National Association of Nutrition Professionals and Berkeley Test partner to promote heart healthy plant-based diets and cardiovascular wellness
Berkeley, CA (PRWEB) October 16, 2013 -- The National Association of Nutrition Professionals (NANP) and Berkeley Test have teamed-up to provide an inexpensive and easy-to-use saliva test strip for monitoring dietary-derived nitric oxide. With drug resistant high blood pressure on the rise, there is a renewed interest in preventing hypertension through diets rich in nitric oxide-potent vegetables and leafy greens. This is particularly critical now that nearly one-third of all people treated for hypertension with pharmaceutical drugs will still have elevated blood pressure and all associated cardiovascular disease risk factors.
The one-minute test is typically used 2 hours after consuming plant-based meals during which time the body transforms inorganic nitrate into cardio-protective nitric oxide. It is well established through published clinical evaluations that elevated levels of nitric oxide decreases blood pressure in pre-hypertensive individuals.
For many hypertensives, compliance is a critical driver to prevent elevated blood pressure. A daily lifestyle of a cardio-protective diet is emerging as the best solution. Hypertension can be delayed, if not prevented, by maintaining a daily diet low in sodium and a DASH (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension) diet eating plan enriched in nitric oxide potent vegetables and leafy greens.
The next step in taking full advantage of this knowledge to reduce cardiovascular risk is establishing a daily routine of improved eating habits. For the vast majority of Americans, 2 cups of vegetables is often the upper limit of one's daily intake and 5 serving per week is typical and far less than the DASH diet recommended servings of 3-5 cups per day.
In less than a minute, the results from the Berkeley Test strips are analyzed on the iPhone Cardio Diet Tracker App optimized for iOS7. The app provides a personalized record of which foods in an individuals diet elevate natural nitric oxide so those levels can be sustained yielding increased energy and fitness. The updated Cardio Diet Tracker v1.1 allows users to share their dietary success on Facebook and to receive alerts throughout the day to check nitric oxide status in order to make real-time heart health dietary changes.
The 1998, Nobel Prize for medicine was awarded for the discovery of the importance of nitric oxide in cardiovascular health. As the body ages, it begins to lose its ability to make nitric oxide. Plant-based diets enriched with leafy greens, such as arugula, bok choy, kale, mustard greens, and spinach, replenish the body's ability to generate cardio-protective levels of nitric oxide.
ABOUT HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE & NITRIC OXIDE POTENT VEGETABLES
High blood pressure –- or hypertension -- the most commonly diagnosed condition in the US is becoming increasingly resistant to pharmaceutical drugs designed to lower it. It is estimated that within the next decade, a billion-plus people will be hypertensive. Today, one in three Americans has hypertension, an underlying cause of heart attacks, strokes, and kidney disease. Because of its prevalence, high blood pressure is the biggest contributor to death worldwide.
As recently reported in Hypertension, an American Heart Association Journal, subjects who drank beetroot juice containing a natural source of inorganic nitrate showed an average 10-point decrease in their blood pressure. The study's lead author, Dr. Armita Ahluwalia, reported the following to Medical Xpress: "our hope is that increasing one's intake of vegetables with a high dietary nitrate content (such as green leafy vegetables or beet root) might be a lifestyle approach that one could easily employ to improve cardiovascular health."
ABOUT NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of NUTRITION PROFESSIONALS
The National Association of Nutrition Professionals (NANP) is the only professional business league for holistically trained nutrition professionals. Nutrition Professionals advise on how to improve diet, lifestyle, and attitude to prevent disease and promote health. NANP members work with a licensed health provider, such as MD, ND, DO, DC and RN, to educate patients on the benefits of dietary whole food lifestyle improvements relative to their health issue. Nutrition professionals advocate non-biased health and nutrition information with an emphasis on the cost/benefit of eating organic, unprocessed local, fresh, seasonal foods. To learn more about The National Association of Nutrition Professionals or to find a nutrition professional, please visit http://www.nanp.org or visit NANP on facebook, or twitter.
ABOUT BERKELEY TEST
Berkeley Test has been providing inexpensive saliva nitric oxide test strips to athletes as part of their training programs to measure and monitor the positive effects of a whole food diet rich in nitric oxide-potent vegetables. Recognizing the importance of monitoring saliva nitric oxide status for improving vascular heath, wellness and fitness, Berkeley Test now makes its proprietary nitric oxide test available commercially.
Nitric Oxide Test Strips by Berkeley Test are available at Amazon in tubes of 50 strips allowing multiple measurements throughout the day. Discount for Corporate Wellness programs combating hypertension and School programs aimed at increasing leafy greens in children’s diets are available upon request at [email protected]. To record, track, and analyze total body nitric oxide status use the free Cardio Diet Tracker & Nitric Oxide Food Recorder available for iOS7 at the App Store.
Berkeley Test is committed to shifting society's current practice of managing chronic disease to preventing disease by providing a family of affordable, do-it-yourself saliva tests for monitoring the levels of natural metabolites or 'health biomarkers' that our bodies make to maintain our health and wellness. Berkeley Test is a registered mark with the USPTO and is patent pending. For more information please visit http://www.berkeleytest.com or visit us on facebook or Twitter @berkeleytest.
Mary P. Sundeen - Media Inquires, Berkeley Test, http://www.berkeleytest.com, 301-775-0240, [email protected]
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