Unleash Hypertension: 5 Smart Super Food Substitutions against Hypertension Threat

Introduction

Over a billion people around the world have hypertension or high blood pressure. Hypertension is really common phenomena. Only US has around 75 million people with high blood pressure and hypertension patients. .

According to World Health Organization (WHO) around 1.28 billion adult populations worldwide ranging from age of 30 to 79 years are victim of hypertension. About 46% people do not know that they are carrying hypertension. Hypertension is also considered a prime reason of premature deaths worldwide. Furthermore, hypertension control up to 33% is under the global agendas for non communicable disease targets from 2010 to 2030. 

What is hypertension?

Hypertension typically represented by two numbers the top number is the systolic blood pressure which is the arterial pressure when the heart’s contracting and the lower number is the diastolic blood pressure which is the arterial pressure when the heart’s relaxing or refilling.

Most of the time blood pressure is taken in the brachial artery in the upper arm because of the pressure’s high there; it’s probably high throughout all of the arteries.

Definition of hypertension

The guidelines for categorizing blood pressure have recently changed to reflect a growing body of evidence that shows even moderately high blood pressures can significantly increase your risk for developing heart disease.

As far as normal range of systolic blood pressure is concerned it should be less than 120 mm of mercury and diastolic pressure should be less than 80 mm of mercury.

Supporting foods to reduce hypertension

Healthy food choices and balanced diet plays vital role in overall health and wellbeing. There are some food choices which are considered really helpful in lowering down and managing the hypertension which are as follows:

Cocoa Powder

 Cocoa powder is considered really effective in lowering down the hyper tension effects. Its inside the dark chocolate. It is a powerhouse of flavonols. It helps in making are blood vessels healthy and provide elasticity.

Spinach

Spinach has all the essential nutrients especially magnesium, potassium and folate. Therefore it really helpful in lowering down the effects of hypertension as potassium flushes out sodium from the body.

Garlic

Garlic contains allicin which keeps cells linings healthy. Raw or roasted both forms of garlic are healthy and beneficial.

Beans

Beans are healthy and very beneficial diet against hyper tension and also render strength to heart as they contain potassium, magnesium, fiber and proteins. White beans are also healthy option as they have calcium which helps in contracting and dilation of vessels.

Pumpkin

Pumpkin is considered really healthy and nutritious food choice as it contains potassium. Potassium performs a function of flushing out the sodium and fluids from body and helps in maintaining healthy range of blood pressure.

Hypertension Stages

Stage 1 Hypertension

Elevated systolic blood pressure is considered between 120-129 millimeters of mercury and less than 80 millimeters of mercury in the diastolic side stage 1 hypertension is between 130-139 millimeters of mercury on the systolic side and between 80-89 millimeters of mercury on the diastolic side.

Stage 2 Hypertension

Stage 2 is defined as anything that’s 140 millimeters of mercury or higher on the systolic side and 90 millimeters of mercury are higher on the diastolic side. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures may or may not climb together.

Sometimes one can have systolic or diastolic hypertension. When one number’s normal and the other are really high, this is referred to as isolated systolic hypertension or isolated diastolic hypertension.

Hypertension Types

Primary hypertension

High grade of blood pressure exert too much pressure on blood vessels and make them weak like a garden hose that’s always under higher pressure.  

Due to continuously high blood pressure myocardial infractions aneurysms could happen along with severe strokes.

Now about 90% of the time, hypertension happens without a clearly identifiable underlying reason and we call this primary hypertension or essential hypertension.

In other words over time pressure in the artery starts to silently creep up and there are a bunch of risk factors that are identified for primary stage and these include old age, obesity, salt heavy diets and sedentary lifestyles.

Secondary hypertension

About 10% of the time there is a specific identifiable underlying reason or cause of the hyper-tension and we call it secondary hypertension.

For example anything that limits the blood flow to the kidneys or the renal blood flow can cause hyper-tension, as well as things like atherosclerosis vasculitis or aortic dissection.

