Nutritional Advice El Mondo
Objectives:
Is there a relationship between step count and changes in blood pressure (BP) in healthy adults?
Study design:
This review article included 14 trials involving healthy adults and an intervention in the form of brisk walking with a pedometer.
Net changes in blood pressure and step count in each trial were calculated and pooled. In addition, the pooled net changes of two categories (trials that achieved walking 10,000 steps a day and those that did not) were compared.
Results and conclusions:
The investigators found that pooled net changes in blood pressure improved significantly [systolic blood pressure = -3.1 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure = -1.6 mmHg].
The investigators found, however, when the trials were categorized depending on whether they achieved walking 10,000 steps a day, the pooled net change in systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure did not differ significantly between both groups of subjects.
The investigators found the meta-regression analyses indicated that net change in systolic blood pressure was significantly associated with an increased step count (e.g., systolic blood pressure is expected to decrease approximately 4 mmHg if increased step count by 2000 steps a day).
However, net change in systolic blood pressure was not associated with the step count in an intervention group following the intervention.
The investigators concluded that there is no evidence that walking 10,000 steps a day lowers the blood pressure to any marked degree in healthy adults. In order to reduce systolic blood pressure by walking with a pedometer, one should be mindful of increasing one's step count to 20,000 steps per day.
Original title:
The required step count for a reduction in blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis by Igarashi Y, Akazawa N and Maeda S.
Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30127487
Additional information of El Mondo:
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