It seems helping to manage blood pressure may be helped by eating and drinking some pleasant food and drink.
In January, Australian researchers found black tea drinkers’ systolic (the top number in blood pressure readings) and diastolic (the lower number) blood pressures were found to be two to three points (mmHg) lower than people who didn’t drink tea.
In August, a review of research was published into regularly consuming chocolate with high amounts of flavanols - a type of plant chemical – to see if it might also make a difference to blood pressure. Consuming flavanols did seem to result in a small but significant drop in blood pressure.
In September, a study of people drinking non-alcoholic red wine saw blood pressure decreased by about 6 mmHg in systolic blood pressure and 2 mmHg in diastolic blood pressure, but more research is needed.