Starting each day with a bowl of cereal — especially a whole-grain variety — could trim up to 20% off your risk of developing high blood pressure, according to preliminary research presented Tuesday at an American Heart Association meeting in Atlanta.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, can be caused or worsened by a range of factors, including obesity, lack of exercise, too much sodium, and stress.
Although cereal alone won’t keep blood pressure in check, eating it regularly may be an easy and practical way to prevent hypertension, the researchers say.
“Cereal is something that people can easily get into their diet and that they enjoy,” says lead researcher Jinesh Kochar, M.D., a geriatric specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston. “And it costs a lot less than the drugs you’d have to take if you had hypertension.”
Cereals made from whole grains appear to protect against hypertension slightly more than those made from refined grains (which have had their fiber- and nutrient-rich parts removed), the study found.
Julie Miller Jones, Ph.D., a professor of nutrition at the College of St. Catherine, in Minneapolis, says that cereal may be a better source of whole grain than bread and other foods because of how it tends to be served. “Usually with cereal you don’t add a source of saturated fat, while you might add something like sausage to bread,” says Jones, who points out that the study did not control for saturated-fat intake. Jones was not involved in the new research.
In addition, the nuts, raisins, or fruit often added to cereal contain fiber and potassium, both of which can help lower blood pressure. Milk’s effects on blood pressure can’t be discounted either, Jones says. “It may be more about the way you put the breakfast together than anything magical about breakfast cereal.”
Lynne Peeples, health
