Many large-scale epidemiological studies have found that vegetarians are less likely than meat eaters to have high blood pressure.
An article in the journal Nutrition Reviews examined a number of studies that found ways around that difficulty, in some cases by comparing two groups who led similar lives except for diet. One set of researchers, for instance, turned to monks. Trappists are strict vegetarians, and Benedictines are not, and blood pressure, they found, was lower in Trappist monasteries.
Other researchers compared Seventh-day Adventists, who avoid alcohol, nicotine, caffeine and meat, with Mormons, who shun those substances except meat. The researchers found that fewer Adventists had hypertension and that the gap widened with age.
Other researchers have tried to settle the question experimentally, by assigning meat-eating subjects to vegetarian or omnivorous diets, according to the new article, whose lead author was Dr. Susan E. Berkow of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
One such study, of people with normal blood pressure, found that six weeks without meat led to an average drop of 5 points in systolic pressure, the upper number, and a 2-or-3-point drop in diastolic pressure.
In a yearlong study of mild hypertension, the blood pressure of people on a vegetarian diet dropped compared with those still eating meat, even though three-quarters of the vegetarian group stopped taking medication for high blood pressure.
read full article
