High blood pressure, or hypertension, is both a symptom and a cause of cardiovascular disease. It underpins half of all strokes and heart disease deaths worldwide and is directly implicated in over 13% of all deaths, making it the single most important risk factor for human mortality ever studied.
There are two things about high blood pressure that seriously frustrate medical and public health professionals. First, it’s a “silent killer,” meaning that many people who suffer from hypertension are totally unaware of it. (The World Health Organization estimates that close to half the people who have dangerously high blood pressure don’t know it.)
Second, it’s “highly modifiable,” which is a fancy way of saying that you have a lot of control over your blood pressure. Of course, that’s actually good news; once you’re aware of both the need and the strategies you can use to bring down high blood pressure.
Broadly speaking, there are two strategies for dealing with hypertension: pharmaceuticals and lifestyle (especially diet).
The pharmaceutical industry sells a wide range of antihypertensive medications, including ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers, alpha-blockers, diuretics, calcium channel blockers, and ARBs, among others. These are among the most prescribed drugs in the US, but far from the most consumed. It’s estimated that only half of the Americans who are prescribed these drugs take them according to their doctor’s instructions.
It’s not hard to see why. Common side effects of blood pressure medications include cough, diarrhea or constipation, dizziness or lightheadedness, headache, skin rash, nausea or vomiting, nervous feelings, sexual problems, fatigue or weakness, and unwanted weight gain or loss. When a drug causes any of these symptoms, and not taking it doesn’t affect how you feel (at least in the short run), it’s easy to slack off and leave the meds inside the bottle.
Food and Blood Pressure
Fortunately, there’s another way to treat hypertension that doesn’t bring unpleasant side effects: food.
The best known diet prescribed for cardiac health is the DASH diet (don’t worry: it doesn’t make you run sprints between bites — DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension). It features vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, and whole grains, and limits foods high in saturated fat, such as fatty meats, full-fat dairy products, and tropical oils (coconut, palm kernel, and palm oils), as well as sugar-sweetened beverages, sweets, and high-sodium foods.
Several studies have shown that the DASH diet can lower triglycerides, blood glucose levels, LDL cholesterol, and insulin resistance.
A 2024 meta-analysis of 27 randomized trials, including more than 7,000 participants, found that DASH-style and Mediterranean-type heart-healthy eating patterns lowered systolic blood pressure by about 4 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure by about 2 mm Hg. That may not sound like much, but across whole populations, that means a lot fewer heart attacks and strokes.
Another diet often recommended for high blood pressure is the MIND Diet (which just might win the “acronym stretching it” contest, if ever there was one — MIND stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay). The MIND diet is a Mediterranean-DASH mashup that includes foods common to both that are proven to benefit brain health and combat cognitive decline. In 2025, U.S. News & World Report ranked the vegan diet and the Ornish Diet (which is mostly plant-based) as highly effective for treating hypertension. Interestingly enough, all of these approaches feature a plant-forward approach. And of all the benefits of a plant-rich diet, its ability to lower blood pressure is one of the most studied. So let’s look at why a plant-based diet can help control blood pressure, and identify some of the best plant-based foods that naturally lower blood pressure.
Plant-Based Diets and Hypertension
Dean Ornish, MD, developer of the Ornish Diet that bears his name, is one of the pioneers in using diet and lifestyle to treat — and often halt or reverse the progression of — chronic disease. Much of his early work focused on heart disease, and as we’ve seen, high blood pressure both contributes to and results from that disease.
In 2009, Ornish and colleagues published the results of a comprehensive lifestyle trial that included almost 3,000 patients from diverse locations and socioeconomic backgrounds. Patients were put on a program that included a low-fat, whole food, plant-based diet; daily walks; and an hour a day of a stress-management practice, such as yoga or meditation. By the end of 12 weeks, participants experienced significant improvements in body mass index, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, hemoglobin A1C, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, depression, and functional capacity. Participants’ blood pressure dropped an average of 8–9%.
