Diets For High Blood Pressure


by Eric Hartwell - Date: 2007-02-18 - Word Count: 488 Share This!

High blood pressure is also commonly known as hypertension. It describes the medical condition whereby the pressure of the blood is elevated to a chronic level. On a formal level, high blood pressure is referred to as arterial hypertension. More strokes and heart attacks come as a result of high blood pressure than any other disease. It is one of the major risk factors for heart failure and arterial aneurysms. High blood pressure is also the leading cause of chronic renal failure.

High blood pressure is classified as essential or secondary. The former describes the condition wherein no medical cause can explain the presence of high blood pressure. The latter term describes high blood pressure that happens as a result of another condition like tumors or kidney disease.

Adults whose blood pressure is over 140/90 mm Hg are afflicted with hypertension and are more likely to have strokes and heart disease. It is advisable that those afflicted with this condition see their doctors immediately and start planning on how best to manage their high blood pressure. There are no symptoms for high blood pressure; indeed, a vast majority of Americans afflicted with high blood pressure are not even aware of it. This is why it is important to have one's blood pressure checked on a regular basis.

Researchers have established that blood pressure is affected by one's diet. Vegetarians tend to have very low blood pressures. When one moves from a dietary plan that is low blood pressure associated to one that is affiliated with higher blood pressures, gradually one will adapt the higher blood pressure associated with that particular diet.

The question then becomes: How effective is a diet in combating and stabilizing one's blood pressure? It has been estimated by the American Heart Association's Nutrition Committee that good diets can reduce blood pressure and thereby lower an individual's risk for stroke and heart disease.

The main ingredient for the lower of blood pressure through diet seems to be a reduction in salt intake. If one is suffering from high blood pressure, they might do themselves a lot of good discussing the issue of salt with their physician. Statistically, it has been established that Americans consume more salt than any other nation. Excessive amounts of salt tends to cause conditions like hypertension.

In general, the American Heart Association has recommended that salt intake not exceed six grams a day. The average American diet consists of ten milligrams a day. When one goes on a whole food diet, such as the Red Yeast Rice Diet, then it can be very easy to cut down on salt intake. The fact is, processed foods often contain high amounts of sodium. Cutting down on junk food is also a good way of eliminating salt from one's diet.

While too much salt is frequently cited as an irritant of high blood pressure, the lack of certain minerals - including magnesium, potassium, and calcium - is also frequently implicated in the condition.


Related Tags: diet, high blood pressure, bp

Visit us or share your opinions at the worlds best homepage or free content resource

Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles

© The article above is copyrighted by it's author. You're allowed to distribute this work according to the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license.
 

Recent articles in this category:



Most viewed articles in this category: