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Lowering blood pressure ‘a better way to tackle heart disease’

By Jeremy Cockerill | December 15, 2009

Keeping blood pressure and cholesterol in check is a vital step towards people lowering their chances of developing heart disease, it has been pointed out.

According to Dr Geoff Clayton, a spokesperson for Takeheart, this, combined with giving up smoking, is a way in which people can try and prevent themselves becoming ill.

He called trying to take action on heart disease “highly commendable”.

His comments followed research published by scientists at the University of Reading, which suggested that drinking two glasses of champagne each day could help the heart and circulatory system.

However, Dr Clayton noted that the negative impact of excessive drinking would outweigh the benefit of consuming champagne to combat heart disease.

According to the researchers, champagne increases the availability of nitric oxide in the blood, which controls pressure. This is down to the polyphenols which are in the drink, which are found in both red and white grapes.