Eating more fruits and vegetables may improve your heart health and blood pressure, new research finds It turns out that plant-based foods lower acid levels in the body, while meat and dairy have the opposite effect Sticking with more fruits and veggies also improved kidney health MONDAY, Aug. 12, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- An apple a day, along with a healthy serving of vegetables, could become a first line of treatment for hypertension, new research suggests. Diet plays a large role in overall health, and the study confirmed that a lowers blood pressure while improving both heart and kidney health.
And although most modern diets include animal products, which produce high levels of unhealthy acid in the body, fruits and vegetables can help neutralize that acid. “It's important for us to remember that the usual diets that we eat in modern societies contain much more animal products like meats than fruits and vegetables,” said lead study author , a professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas at Austin's Medical School. “So, when we eat a diet like we do in modern societies, more animal products like meat than fruits and vegetables, we have an acid-producing diet.
” In the study, published Aug. 6 in the , 153 patients with primary hypertension who also had very high levels of blood acid were divided into three groups: those who added 2 to 4 cups of fruits and vegetables to their daily diet; those who took sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) tablets; or those wh.