Strategies to Prevent Hypertension

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about one in three American adults have hypertension and the CDC claims that hypertension is “the second greatest public health threat” in America.

About half of people with hypertension have uncontrolled high blood pressure, which increases their risk for a number of more serious health problems, including heart attack, stroke, congestive heart failure and end-stage kidney disease.

About 16 million Americans who are taking medication for hypertension still do not have their blood pressure under control!
95% of patients with hypertension have what is called idiopathic hypertension, which means that the hypertension has no known underlying cause.

Everything in the human body happens for a reason and it is therefore my opinion that there are very few, if any, random events that occur in the human body that has no cause.

Our ancestors from just a few generations ago, didn’t have this level of hypertension. Our genetic makeup hasn’t changed in the past few generations. The cause of this hypertension epidemic has to therefore be environmental.

Hypertension can be a symptom of insulin and leptin resistance and therefore related to diet as well as stress. The vast majority of those who have hypertension should therefore be able to reduce their hypertension by diet and lifestyle modifications and without resorting to drugs.

There is a catch to all of this. The catch is the price of normal blood pressure is not a co-pay, but effort and inconvenience. It is unfortunate that many are not willing to pay that price and they resort to prescription drugs with potential side effects.

What Causes Hypertension?

1. One of the primary underlying causes of high blood pressure is related to your body producing too much insulin and leptin in response to a high-carbohydrate and a high processed food diet.

2. Elevated uric acid levels are also significantly associated with hypertension, so any program adapted to address high blood pressure needs to help normalize both your insulin sensitivity and uric acid level.

3. The incapability to deal with stress is another factor. Stress has a hormonal and neurological impact, but it also causes people to overeat the wrong foods.

4. Being overweight significantly increases your chances of hypertension.

5. Vitamin D3 and K2 deficiencies can cause hypertension because of hardening of the arteries.

6. Most Americans are magnesium deficient. If magnesium levels are too low, your blood vessels will constrict rather than relax and this constriction raises your blood pressure.

7. Eating too much trans-fat can increase blood pressure. By diligently avoiding trans fats, your body will make prostacyclin that keeps your blood thinner, which will reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke.

8. Consuming too much processed salt (table salt) can increase blood pressure.

9. A potassium and or calcium deficiency can also increase blood pressure.

What is Blood Pressure?

There are two numbers given in a blood pressure reading. The upper or first number is your systolic blood pressure reading. The lower or second number is your diastolic pressure. Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury and older instruments that measure blood pressure, called sphygmomanometers, actually had a column of mercury in them.
A blood pressure of 120 / 80 = A 120 systolic arterial pressure and 80 diastolic arterial pressure.

Your systolic pressure is the highest pressure in your arteries. It occurs when your ventricles contract at the beginning of your cardiac cycle. Diastolic pressure refers to the lowest arterial pressure, and occurs during the resting phase of your cardiac cycle.

Ideally, your blood pressure should be about 120/80 without medication. If you’re over the age of 60, your systolic pressure is the most important cardiovascular risk factor. If you’re under 60 and have no other major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, your diastolic pressure is believed to be a more important risk factor.

Primary & Secondary Hypertension:

Hypertension is also categorized as either primary or secondary hypertension.

Primary hypertension, which is also known as essential hypertension, applies to about 90-95% of those with high blood pressure. The conventional medical establishment claims that the cause is idiopathic or unknown. Primary hypertension is more than likely linked to insulin/leptin resistance and the other factors that I mentioned before.

Secondary hypertension applies to the remaining 5 - 10% whose high blood pressure is caused by chronic liver disease.

What’s Your Fasting Insulin Level?

If you have high blood pressure, you should talk to your doctor about getting a fasting insulin level test done, since high blood pressure and insulin resistance tend to go hand-in-hand. If your hypertension is the result of elevated insulin levels, you have a great chance of reducing your blood pressure through diet and lifestyle modifications.

The optimal fasting insulin level that you want to strive for is about 2 or 3 microU per mL. If it’s 5 or above, you definitely need to lower your insulin level to reduce your risk of high blood pressure and other cardiovascular health hazards. Please note that the so-called “normal” fasting insulin level is anywhere from 5-25 microU per mL. I will discuss reducing your fasting insulin level below.

