What is hypertension? Is it the same as high blood  pressure?
To understand hypertension (also known as  high blood pressure), it is important to understand the heart. The heart is a  pump. It pumps blood through our arteries, sending nourishment to all parts of  our body. A pump works by generating pressure. But too much pressure is a  problem. Too much force pushing against arterial walls, called hypertension,  can strain the arteries and the heart itself.

Why is hypertension a problem?
The higher your blood pressure, the higher your  risk of stroke, heart attack, congestive heart failure, kidney disease, and  even, new research has found, dementia. Hypertension contributes to heart  attacks and strokes by damaging the inner walls of the arteries and by speeding  up the inflammatory process. Hypertension is the #1 risk factor for strokes.

How did you get hypertension?
It’s easy to get hypertension if you live in  the United States and other  affluent countries, like England,  where most citizens eat diets high in salt and fat and low in fruits,  vegetables, and whole grains. An American’s lifetime risk of developing  hypertension is close to 90%, reported the National Heart, Lung, and Blood  Institute in 2004. At least 65 million adult Americans – up  from 50 million just 10 years ago – have hypertension, and nearly one-third  don’t even know it. And kids, heavier than ever, are being diagnosed with  soaring blood pressure like never before.

What are the symptoms of hypertension?
That’s part of the problem. Hypertension  usually causes no symptoms, so over time, damage to your arteries, heart, and  brain can occur before the condition is diagnosed.

Is hypertension inevitable? The natural results of aging?
 For years, that’s what we thought.  Physicians were taught in medical school that blood pressure normally increases  with age.

But in recent years anthropologists have  found a wide variety of primitive people who consumed diets with little or no  added salt and whose blood pressure did not rise from the results of  aging. They included Eskimos, the Masai of Africa, New Guinea Highlanders, and  African Bushman. Among these populations, hypertension was virtually unknown.  Scientists observed that the only time blood pressure rose with age was when  people from these normally hypertension-free populations abandoned their  traditional diets and starting eating modern diets dense with calories and full  of highly salted foods.

Hypertension Treatment:

Won’t pills cure the problem?
Not really. Keep in mind that hypertension  increases your risk of dying from cardiovascular-related disease, like heart  attacks and strokes, by 300% and more. Diuretics – considered by many  scientists to be the best drug treatment for most hypertensives – decreases  your risk of dying by only 19%.
Pills as a treatment for hypertension have  hardly solved the problem. Even if you’re taking pills, your risk of dying from  cardiovascular disease is still at least two to three times higher than that of people whose blood pressure is optimal – 110/70 or less.

Is there a cure for hypertension?
You cannot “cure” hypertension, but there’s  a very good chance that with lifestyle treatment (the right diet, losing  weight, regular exercise) you can get hypertension under control and  significantly lower your risk of developing life-threatening diseases.
Lifestyle treatment reduces blood pressure  more than drugs and dramatically lowers the risk of diabetes,  heart attacks, cancer, and stroke.

What’s the right diet for hypertension treatment?
Several studies funded by the National  Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute have found that the DASH diet (Dietary  Approaches To Stop Hypertension), which is very similar to thePritkin Eating Plan, lowers blood pressure as  well as or better than any drug. Both DASH and Pritikin promote menus that are  low in fats, salt, cholesterol, red meat, and sweets; high in fruits,  vegetables, whole grains, and beans; and moderate in seafood, poultry, nuts,  and low-fat or nonfat dairy foods.
More than 100 studies published in  peer-reviewed journals on the Pritikin Program have found that this diet  teatment also substantially lowers the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and  diabetes because it reduces virtually all cardiovascular-related risk factors,  including cholesterol, triglycerides (blood fats), inflammatory markers like C-reactive protein, blood sugar, insulin,  oxidative stress, and yes, hypertension.

How much salt (sodium) should I cut out of my diet?
The Institute of Medicine  of the National Academies of Science, the scientific organization that sets the  nation’s standards for recommended levels of nutrients, advises that adult  Americans limit their consumption of sodium to 1,200 to 1,500 mg a day,  depending on age. People aged 19 to 50 should consume 1,500 mg or less of  sodium a day; those 51 to 70, 1,300 mg or less; and those over 70, 1,200 mg or  less.

Landmark research by the National Institutes  of Health compared the DASH diet with varying levels of sodium (3,300, 2,400,  and 1,500mg a day) and found that the biggest reductions in blood pressure for  everyone – people with hypertension as well as those with blood pressure  readings as low as 120/80 – occurred in those individuals on the 1,500 mg-a-day  diet.

So compelling is the data on the  blood-pressure-controlling benefits of a low-sodium diet that the newly devised  2005 Dietary Guidelines state that “individuals with hypertension, blacks, and  middle-aged and older adults should aim to consume no more than 1,500 mg of  sodium per day.”

Like the 2005 Dietary Guidelines, the  Pritikin Eating Plan recommends no more than 1,500 mg of sodium daily.

 Points to be Remembered while Planning a Hypertension Diet

1. No extra salt other than prescribed should be used.
 
2. Avoid baking powder and soda in all the preparations.
 
3. Avoid salty items, chips, pickles, and pappad.
 
4. Avoid canned and tinned foodstuff, which contains salt.
 
5. Avoid salted butter and cheese.
 
6. Avoid sea fish, dried fish, and salted meat.
   
7. Sour lime or vinegar may be used to make food palatable.
 
8. Increase fibre in the diet in the form of cereals, vegetables and fruits.
   
9. Take only adequate calories.