Skimmed milk lower down your blood pressure

Drinking a glass of skimmed milk a day can cut blood pressure by up to a third, study finds.

The study found middle-aged men and women who consumed lots of healthy dairy products, such as skimmed milk and low-fat yogurts, were much less likely to have high blood pressure later in life.
The research, carried out in the Netherlands, is not the first to link dairy goods with a healthy heart.
Experts now think minerals such as calcium, potassium and magnesium – all found in milk – could play a vital role in protecting against high blood pressure, or hypertension.
Around 270,000 people a year in the UK suffer a heart attack and high blood pressure – which affects one in five people – is a major risk factor.
Clinical guidelines state a healthy reading - measured in millimeters of mercury, comparing when the heart beats to when it's at rest - is 120mmHg/80mmHg or below. Regular exercise and reduced salt intake can help to lower it but patients who have readings consistently above 140mmHg/90mmHg usually need drugs to control it.

The latest study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggests increased consumption of low-fat milk could help.

Researchers from Wageningen University in the Netherlands monitored 2,245 men and women aged 55 or over who did not have high blood pressure at the start of the trial, for ten years.

The results showed that in the first two years of the study, the risk of developing high blood pressure was reduced almost 30 per cent in those consuming the most low-fat dairy goods.

High-fat products, such as butter or cheese, did not have a protective effect, although they did not increase the risks either.

High blood pressure tends to affect the body as it ages and researchers think although skimmed milk may help delay its onset, it cannot prevent it completely.

The research paper said: "Trials show a diet rich in fruit, vegetables and low-fat dairy products can substantially reduce blood pressure.

"Although the underlying mechanism remains to be established, it has been linked to proteins, bioactive peptides and minerals such as calcium, potassium or magnesium."