A substance found in red onions called quercetin has been found to reduce high blood pressure. But if you’re not a fan of onions don’t worry – quercetin, a plant pigment called a flavonoid, is also found in other foods including tea, apples, green leafy vegetables, broccoli, peppers, grapes and red wine. Or you could, like the participants in this latest review, simply take a quercetin supplement.

The study, published in the journal Nutrition Reviews, reviewed 17 studies that looked at the effect of quercetin in a total of 886 people with cardiovascular disease. After analysing the studies’ results the researchers found quercetin reduced both systolic and diastolic blood pressure significantly.

Systolic blood pressure is the first number in a blood pressure reading, and represents the pressure in your arteries when your heart is contracting. Diastolic blood pressure, meanwhile is the second number and represents the pressure between heart beats).

The encouraging results were seen in those who had been taking quercetin for eight weeks or longer.

Even if you don’t have high blood pressure now, adding more quercetin-rich foods to your diet may be a good idea if you want to keep your heart healthy, as high blood pressure is a well-known risk factor for heart disease, stroke and heart failure.

 

Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash