More and more health experts are making the connection between the bacteria in our gut and many health issues, ranging from mental health to body wellness. Most recently, a study revealed a link between gut health and potentially deadly hypertension.

About one in three Americans — that’s 70 million people — has high blood pressure. About seven out of 10 people who have their first heart attack have hypertension, and eight out of 10 first stroke victims have elevated blood pressure, too. By then it may be too late to deal with the condition. The key is to prevent and control blood pressure prior to having a catastrophic event.

The recent study published in the March 2019 issue of Hypertension shows that having certain types of bacteria in your colon is associated with having high blood pressure. Researchers concluded that you can lower high blood pressure by improving the proportion of healthful to unhealthful bacteria in your colon.

“You cannot cure high blood pressure by taking drugs,” Dr. Gabe Mirkin, author of “The Healthy Heart Miracle” tells Newsmax. “You can only cure it by changing the lifestyle factors that cause it. Drugs only help control high blood pressure for as long as you continue to take them.”

Mirkin, in his weekly magazine published on Dr.Mirkin.com, offers these tips to naturally lower blood pressure by changing the bacteria in your gut:

• Eat more vegetables, fruits, beans, seeds and other plant foods. “These nutrient rich foods contain complex carbohydrates and fats that are not released rapidly introduced into the blood stream so they don’t cause high rises in blood sugar and insulin,” says Mirkin. The fiber passes into the colon where bacteria converts it into short chain fatty acids or SCFA’s which are healthful and anti-inflammatory. Mirkin notes that a vegan diet naturally lowers blood pressure.
• Restrict meat and other animal products. Eating meat can trigger high blood pressure because it contains carnitine that is converted by colon bacteria to a chemical called TMAO that stiffens arteries and causes hypertension.
• Restrict sugar-added foods. “People who taking in 20-25 percent of their calories from sugared beverages and foods are at increased risk for high blood pressure and suffer a 30 percent higher risk for heart attacks compared with people who take in less than 10 percent of calories from added sugars,” says the Orlando-based expert.
• Avoid excess salt. Although many doctors believe that eating too much salt is a major risk factor of developing high blood pressure, recent research shows that taking in too little salt can also be hazardous to your health. “People who develop high blood pressure from too much salt are those who are insulin sensitive,” says Mirkin. “My recommendation is to follow a heart healthy diet based on fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds and restrict processed foods that have added salt. You can add a little salt for seasoning to your home-cooked food.”

As further proof that what you eat can help control blood pressure, a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that people with high blood pressure who followed a healthy diet — whether it was a high carbohydrate, high protein or other plan that avoided meats, sugars and other foods associated with high blood pressure — had a 60 percent success rate in lowering their numbers.

“The people who had their blood pressure lowered also had significant favorable changes in the urinary metabolites that bacteria in your colon make from the food you eat,” Mirkin writes. “These components are associated with a drop in high blood pressure and a reduction in heart attacks. The authors believe that these changes occurred because the participants ate the foods that reduced the unhealthful bacteria and increased the healthful bacteria in their colons.”