Avoid Milk Chocolate And White Chocolate
The lighter the chocolate, the more sugar it has. One cup of milk chocolate chips contains over 86 grams of sugar, whereas the same amount of white chocolate supplies 100 grams of sugar. According to a study in Open Heart, excess sugar is worse for hypertension than salt.
But there is good news. During a 2018 Harvard study, researchers concluded that dark chocolate might lower blood pressure. Because dark chocolate has 50% to 70% cocoa, it provides natural flavonoids that dilate blood vessels. But while dark chocolate has 50 mg of flavonoids, milk chocolate only contains 16 mg.