Effect of Tomato and Cucumber Juice on Blood Pressure in Hypertensive Patients: a Quasi-Experimental Study.

Background: Hypertension is associated with the improvement of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. A healthy diet based on consuming natural foods can prevent and control hypertension.

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of tomato and cucumber juice in reducing the blood pressure of hypertensive patients.

Methods: The study used a quasi-experiment pretest-posttest control group design. The target population are people with hypertension Stage 1, people living in urban area - Cibiru Health Centre Work Area. Purposive sampling was used and the sample size was calculated using the average comparison formula with effect size=0.9, α=0.05, β =0.2. Forty-five subjects involved in the study were divided into three groups (15 subjects were given tomato juice, 15 subjects were given cucumber juice, and 15 subjects were given treatment with mineral water (control group)., This research used 100 grams of ripe red tomatoes, 100 grams of fresh cucumber, and 200 ml of water. The data collected were patient characteristics and blood pressure. The ANOVA analysis test and the Bonferroni Post Hoc test were used to analyze the data.

Results: The results of the study showed a difference in blood pressure reduction in each group. The decrease in systolic blood pressure in the tomato juice group was 7.3±3.1, the cucumber juice group was 4.2±3.3, and the control group was -0.0±2.5 (p=0.0001). The decrease in diastolic blood pressure in the group given tomato juice was 9.2±3.1, the group given cucumber juice was 7.6±3.4, and the control group was 0.4±2.1 (p=0.0001).

Conclusion: There is a difference in blood pressure reduction between the group given tomato juice and the control group, and there is a difference in blood pressure between the group given cucumber juice and the control group.