Joel Fuhrman, MD, also tested a plant-based diet to see whether it could lower high blood pressure. Seventy-five obese patients were asked to follow a Nutrient-Dense, Plant-Rich (NDPR) diet that allowed small amounts of animal products (fewer than 5% of total calories). After one year, those who complied with the protocol saw an average reduction in systolic blood pressure (the top number) of nearly 30 mm Hg (millimeters of mercury, a unit used to measure pressure, including blood pressure and barometric pressure).
Analysis of data from a large cohort of Seventh-day Adventists found that vegans had 37% the risk of high blood pressure compared to omnivores, even when adjusting for other variables. A 2019 review article identifies dozens of studies correlating a vegetarian or vegan diet with lower blood pressure.
So there’s a lot of evidence that a whole food, plant-based diet can significantly reduce the risk of hypertension. How might it achieve that feat? Let’s now turn to some of the biological mechanisms that connect food to blood pressure.
Nitrates and Blood Pressure
There’s a big difference between the nitrates that occur naturally in some plant foods and the ones added to certain processed meats. The best advice I can offer is this: steer clear of the nitrates used as preservatives in processed meats, which are linked to serious health risks, and embrace the beneficial nitrates found in whole plant foods.
When you eat nitrate-rich veggies, the bacteria in your saliva convert those nitrates into nitrites as you chew. That nitrite-rich saliva travels to your gut, where it’s used to make nitric oxide (NO) — a compound that helps relax and dilate your blood vessels, supporting healthy blood flow and overall cardiovascular function.
For a deeper dive, check out our comprehensive article on nitrates and nitrites.
Does Fiber Lower Blood Pressure?
There appears to be a strong inverse relationship between hypertension and fiber intake, which is a fancy way of saying that more fiber generally means less high blood pressure. What’s more, the higher the blood pressure, the more adding fiber to your diet can help.
We’re not sure of the exact mechanism, but we do know that fiber can help protect against metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and high cholesterol, all of which are related to high blood pressure. Lower total and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol is associated with better dilation of the endothelium (the layer of cells that lines the inner wall of blood vessels), which lowers blood pressure by improving blood flow.
Fiber also reduces oxidative stress, a process that can lead to cell and tissue damage that increases cardiovascular risk.
If you’re looking for dietary fiber, here’s a shortcut: eat unprocessed or minimally processed plant foods. (Fun fact: plants are naturally rich in fiber, while animal products have none. Unprocessed or lightly processed plant foods contain much more fiber than highly processed foods (such as baked goods), which tend to be high in white flour and white sugar.
For more on fiber, see our article here.
Potassium and Blood Pressure
People with high blood pressure are encouraged to cut way down on sodium. Part of that equation appears to be the potassium-to-sodium ratio, which in the standard modern diet is heavily — and unhealthfully — weighted toward sodium. When potassium intake increases to match that of sodium, your body can balance the electrolytes that regulate your nervous and cardiovascular systems.
Increasing dietary potassium may lower high blood pressure by inducing vasorelaxation, or the reduction of tension in blood vessel walls. Potassium affects the amount of fluid stored in your body and how much goes out in your urine. If your body is retaining water, you’ll have more fluid in your blood, which puts extra pressure on your blood vessel walls.
A 2013 study found that when participants supplemented with 2 grams of potassium, their blood pressure decreased by an average of 3 mm Hg systolic and 2 mm Hg diastolic. That may not sound like a big deal, but a drop of this magnitude in diastolic pressure across an entire population would reduce the incidence of stroke by 15% and of heart disease by 6%, saving more than a million lives per year worldwide.
The higher your blood pressure, the more benefit extra potassium will provide. The closer you are to already having normal blood pressure, the less impact each additional gram of potassium will have. In addition to getting potassium from supplements, you can also increase your intake by eating more of some amazingly delicious foods. Avocados, sweet potatoes, spinach, watermelon, coconut water, white beans, edamame, and, of course, bananas all contain high levels of potassium. Yum!
