Blood pressure levels above normal ranges increase your risk for heart disease, stroke and kidney disease. Improving your diet can help you maintain your blood pressure within the normal range, or decrease your blood pressure if it is already high. Soy nuts, or dry roasted soybeans, provide a variety of nutrients for lowering blood pressure. Remember that many other factors affect your blood pressure, so eat soy nuts in moderation as part of a balanced diet, and consult your doctor if you have concerns.
Sodium
Unsalted soy nuts may support healthy blood pressure because they have only 3 mg of sodium per cup. A high-sodium diet can cause high blood pressure, and healthy adults should have no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day, according to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. If you already have high blood pressure, stay under 1,500 mg sodium per day. A cup of roasted soybeans with salt has 280 mg of sodium.
Other Minerals
A high-potassium diet may lower your blood pressure, and soy nuts may support healthy blood pressure because each cup supplies 2,346 mg of potassium. Each cup of dry roasted soybeans, or soy nuts, provides 241 mg calcium, or 24 percent of the daily value for calcium, and 392 mg magnesium, or nearly 100 percent of the daily value for magnesium. Calcium and magnesium allow proper muscle function, and they are also necessary for regulating your blood pressure, according to the Linus Pauling Institute.
Fiber and Fat
A cup of soy nuts provides 30 g of dietary fiber, or 120 percent of the daily value. A high-fiber diet promotes heart health because it lowers cholesterol and may lower blood pressure, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. Another potential beneficial nutrient in soy nuts for your blood pressure is the 2.5 g of alpha-linolenic acid in each cup. Alpha-linolenic acid is an essential omega-3 fatty acid, and it may help lower your blood pressure.
Recommendations
A 2,000-calorie meal plan following the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH, diet includes four to five servings per week of beans, nuts or soybeans, according to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The DASH diet is an eating pattern that may lower high blood pressure or help you maintain healthy blood pressure. Another consideration when eating soy nuts is that they are high in calories, so eat them only in moderation to avoid gaining unwanted weight. Obesity is a risk factor for hypertension.
References
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010; January 2010
- Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University; Dietary Fiber; Jane Higdon, Ph.D., et al.; December 2005
- Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University; Calcium; Jane Higdon, Ph.D., et al.; November 2010
- Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University; Magnesium; Jane Higdon, Ph.D., et al.; August 2007
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Legumes and Legume Products