The prime role of kidneys is to regulate blood pressure. In absence or inadequate supply of blood to kidneys, kidneys use to create a specific type of hormone known as renin which triggers kidneys to retain ample amount of water.   That water contributes to more blood in the arteries making them more full which leads to higher pressures.

Other diseases can also cause secondary hyper-tension.  Fibro muscular dysplasia which affects young women can cause the walls of the large and medium-sized arteries to thicken.

If it involves the renal artery and limits blood flow to the kidneys it triggers more renin. Tumor is another example which secretes too much aldosterone which ultimately causes more water retention.

Hypertension crisis

Finally, if the blood pressure gets really high really fast, it’s referred to as hyper-tensive crisis. In hypertensive crisis situation systolic blood pressure may raise more than 180 millimeters of mercury and diastolic may increase more than 120 millimeter of mercury.

Hyper-tension crisis may transform into two further serious problems called as hypertensive emergency and hypertensive urgency.   

With hypertensive urgency there hasn’t yet been damage to end organs like the brain, kidneys, heart and lungs.

Hypertension Symptoms

In hypertensive emergency there has been shown to be evidence of damage to end organs.

So, for symptoms usually primary hyper-tension isn’t actually accompanied by any symptoms which are why it’s sometimes referred to as a silent killer.

Secondary hyper-tension might involve a variety of symptoms associated with the underlying cause and finally hypertensive emergency might involve symptoms like confusion, drowsiness, chest pain and breathlessness.

Hypertension Treatment

The first choice for treatment of hyper-tension is lifestyle changes like changes to the diet exercise and stress reduction techniques.

In addition there are a variety of anti-hypertensive medications that might be given in some cases as well.

Hypertension in Pregnancy

In around 10% of pregnant females, a higher blood pressure recording or hyper-tension is found. So, whenever you go to your clinician for an antenatal checkup, a proper blood pressure assessment is a mandatory.

So, patients having blood pressure values above the acceptable range before the 20^th week of pregnancy, it may be considered as chronic hypertensive patients that mean patients who are already having blood pressure but then they are not aware of it.  

While a blood pressure values which cross the permitted Zone after the 20th week will be considered as hyper-tension associated with pregnancy or gestational hypertension.

Few of these cases further start showing complications in the form of proteins in the urine when they will be considered as pre-eclamptic or they go into some other complications when they may be considered as eclectic group of patients.

Hyper-tension in pregnancy is fatal as it can affect the child. An incremental rise in the blood pressure values means a varied and a reduced blood supply to the child. This condition is also known to cause a bleeding under the placenta again compromising the welfare of the features in the womb.

So, the blood pressure in pregnancy should be dealt with extreme care and caution. Self medication and BP checking through electronic devices is strictly prohibited because it can affect a life inside womb. Proper medication and regular checkup from medical practitioner is of utmost importance.

Pulmonary Hypertension

It’s a rare yet really important type of hyper-tension. Around 1 % of people of the world are victim of it. Pulmonary hyper-tension is basically a condition in which blood vessels of lungs gets affected. It happens due to raised levels of blood pressure inside the lungs.

Pulmonary hyper-tension causes pressure on heart to pump the blood aggressively if is lethal and have certain consequences. It is damaging for the heart and it may leads towards chest pain, lightheadedness and shortening of breath.

Conclusion

Hyper-tension or high blood pressure affects over a billion people around the world and over time is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. The stage 1 hyper-tension is defined as 130 to 139 millimeters of mercury for the systolic blood pressure and between 80 to 89 millimeters of mercury for the diastolic pressure.

While stage 2 hyper-tension is defined as greater than 140 millimeters of mercury on the systolic side and greater than 90 millimeters of mercury on the diastolic side.

Hyper-tension usually doesn’t cause any symptoms and the first line of treatment is lifestyle changes.

It is also worth mentioning that the hyper-tension should be avoided from revamping eating habits. Intake of green vegetables and fruits especially spinach, pumpkin and beans along with cocoa powder and garlic. These food choices help in maintaining reasonably god blood pressure and remove toxic materials from vessels to avoid blockages.

Finally, hypertension could be overcome through proper food intake, healthy and nutritious diet and precautions like regular checkups in case of any complications.

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