Omega-3s May Lower Blood Pressure

Looking to lower your blood pressure? You may want to add
foods containing omega-3 fatty acids to your diet.

Such foods -- which include flaxseeds, walnuts, and fatty fish such as
salmon -- may help lower blood pressure, a new study shows.

The findings "lend modest support to current recommendations to increase
ingestion of omega-3 fatty acids," write Hirotsugu Ueshima, MD, and
colleagues. Ueshima works in the health science department of Japan's Shiga
University.

Ueshima's team studied 4,680 men and women in Japan, China, the U.K., and
the U.S.

Participants, who were 40-59 years old, met with the researchers four times
over three weeks. In each session, they got their blood pressure checked,
provided a urine sample, and reported everything they had eaten and drunk in
the past 24 hours.

The researchers calculated each person's intake of omega-3 fatty acids.
Japanese participants had the highest intake of omega-3 fatty acids.

Ueshima and colleagues also considered other factors, including
participants' age, gender, alcohol consumption, physical activity, dietary
restrictions, supplements, and medications.

Participants with the highest intake of omega-3 fatty acids tended to have
the lowest blood pressure. That pattern was particularly strong in people who
didn't have high blood pressure and who weren't already on restricted diets or
medications to control their blood pressure.

Omega-3 fatty acids didn't appear to drastically slash blood pressure. But
every small reduction in blood pressure counts, and including foods rich in
omega-3 fatty acids as part of a healthy diet may have blood pressure benefits,
note the researchers.

The study appears in the journal Hypertension.

By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang
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