STALKING SOCIETY’S SILENT KILLER
The following is an excerpt from Elizabeth Hall’s book, Keys to Optimal Health and used by permission. All rights reserved by author.

“My son, attend to my words....For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.  Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
Proverbs 4:20, 22, 23

Hypertension (HTN) or high blood pressure is referred to as “the silent killer” because it often occurs without accompanying symptoms.  Yet, it significantly increases the risk for stroke, heart disease, kidney failure, and impaired memory.  Approximately sixty percent of Americans over the age of 65 will develop hypertension.

Physiology of Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is the force that drives the blood through the blood vessels.  It is determined by how much blood the heart pumps per minute (cardiac output) multiplied by the resistance to blood flow.  Without the normal amount of resistance to blood flow in the arteries, we would become light-headed and prone to fainting.  It is when this resistance becomes too great that hypertension develops.  As arteries constrict, the resistance to blood flow increases, and consequently, blood pressure goes up. Of course, other factors influence blood pressure and can contribute to hypertension (i.e. increased cardiac output, increased viscosity of blood, increased sympathetic tone).

Lifestyle Factors

Certain lifestyle conditions and practices inevitably lead to high blood pressure.  Correcting harmful dietary habits can prevent and often help to reduce high blood pressure.  

1.    Limit salt intake
a.    Avoid processed foods like chips, pickles, and canned goods.
b.    Approximately forty percent of hypertensive individuals have a natural tendency to retain salt in their bodies.  Excess salt promotes fluid retention and causes the arteries to become more sensitive to norepinephrine, an arterial-constricting hormone.
c.    Studies show that a high salt diet stiffens some arteries.  However, a modest amount of salt is essential for a healthy functioning nervous system.  Mild salt restriction generally works much better for lowering high blood pressure than severe salt restriction.
d.    One teaspoon of salt contains 1200 milligrams of sodium.  Most Americans consume over 4000 milligrams of sodium each day.  Hypertension is rare in countries where less than 2000 milligrams of sodium is included in the daily diet.

2.    Limit calories (if overweight)
a.    The arteries in an obese individual become more sensitive to molecules that constrict them and less sensitive to molecules that open them.  In fact, extra fat cells produce hormone-like chemicals that promote inflammation in the arteries and a precursor to angiotensin II, a powerful blood vessel constrictor.  
b.    Weight loss of even ten percent in obese individuals is helpful in reducing high blood pressure and lowering blood lipids (cholesterol and triglycerides).

3.    Avoid oxidized cholesterol
a.    Oxidized cholesterol found in aged cheese, powdered dairy milk, puddings, chocolate, and custards encourages inflammation and hardening of the arteries that contribute to the development of hypertension.  It also impacts the structure and function of the heart muscle.
b.    Learn to make vegetarian cheese and carob pudding.  Gradually substitute soy or rice milk for dairy milk.

4.    Avoid caffeine because it increases the consumption of oxygen in the brain and the resistance of blood flow in the cerebrum (upper 7/8th of the brain).  In other words, caffeine increases the demand for oxygen in the brain while reducing the supply of blood flow within the brain.  This can severely damage brain cells that are already compromised by hypertension and its subsequent risk of stroke.

5.    Substitute meat with legumes and nuts.
a.    Legumes and nuts, unlike meat, do not contain cholesterol and saturated fat, but instead are rich in fiber.  Regular consumption of legumes helps to reduce high cholesterol levels (high blood pressure pushes cholesterol into the arteries).
b.    Both legumes and nuts are rich in the amino acid arginine, the precursor to nitric oxide.  In moderate amounts arginine helps to reduce inflammation and improves dilation in the arteries.  Consumption of soybeans also helps to keep the arteries elastic.   

6.    Limit your intake of sugar, fructose corn syrup, and soft drinks.  A diet high in sugar and fructose corn syrup can lower the threshold for hypertension.  Interestingly enough, these products also raise uric acid, a byproduct of protein metabolism.  Elevated uric acid levels are associated with new cases of recent-onset-essential-hypertension in children and predict non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in obese children.  Beware, then, of soft drinks containing fructose-derived corn syrup.  It is much better to enjoy fructose in whole fruits where it is packaged with fiber.