For more on potassium, see our article here.
Does Magnesium Help Lower Blood Pressure?
The modern diet leaves many people deficient in magnesium, another mineral that plays a crucial role in modulating blood pressure. Like with potassium, magnesium achieves the greatest reduction in blood pressure in people with the most severe hypertension.
In some studies, magnesium intake of 500–1,000 mg per day reduced blood pressure by as much as 5.6 mm Hg systolic and 2.8 mm Hg diastolic. The most effective mineral treatment for hypertension appears to be a combination approach — increased magnesium and potassium, coupled with a reduction in sodium. This protocol often achieves the same result as a single antihypertensive drug, without negative side effects.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) actually allowed a qualified health claim about magnesium and blood pressure starting in 2022. One variation of the claim that food and supplement manufacturers can use in packaging and advertising goes as follows: “Inconsistent and inconclusive scientific evidence suggests that diets with adequate magnesium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure (hypertension), a condition associated with many factors.” Not exactly a marketer’s dream, but far more than the FDA allows for most other nutrients and conditions.
Editor’s Note: Our friends at Purality Health have developed a magnesium supplement using a patented micelle liposomal formulation that significantly enhances absorption. Click here to learn more.
Low Sodium Diet and Hypertension
Potassium and magnesium appear to work to regulate blood pressure largely because the modern diet is so high in sodium. That gives us another lever to pull; simply reducing salt intake can make a big difference in managing hypertension.
A whole food, plant-based diet is naturally low in sodium; the trick is to avoid adding sodium in its many forms (and disguises). These include straight-up salt — table salt, Himalayan pink salt, and Celtic sea salt — as well as soy sauce and its variations: tamari, shoyu, and liquid aminos. Sodium also appears in many sauces, dips, spreads, and other condiments, in addition to most packaged foods.
A version of whole food, plant-based eating called SOS-free (SOS stands for sugar, oil, and salt) is especially good for those whose blood pressure spikes when they ingest excess sodium.
How much is too much sodium for blood pressure? While the exact sodium threshold varies by individual and also depends on how much potassium and magnesium a person consumes, you generally want to keep your sodium intake to fewer than 2 grams per day (which, since salt is about 40% sodium and 60% chloride, comes to 5 grams of table salt, or seven-eighths of a teaspoon). Staying below that level has been shown to help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and heart attacks.
A large 2013 meta-analysis of 34 clinical trials showed that reducing salt intake may improve cardiovascular health, not only by lowering blood pressure but also by benefiting vascular and arterial function.
Too much salt, on the other hand, may cause water retention, leading to increased flow in arterial vessels. This can cause fluid to accumulate in the lower legs or abdomen, a condition known as edema.
Overall, reducing sodium intake has been identified as one of the most cost-effective measures countries can take to improve population health outcomes.
For a deeper dive into salt and sodium, here’s a comprehensive article for you: Is Salt Good for You? Sodium Facts You Need To Know About.
9 Best Foods for Lowering Blood Pressure
Now that you know the nutrients implicated in hypertension, as well as those that can help to normalize blood pressure, it’s time to get specific and actionable. Here are nine great foods to include in your diet to move toward or maintain healthy blood pressure. Since they’re all plant-based, they’re good sources of fiber. Some are rich in potassium and/or magnesium, and some deliver healthy nitrates that your body can turn into NO. After a brief introduction to each food, I’ll share a couple of fun and delicious recipes that will have you eager to add them to your blood pressure-lowering diet.
1. Garlic
Garlic may reduce blood pressure largely thanks to one of its most potent components, allicin. This organosulfur compound, which is responsible for the bulb’s strong odor, appears to mimic the effect of angiotensin-II inhibiting drugs, as well as acting as a powerful vasodilator. A 2021 randomized controlled trial of 110 participants with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease found that even garlic powder significantly reduced blood pressure compared to a placebo. (I’d love to know what the researchers used as fake garlic powder for the placebo group!)
