People with high blood pressure (hypertension) should be smart in choosing their meal. The two main foods that can affect hypertension is salt or sodium intake and potassium intake.

But there are ways diet can be done for patients with hypertension which is the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension).

The diets was developed in the United States but has been successfully used in nations around the world such as  South Africa.

Just so you know, South Africa in general, and the African population in particular, are vulnerable to hypertension or high blood pressure.

An estimated 24.4 percent of adults in South Africa suffer from hypertension. Consequently, many of which had a stroke and brain damage in this population. Salt intake and high potassium is the main cause.

Whereas the WHO recommends a ratio of sodium to potassium in the diet is 1:1. But in Africa, the consumption of sodium are very high which could reach 8 grams / day (compared with the recommended maximum of 6 grams / day). While in the other hand the consumption of potassium are very low (50-60 mmol / day). This is what causes many people to suffer high blood pressure in South Africa.

Studies conducted by Professor Karen Charlton and his team in 2007 at the University of Cape Town and Medical Research Council in Cape Town, the DASH diet achieved promising results in 80 patients with a mild to moderate hypertension who received antihypertensive medication. Only by changing the six items of food in their diet for eight weeks.

DASH diet has provided scientific evidence that eating lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains with a low-fat milk or fat-free, can increase potassium, magnesium and calcium intake. While reducing sodium intake to a level acceptable to reduce blood pressure.

Prof. harlton provided bread, margarine, broth, soup mix and a sense amplifier with less sodium or salt content and Maas 500 ml per day (not seasoned sour cream) for the 40 ‘candidates’ for a period of eight weeks.

Another 40 people classified as ‘control subjects’ are given the same diet with normal content of salt and 500 ml of cold sweet drinks for the same period.

After eight weeks, systolic blood pressure an average of 6.2 candidates mm Hg lower than control subjects. Whereas systolic blood pressure and diastolic BP control subjects as measured by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring 24-hour average above 4.5 mm Hg lower than testing participants.

In thegroup participants sodium intake test did not change, whereas participants in the control group increased by almost 1 gram per day.

Nutritional intake increased dramatically. Calcium intake increased almost double, potassium intake was almost 900 mg per day and magnesium intake increased by 84 mg per day in the test group.

Please note that the increased intake of potassium, calcium and magnesium is achieved without the use of mineral supplements.

Prof. Charlton and his team (2007) concluded that their research showed the public health response.

“You can achieve reduction in systolic blood pressure is clinically significant for the treatment of hypertension is low-income communities in South Africa through the manipulation of the seven dietary intake of processed foods,” he said.

This study not only indicates that the poor with few resources can make dietary changes that can increase blood pressure, but the eating habit can be changed by making some adjustments.

Potassium represents 5% percent of the total mineral content of a human body, even though only about one litre is found in the body at a time. Potassium is found in our bodies both inside and outside cells and is a very important mineral required every day to stay healthy. More than 98% of the body’s potassium is intracellular. The body easily absorbs potassium, but nearly 90% of it is excreted through the kidneys and bowels. Thus, potassium is a natural diuretic and is important for the elimination of body wastes, such as water and sodium.

Potassium is a primary electrolyte, it is a great alkalizer, and important for maintaining pH and water balance.

Benefits of potassium:

1. Along with other minerals such as sodium, chloride and calcium, potassium helps in normal cellular function, such as transmission of nerve impulses, digestion, healthy muscle contractions, proper cardiovascular functioning (heartbeat irregularities are normally a sign of potassium deficiency), and helping the body to convert glucose into glycogen (the body’s stored form of energy).

2. Potassium helps promote healthy cardiovascular health. It is strongly believed that potassium has the ability to pump sodium out of the body’s cells and reduce body fluid.

3. Potassium, along with sodium, helps to regulate blood pressure. Increasing potassium in the diet may protect against hypertension in people who are sensitive to high levels of sodium.

4. Potassium also affects blood vessel tone as well as the way blood vessels react to the flowing hormones, thus affecting pressure within blood vessels.

5. Potassium therapeutically assists in the treatment of alcoholism, acne, alleviating allergies, promoting the early healing of burns.