7.    Eat fresh or frozen green vegetables every day.
a.    These contain magnesium, which prevents the blood vessels from experiencing sustained contraction, called vasospasm.  Some studies show that eating three stalks of celery a day can reduce elevated blood pressure levels.
b.    Broccoli and spinach contain the phytochemical alpha-lipoic acid, which also helps to reduce high blood pressure.

8.    Eat five servings of fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables every day.
a.    Fruits and vegetables are rich in potassium, a mineral that protects the arteries and kidneys and reduces the risk for stroke.
b.    Studies show that a vegetarian diet can reduce elevated blood pressure.

Exercise and Blood Pressure

Regular mild aerobic exercise helps to keep the arteries elastic and makes them less sensitive to vasoconstrictive hormones – epinephrine and norepinephrine.  Low-intensity exercise can improve the ability of the blood vessels to make vasodilating molecules.  Vigorous, extreme exercise, though, in hypertensive individuals, could increase the risk for undesirable clotting.

Life Application: Who is in Your Driver’s Seat?

The health of leaders shapes the history of their country and people.  Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated as President of the United States, in 1913, and served as President during the First World War.  Edwin A. Weinstein’s book, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography, reveals some interesting facts, some of which are very applicable to this lecture.  Largely unknown at the time of his campaign, Wilson had been plagued by hypertension and mild strokes.  In 1896 Wilson possibly suffered his first stroke.  It caused marked weakness of his right upper limb plus sensory disturbances in his fingers.  His doctors at the time diagnosed him as having neuritis.  In June of 1904 Wilson developed weakness in the right upper limb that lasted for several months.

Once President, Wilson’s problems still persisted.  In May of 1914 changes in the arteries of his eye were documented.  Wilson experienced severe headaches lasting for days during the years 1915-1919.  Wilson suffered a catastrophic, disabling stroke while President on October 13, 1919.  His wife and physician conspired to keep the extent of his disability a secret; indeed, Wilson’s condition was hidden from his own Cabinet, from the Vice President and, of course, from the public.  So who was running the government?

Wilson desperately wanted the First World War to be the war that ended all wars.  If Wilson had been in better health, could he have initiated a more equitable peace treaty so that the seeds of the Second World War would not have been planted?  While campaigning for the League of Nations, Wilson suffered his stroke - would the League have succeeded if Woodrow Wilson had been well at that time?  We really don’t know, but Wilson’s condition leaves some interesting questions for us to address individually.

Exactly in what ways does our cardiovascular health impact our community?  In Wilson’s day the medical community did not know as much about how to prevent and treat hypertension.  Are we taking advantage of the opportunities that we personally have to follow the lifestyle principles that modern medical authorities advocate—to lose weight if obese, watch the salt, and exercise?  Will our usefulness be cut short by our negligent failure to do so?  Will cardiovascular disease sabotage our plans to help our world or to guide a child we love?  If that happens to you, who will be in your driver’s se

Liz Hall has taught a number of health-related classes for over 30 years.
If you enjoyed this article you will probably enjoy the online Lifestyle Physiology class from the College of Health Evangelism at www.healthevangelism.org or call 706-820-1493, extension 412.

References:

Cassis, L.A., et al., Local adipose tissue renin-angiotensin system, Curr Hypertens Rep. 2008 Apr;10(2):93-8. Review

Jones, D.P., et al., Serum uric acid and ambulatory blood pressure in children with primary hypertension, Pediatr Res. 2008 Nov;64(5):556-61.

Gupta, B.S., Caffeine and Behavior, CRC Publishers.

Marcus, Y., et al., Fat cell-derived modulators of vascular cell pathophysiology: the list keeps growing.  J Cardiometab Syndr, 2006, 2006 Spring;1(2):121-4.

Rietzschel, E.R., et al.,  Oxidized low-density lipoprotein cholesterol is associated with decreases in cardiac function independent of vascular alterations, Hypertension, 2008 Sep;52(3):535-41.

Rodrigo, R., Diminution of oxidative stress through vitamins C and E supplementation associates with blood pressure reduction in essential hypertensives,  Clin Sci (Lond), Nov, 2007.