diets.
Bananas and high blood pressure-A Closer Look
According to lots of research, eating bananas is a great natural remedy for high blood pressure for several reasons. In fact, eating just about two bananas a day can significantly improve your blood pressure levels.
In addition to that, including bananas in your diet can lower your risk of several conditions associated with high blood pressure, such as strokes and heart attacks.
So, there are plenty of benefits to eating bananas.
Can eating bananas lower your risk of stroke?
Since bananas contain a lot of potassium that lowers your blood pressure, they also reduce your risk of strokes. This is because the major contributing factor to a higher risk of strokes is high blood pressure.
So, by eating potassium-rich foods like bananas, you can greatly reduce your risk of strokes.
On top of that, bananas contain plenty of other nutrients, including magnesium. This mineral aids in the absorption of potassium, ensuring adequate levels of this nutrient in your body. Thanks to that, you’re also at a much lower risk of stroke than you would have been otherwise.
How does eating bananas lower your blood pressure?
Bananas have long been considered a good food for lowering your blood pressure. This is because they are an excellent source of potassium. One medium-sized banana contains 422 mg of potassium, which equals about 12% of your daily recommended need for this mineral.
Potassium is a mineral that helps offset the negative effects of dietary sodium on your blood pressure, thus lowering it. It also acts as an electrolyte, which means it helps alleviate the tension in the walls of your blood vessels.
This further reduces your risk of high blood pressure and, with that, strokes and heart attacks.
In addition, bananas, just like other fruits, contain plenty of powerful antioxidants. These plant compounds help prevent oxidative damage, reducing your risk of serious health issues, such as heart attacks, heart disease, and even cancer.
Antioxidants also help lower your blood pressure and prevent strokes. So, thanks to that, eating bananas can be even more beneficial for lowering your blood pressure levels.
Can eating bananas raise your blood pressure?
Eating bananas can in no way raise your blood pressure or increase your risk of strokes. This fruit contains a good dose of potassium, which lowers your blood pressure and improves the health of your cardiovascular system.
So, eating bananas helps lower your blood pressure, not raise it.
What’s more, bananas don’t contain any sodium – a mineral that can raise your blood pressure, increase your risk of stroke, and lead to dehydration. Because of that, eating foods low in this mineral, such as bananas, is a good idea.
How should you eat bananas to lower your blood pressure?
Bananas are a very versatile food, so they can be consumed in a wide variety of ways.
The best way to get the most out of the potassium in bananas is to consume them raw. You can snack on them, include them in your lunch, or eat them with some peanut butter. After all, there are many ways to consume fresh bananas.
In addition, all foods made using bananas are a great way to up your intake of potassium, thus lowering your blood pressure. So, eating foods like banana yogurt, banana bread, and a banana smoothie can also help keep your blood pressure in check.
Is banana juice good for high blood pressure?
Banana juice also provides you with a good dose of blood pressure-lowering potassium. In fact, a one-cup serving of this fruit juice contains about 467 mg of potassium – 13% of your daily need.
Because of that, including this juice in your diet can be great for maintaining stable blood pressure levels.
With that said, it’s best to eat fresh bananas since banana juice is very high in sugar. Consuming too much sugar raises your risk of high blood sugar levels and diabetes. So, it’s better to drink banana juice in moderation.
On the other hand, if you make your own banana juice, you can avoid consuming too much sugar while still getting a lot of potassium. Plus, it’s very easy to do, and you can prepare larger amounts and save them for later.
Are banana chips good for high blood pressure?
Just like bananas, banana chips contain potassium, which contributes to lowering your blood pressure. A one-ounce (28 grams) serving of banana chips provides you with 150 mg of potassium, which is around 4% of your daily need for this mineral.
As you can see, it’s not a very impressive amount. But, unlike potato chips, banana chips contain barely any sodium, which means they are much better at preventing your blood pressure from increasing.
So, banana chips are still a great snack for the health of your cardiovascular system.
Conclusion
Making bananas a regular part of your diet can greatly help with maintaining stable blood pressure levels. It’s because this fruit is not only rich in potassium – a nutrient that lowers your blood pressure – but it’s also a great source of antioxidants.
So, if you struggle with high blood pressure, be sure to include bananas in your diet.
Sources: Nutrition Data, PMC, Research Gate, and National Library of Medicine