6. It also helps with problems such as congestive heart failure, chronic fatigue syndrome or kidney stones.

7. Potassium plays a vital role in cellular integrity by regulating the transfer of nutrients into the cell.

8. Potassium also attracts oxygen to tissues, helps correct positioning of vital organs. Potassium deficiency indicates that probably albumin, sugar, sodium, and chlorine are also in short supply or not being properly absorbed.

9. Potassium helps proper functioning of the adrenal glands. It helps support healthy sugar balance in the body.

Deficiency of potassium –

The kidneys excrete excess potassium from the body, and deficiencies are rarely found in people on a normal balanced diet. A deficiency may result in fatigue, cramping legs, muscle weakness, sluggish reflexes, acne, dry skin, mood swings and irregular heartbeat.

A shortage of potassium in body may cause a fatal condition known as hypokalemia, resulting from diarrhea, increased diuresis and vomiting. Hypokalemia can occur in people with a chronic disease or due to aging process. Deficiency symptoms include muscle weakness, ECG abnormalities, decreased reflex response, congestive heart failure, cardiac arrhythmia and respiratory paralysis.

If the fluid and electrolyte balance is not restored, the risk of heart failure increases.

Potassium deficiency increases acid levels in the body, lowers the natural pH balance, causes problems with the formation of connective tissue. Kidney diseases (such as acute renal failure), diabetes can also cause fluctuations in the levels of potassium. Many medications such as diuretics, cortisone, prolonged use of aspirin, and laxatives also cause depletion of potassium.

Dietary sources of potassium:

Eating a variety of foods that contain potassium is the best way to get the required amount. Individuals who eat a balanced diet do not need potassium supplements. Foods, which are rich sources of potassium include turnips, whole grains, molasses, fish, citrus fruit, apple cider vinegar, bananas, avocados, yoghurt, tomatoes, poultry, oranges, apricots, potatoes (especially their skins), leafy green vegetables such as spinach, lettuce; and meat. One large orange will supply one with 250 mg of potassium, one-eighth of a person’s daily need. Dried apricots contain more potassium than fresh apricots.

Steaming of foods helps to retain nutrients that are lost through other cooking techniques such as boiling (loss of about 50% of potassium content). Steaming results in only a 6% loss of potassium.

Recommended Daily Allowance of potassium:

There is no recommended daily allowance (RDA) for potassium, but it is advised to get between 2,000-3,000 mg per day. The range of intake for children is 780 to 1,600 mg per day.

This is not difficult, and most people meet this requirement on their own through a normal diet. In general, nutritionists recommend reducing salt intake and ensuring adequate supply by increasing the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables in the diet.

If one is into bodybuilding, he must increase the potassium intake, since potassium is needed to maintain muscles in good form, and also because potassium is lost from excessive sweating and urine.

Symptoms of high intake of potassium:

Excessive potassium can be toxic and will affect the heart. This is a problem especially when one is suffering from some problem such as kidney failure. Irregular heart beat and muscle fatigue is sign of toxic potassium levels. In healthy people, the kidneys in the urine excrete excess potassium.

Who requires extra potassium?

People who require potassium supplements include:

# women on oral contraceptives,

# chronic alcoholics or drug abusers,

# smokers

# people undergoing stress

# athletes

# people doing strenuous exertion,

# anyone suffering from any degree of mal-absorption syndrome

# people with eating disorders, especially bulimia and anorexia..

No matter what your age or conditions, stress is an inevitable part of everyone’s life and ongoing stress actually contributes to gaining weight. Elissa Epel, PhD and assistant professor in the psychiatry department at the University of California, states, “While the immediate…response to acute stress can be a temporary loss of appetite, more and more we are coming to recognize that for some people, chronic stress can be tied to an increase in appetite – and stress-induced weight gain.”

Short term stressful situations, like anxiety, excitement or fear, cause an adrenaline rush that temporarily burns fat. However, long term stress increases the level of the hormone cortisol in our bodies, causing the body to store excess fat. Most of this extra fat is stored in your belly and hips – exactly where you don’t want it.

Although several products claim to reduce cortisol, there is no medical evidence to substantiate those claims. A proven way to minimize cortisol levels in your body and eliminate excess fat is by reducing your stress. There are many additional benefits of stress reduction, such as lowered blood pressure and increased mental health.

Here are several simple ways to reduce stress for maximum physical and emotional fitness:

1. Eat at least 4-6 small, well-balanced meals each day to properly maintain the sugar levels in your body and ensure you are getting all the essential vitamins and minerals you need.