A 2025 meta-analysis pooling 108 randomized trials found that garlic not only improved cholesterol and blood sugar levels but also lowered systolic blood pressure by about 4 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure by about 2 mm Hg. The biggest improvements occurred in people who started with the highest risk.
Here are two garlic recipes to lower blood pressure:
2. Ginger
Ginger is another pungent spice that can help normalize high blood pressure. Compounds in ginger fight inflammation and oxidation, suppress platelet formation, and reduce serum cholesterol. One of these plant compounds, 6-gingerol, has been studied extensively by pharmaceutical researchers looking to formulate better hypertension drugs with fewer side effects.
A 2018 randomized controlled trial used powdered ginger capsules so that participants, all of whom had type 2 diabetes, couldn’t tell whether they were in the experimental or placebo group. After eight weeks, the group that received the ginger pills had significantly lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure, as well as lower scores on pulse pressure and mean arterial pressure.
The former refers to the difference between systolic and diastolic blood pressure, an indicator of arterial suppleness, while the latter, a complex combination of systolic and diastolic, is thought to represent blood flow to various organs. So basically, ginger scores a winning 4-for-4 in lowering blood pressure.
A 2019 meta-analysis of multiple studies on the effects of powdered ginger on blood pressure showed that, on average, supplementing with ginger dropped systolic blood pressure by 6 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure by 2 mm Hg.
A 2025 umbrella review of ginger meta-analyses found that ginger consistently showed modest but significant benefits for cardiovascular risk factors, including blood pressure, particularly in people with metabolic disease.
Here are two ginger recipes for hypertension:
3. Beets
Beets and beet greens are both rich sources of nitrates, which your body uses to make that all-important nitric oxide (which, as you may recall, we like to abbreviate as NO). (Wouldn’t it be great if someone made a series of public service announcements about beets with the tagline, “Just say NO?” On second thought, maybe that would just confuse people — I’m just workshopping here!)
Beets are also chock-full of antioxidants, as well as magnesium, potassium, and several other minerals. A 2019 study of healthy older adults who drank 70 milliliters of beet juice for a month found their systolic and diastolic blood pressure dropped by 6 and 4 mm Hg, respectively.
A 2024 meta-analysis of people with hypertension concluded that beetroot juice reliably lowers systolic blood pressure, with a lower and less consistent effect on diastolic readings.
A 2024 randomized trial in older adults found that nitrate-rich beet juice decreased systolic blood pressure by about 7 mm Hg and improved the oral microbiome — underscoring how nitrate-rich veggies like beets may support vascular health through our mouth bacteria as well as our arteries.
To test the benefits of beets for blood pressure, try out these recipes:
4. Spinach
Popeye ate spinach at his most stressful moments, which is fitting because spinach is another food that can combat hypertension. A 2015 study found that giving healthy adults a single serving of spinach soup per day significantly lowered both systolic and diastolic blood pressure after just seven days. If you’re wondering, the control group got similarly hued asparagus soup, which was extremely low in nitrates. They also experienced a drop in blood pressure, but not nearly as large as the spinach group.
Recent reviews of dietary nitrate research conclude that nitrate-rich vegetables like spinach and beets modestly but significantly improve blood pressure and vascular function, particularly in people with elevated blood pressure.
To reap the benefits of spinach for blood pressure, give these recipes a go:
5. Pomegranates
Pomegranates are another colorful food that can lower your blood pressure. Researchers have found that pomegranate juice can reduce hypertension by inhibiting serum ACE activity (just like the ACE inhibitor class of antihypertensive medications). A 2017 meta-analysis of eight randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials found that pomegranate juice lowered systolic blood pressure by an average of 5 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure by around 2 mm Hg. Interestingly, it had similar effects regardless of trial length or the amount of pomegranate juice consumed.