Using Waist-to-Hip Ratio to Assess Your Hypertension Risk:

Research suggests your waist size may be an effective measure for assessing obesity-related hypertension risk. If you have a high waist-to-hip ratio, you carry more fat around your waist than on your hips and you may be at an increased risk for obesity-related hypertension. For males, an excellent ratio is under 0.85. You are at risk if it is over 0.95. For females, an excellent ratio is under 0.75. You are at risk if it is over 0.86.

Arterial Stiffness Linked to High Blood Pressure and Vitamin D Deficiency:

According to Norwegian researchers, arterial stiffness (atherosclerosis) is a driving factor for high blood pressure. Vitamin D3 and K2 deficiencies can lead to atherosclerosis, which is commonly called hardening of the arteries. Vitamins D3 with K2 get the calcium into the bones and teeth, where calcium belongs and not into the arteries and soft tissues, where calcium does not belong.

D3 levels (25 hydroxy D) should be over 50 ng/ml, but ideally between 70 - 100 ng/ml. If you can’t get your vitamin D from the sun, I recommend for most adults 5,000 IU a day of D3 and 100 micrograms of the MK7 form of vitamin K2 a day. You should have your vitamin D blood levels checked annually.

Salt and Hypertension:

Insulin also affects your blood pressure by causing your body to retain sodium. Sodium retention causes fluid retention. Fluid retention in turn can cause high blood pressure, which may ultimately lead to congestive heart failure.

A standard recommendation if you have high blood pressure is to reduce the amount of sodium in your diet. It is certainly beneficial to cut out processed salt containing foods and to reduce the intake of regular table salt, but limiting sodium is not the hypertension cure that many think that it is.

Salt is actually essential for maintaining and regulating blood pressure. Unprocessed Himalayan salt contains 84% sodium chloride, and 16% naturally-occurring trace minerals. Processed (table) salt, on the other hand, contains 97.5% sodium chloride and the rest is man-made chemicals.

Maintaining a healthy sodium to potassium ratio is essential to avoid hypertension. Your body needs potassium to maintain proper pH levels in your body fluids and it also plays an integral role in regulating your blood pressure. It’s actually possible that potassium deficiency may be a greater contributor to hypertension than excess sodium.

The Importance of Proper Sodium-to-Potassium Ratio

According to Lawrence Appel, lead researcher on the DASH diet and director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research at Johns Hopkins, your diet as a whole is the key to controlling hypertension, not salt reduction alone.

He believes a major part of the equation is this balance of minerals. Most people need less sodium and more potassium, calcium, and magnesium.

Keys to Naturally Lower Your Blood Pressure:

1. What you consume - Avoid processed foods, sugar and starchy carbohydrates. Eat whole, ideally organic foods. Swap carbs for healthy fats, such as avocados, raw nuts, wild caught salmon, grass fed beef, pasture raised eggs and coconut oil. AMake sure to drink plenty of pure water too. Eating fermented foods is great to help optimize your gut bacteria.

2. Intermittent fasting is one of the most effective ways to normalize your insulin/leptin sensitivity. It’s not a diet in conventional terms, but rather a way of scheduling your eating in such a way as to promote efficient energy use. Essentially, intermittent fasting means eating your calories during a specific eight window of the day.

3. Exercising regularly - I recommend high intensity interval training, which only takes about 20 minutes a few times a week. Stretching, strength training and endurance training are all important. If you do this, you should normalize your weight and waist ratio.

4. Supplements - Make sure to take a good multi-vitamin/multi-mineral supplement and get enough magnesium, calcium, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin D3 and vitamin K2. I like products that are made in America and from real foods. My favorite is IntraMax from Drucker Labs, which I carry at my office.

5. Handle stress - I have often written blog postings on stress. Some good ways to handle stress is to meditate, exercise, pray, talk to friends of family or use EFT, which is Emotional Freedom Technique.

6. Avoid processed salt and table salt and use unprocessed Himalayan salt.

7. Try not to consume too much caffeine.

8. Make sure to be getting enough potassium.

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