One of the primary indicators of heart health is blood pressure (the pressure exerted by blood flow on the vessel walls). Keeping your blood pressure at a normal level undeniably helps prevent circulatory, vascular and cerebral accidents.
However, high blood pressure is very common, affecting about 10 million people in France. This insidious disease is usually asymptomatic, however, it is important to be wary of it because it damages the arteries and its complications are formidable. It is a major risk factor for cardiac events.
Most doctors refer to hypertension as "essential," a term that means the cause of the disease is unknown. This is not true since hypertension is the direct consequence of well-known factors that lead to hardening of the arteries, or other factors that disrupt the function of the kidneys in the regulation of body fluids.
Let's not forget that the hardening of the arteries, especially due to excess cholesterol, promotes hypertension.
Like many degenerative diseases, hypertension is correlated with a poor lifestyle including stress, lack of exercise, smoking, obesity, excess consumption of sugars, salt and refined fats.
There are many medications on the market to treat high blood pressure, but their side effects are as varied as they are numerous. There are 3 main classes of medications for hypertension:
- Beta blockers (Avlocardyl®, Corgard®, Kredex®, Lopressor®, Sectral®,...) with numerous side effects: impotence, fatigue, sleep disorders, digestive disorders, cold extremities, asthma.
- Calcium antagonists (Amlor®, Isoptine®, Loxen®, Tildiem®,...) which also have numerous side effects: hot flashes, headaches, heavy legs, dizziness, fatigue.
- Converting enzyme inhibitors (Captirex®, Captolane®, Coversyl®, Lopril®,...) with lesser side effects: dry cough, dizziness, headache, fatigue.
Did you know that many foods can produce the same result as various types of medication to reduce high blood pressure?
Celery has an active ingredient (3-n-butylephthalide) that acts in this case. It is this substance that gives the vegetable its characteristic smell. Celery contains a very large amount of it, which makes it an absolutely unique remedy. This substance would act on blood pressure by reducing the level of stress hormones, which influence the constriction of blood vessels. This food would therefore be particularly effective in cases where the rise in blood pressure is related to mental stress.
Another legendary remedy for high blood pressure is garlic. Consumed raw or cooked (although it is more powerful raw), it would exert an astonishing action on the blood pressure. The medicinal virtues of garlic juice are partly attributed to its relaxing action on the smooth muscles of the blood vessels, which can only be favorable to the dilation of the vessels. It contains adenosine, a substance that has the ability to relax smooth muscles, as demonstrated by researchers at George Washington University.
Onions, another source of adenosine, also contain small amounts of prostaglandins known for their hypotensive effects.
A series of studies on fish oils have concluded that they do have therapeutic properties in the case of hypertension. Peter Singer, a Berlin-based researcher, argues that small doses of fish oil are as effective in reducing blood pressure as the beta-blockers (e.g., inderal) regularly prescribed in doctors' offices. If fish consumption does not bring about the expected changes, it may at least enhance the effectiveness of the drug, allowing the dose to be lowered.
How much fish should you eat to reduce blood pressure? 100 g of Atlantic mackerel or 120 g of pink salmon or 200 g of sardines (even canned) would be enough. With this ration, the drop recorded was even significant enough in some cases that the research doctors were able to stop the drug treatment. Another study, this time in Denmark, suggests that eating three servings of fish a week is enough to control blood pressure. This suggests that an average of three servings of oily fish - salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines or tuna - per week provides most people with enough omega-3s to regulate their blood pressure.
Recent research from around the world has confirmed that high doses of olive oil slightly lower blood pressure even in those with normal blood pressure.
Other substances, including potassium and selenium, also found in marine fish, are also believed to help lower blood pressure and regulate heart rate. Potassium, a micronutrient found in fruits, vegetables and fish products, has significant antihypertensive effects. There is now evidence that the addition of potassium to the usual diet can reduce blood pressure and that its deficiency can increase blood pressure and even cause hypertension.
It is a medically proven fact that diets rich in fruits and vegetables help reduce high blood pressure. Dr. Sacks remains convinced that the hypotensive properties of fruits and vegetables are due to specific agents such as fiber. For some mysterious reason, the fiber in fruit has a greater antihypertensive effect than that in vegetables or cereals.
Another explanation for the beneficial effect of fruits and vegetables is that antioxidants increase the concentration of prostacyclin in the blood in a very complex process. These hormonal substances have a vasodilator effect that would reduce blood pressure. Or is vitamin C the beneficial agent?
Did you know that a vitamin C deficiency can raise your blood pressure? Therefore, always make sure you eat enough of this vitamin. According to Dr. Christopher, the vitamin C contained in fruits and vegetables is a very powerful remedy to prevent excessive blood pressure.
Some experts claim that hypertension may also be due to a calcium deficiency rather than an excess of sodium in the body. It appears, in fact, that adequate amounts of calcium may reverse the hypertensive effects of sodium in some individuals.
Milk and dairy products are, of course, foods rich in calcium and therefore likely to reduce blood pressure, but we should never forget that the proportion of calcium absorbed from these products is only 5 to 10% of the total calcium content. The rest of the calcium transported by the blood only clogs the arteries and overloads the kidneys. Not to mention the digestive, inflammatory and allergic problems caused by dairy products in people who are particularly sensitive.
Many people are unaware that calcium can be found in very large quantities and in a very assimilable form in other foods such as green leafy vegetables (kale, broccoli, collards and turnips), sardines (even canned), salmon with bones...
Should salt be eliminated?
This can be effective, but the opposite is also possible: it all depends on the biological constitution of each person. It's worth testing to be sure. An excellent way to reduce salt in the diet is to limit consumption of industrially processed foods, which provide about 75% of the total sodium in the diet.
In any case, whether you have high blood pressure or not, it is best to use salt sparingly, because sodium can damage blood vessels and promote strokes in other ways, as Dr. Louis Tobian says. Anyone with kidney disease, heart disease or high blood pressure should reduce their salt intake.
On the other hand, there is a salt combined with chitosan (Sel-chito) which has shown in a clinical study that it had a hypotensive effect.
In an analysis of the issue, Australian researchers concluded that in men and women of all ethnic groups and ages, blood pressure increases with alcoholic beverages, whether beer, wine or spirits. It also seems that the higher the volume of alcohol consumed, the higher the blood pressure. Thus, each glass ingested daily would raise systolic blood pressure by 1 mm Hg. Alcohol would be more dangerous than sodium in this respect, say Australian experts.
IN BRIEF: If you want to prevent blood pressure elevations, don't drink more than two glasses of alcohol or wine a day. Also, remember that alcohol can negate the beneficial effects of a high-salt diet and blood pressure-lowering medications.
- Generally speaking, it is not necessary to give up coffee, because it does not increase blood pressure in healthy people, except in a noticeable way in hypertensive people! However, if stress usually affects you, it is possible that by increasing your blood pressure, caffeine may have harmful effects on you.
Natural strategy against hypertension
The treatment strategy for hypertension will depend primarily on the extent of the problem. A blood pressure of less than 14/9 cmHg is considered normal.
In mild to moderate hypertension (below 18/11), the natural approach should always be preferred using a high density chitosan oligomer extracted from crab.
The researchers believe that the favorable mechanism of action of Chitosan in hypertension consists in an improvement of the production of nitrous oxide (NO) by the endothelial cells of the vessels. Indeed, the endothelial cells that form the inner layer of the vessels are an important source of nitrous oxide (NO), which is itself a powerful vasodilator.