To see the benefits of pomegranate for blood pressure, try making one of these recipes:
6. Oats
Oats may lower blood pressure thanks to oodles (that’s a technical scientific term) of fiber. A small 2002 randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial involving 18 participants with mild to borderline hypertension found that adding whole oat cereal to the diet dropped systolic blood pressure by 7.5 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure by 5.5 mm Hg in just 6 weeks.
A larger 2021 trial asked participants in the experimental group to add oat bran to their diets. Compared to controls, their blood pressure dropped so much that, on average, their prescriptions for antihypertensive drugs needed to be reduced.
To get oats working for you, try the recipes below:
7. Watermelon
Watermelon is so yummy, I don’t even have to try to convince folks that it’s one of the healthiest foods around. But it’s earned inclusion, so here goes. Watermelon contains two signature amino acids, L-citrulline and L-arginine, which are both chemical precursors of that all-important NO. It’s also rich in antioxidant phytonutrients, such as polyphenols and carotenoids, which have been shown to support cardiovascular health.
To eat watermelon for blood pressure, try one of these recipes:
8. Blueberries
Blueberries are the cardiovascular stars of the fruit family, thanks to their impressive array of polyphenols. A 2010 study of obese adults with metabolic syndrome, for example, found that drinking a frozen blueberry juice drink significantly lowered blood pressure (7.8 mm Hg for systolic and 2.5 mm Hg for diastolic, representing 6% and 4% reductions, respectively).
These benefits were replicated in a 2015 study of postmenopausal women with hypertension: consuming just 22 grams per day of freeze-dried blueberry powder lowered their average blood pressure by 7 mm Hg (systolic) and 5 mm Hg (diastolic) over eight weeks. The blueberry group also had more supple arteries and higher NO levels in their blood.
To see how blueberries and blood pressure work together, check out these recipes:
9. Flaxseed
So far, flaxseeds have achieved the highest documented reduction in blood pressure for any single food. A 2014 “gold standard” randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial found that 30 grams per day of ground flaxseed helped people with hypertension lower their systolic blood pressure by an average of 10 mm Hg and their diastolic blood pressure by 7 mm Hg.
The following year, a meta-analysis of 11 studies found a similar trend, albeit with a smaller effect size. So it’s clear that flaxseeds can benefit people looking to control their blood pressure, possibly due to their high concentration of antioxidant lignan precursors.
Check out these yummy recipes to get some blood-pressure-lowering flaxseed into your diet:
Eat for Your Heart!
High blood pressure or hypertension is a common disorder, and it’s directly linked to the number one cause of death on the planet — heart disease. It’s also highly treatable and, in many cases, preventable. While prescription drugs are the default medical approach, dietary interventions can help prevent and control high blood pressure, especially when those diets include particular nutrients that lower blood pressure.
Whether you have high blood pressure or not, by incorporating the plant-based foods mentioned above, you’ll have a totally natural way to improve your cardiovascular health. And your overall health, too — because unlike with most medications, the only side effects of a healthy diet are good ones!
Editor’s Note: After reading this article, you might be wondering: What else can I do to protect my heart? I’ve partnered with Dr. Mimi Guarneri, one of the world’s leading holistic cardiologists, to answer exactly that question in our Healthy Heart Masterclass. Dr. Guarneri lost both her parents to heart disease before age 50, and she’s dedicated her life to helping others avoid that fate. In this free 90-minute session, you’ll learn which foods truly heal your heart (and which harm it), discover a 2-minute daily routine that significantly cuts heart disease risk, and find out the single best exercise for cardiovascular health. Available for a limited time — save your free spot here.
Tell us in the comments:
- Have you found that your diet affects your blood pressure?
- What are your favorite antihypertensive foods?
- Which mouthwatering recipe from this article will you try next?
Feature Image: iStock.com/fcafotodigital