2. Drink at least six to eight glasses of water every day to flush the toxins out of your system.

3. Exercise for twenty to thirty minutes three to five times each week. Choose a physical activity you enjoy, such as biking, weight lifting or walking, because getting pleasure from your exercise routine will also help minimize stress.

4. Avoid foods with sugar and caffeine that offer a false sense of energy.

5. Avoid alcohol, which has an impact on the sugar levels in your body.

6. Get plenty of sleep every night because when you are tired, you tend to feel more hungry.

7. Engage in activities designed to help you relax, such as yoga or meditation.

8. Watch less television – statistics show that up to ninety percent of people who watch television an hour or more each day fail at their weight loss goals.

9. Avoid crash diets which could increase your stress level and actually cause the production of additional cortisol, alleviating any potential weight loss you may have been able to experience.

10. When you feel really hungry, choose whole-grain, high-fiber foods, like oatmeal and fruit, which keep insulin levels even to control blood sugar and your hunger.

By reducing the stress in your life, you can get rid of excess fat and emotional baggage at the same time!

There has been a dramatic decline in the number of deaths from heart attacks in the last decade. In 1970, nearly a million Americans died of cardiovascular disease; now the annual toll is below 600,000. The cause for this improved mortality rate are unknown, but most experts believe that the increased awareness of cardiovascular risk factors and their correction have played an important role in cutting the death toll.

What are the risks? Eventually, about half of all Americans develop some form of heart disease. The most common is a hardening of the arteries caused by a buildup of fatty deposits along the vessel lining. This is a slow process that usually takes many years to develop into serious disease. If the coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart muscle, become severely blocked by the fatty deposits, warning symptoms of heart disease may appear. These include shortness of breath, chest pains (angina pectoris) that are relieved by rest, or a combination of the two. In many people, however, there are no warning signs — the first symptom of heart disease may be a heart attack. This is why it is important to identify and correct possible risk factors before they reach this stage.

In recent years, a number of these risk factors have been identified. Some of them, such as age, sex and family history of heart disease, are things over which we have no control. But there also are a number of factors that can be modified or eliminated, and such action appears to reduce the portability of a heart attack. The three most important controllable risk factors are high blood pressure, high levels of blood cholesterol and cigarette smoking. In fact, many experts attribute the recent decline in cardiovascular deaths to the fact that more people than ever before are now being treated for high blood pressure. Changes in the American diet that have reduced the consumption of butter, eggs and animal fats – and consequently lowered the average blood cholesterol — and a reduction in smoking by middle-aged men also are credited with lowering the toll. Since the likelihood of developing heart disease increases when two or more risk factors are present, modifying the controllable ones helps reduce the hazard of those over which we have no control.

Role of Diet

Studies have shown that population groups whose diets are rich in cholesterol and other animal and dairy fats have more heart attacks that those whose diets are low in these saturated fats. Americans, whose diets are high in meat and eggs, have a higher incidence of heart disease than the Japanese, who end to eat very little meat and other animal and dairy fats.

Studies have also shown that high blood cholesterol — more than 200 miligrams per mililiter of blood — can be lowered by modifying the diet. This means eating more fish and poultry while cutting consumption of red meat, eggs, butter and other dairy fats, and increasing consumption of fruits, vegetables and cereal grains. Substituting polyunsaturated cooking oils (corn, safflower or sunflower oil, for example) for lard or hardened shortening, and using margarines whose labels indicate a high ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fats (for example, 4 to 2) instead of butter or margarines with less favorable ratios (e.g., equal or 2 to 3) also help to lower blood cholesterol.

Role of High Blood Pressure

People with high blood pressure have a marked increase in heart attacks and strokes. The cause of most high blood pressure is unkown, but it usually can be lowered by the use of antihypertensive drugs, reduced salt intake, and weight loss in people who are overweight. Controlling high blood pressure is an important preventive measure because it increases the work load of the heart and also directly contributes to hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerosis).

Role of Cigarette Smoking

Since 1964, when the Surgeon General reported that cigarette smokers on the average had a 70 percent greater chance of having a heart attack than nonsmokers, many other studies have confirmed that cigarette smoking is a major risk factor. This risk increases with the number of cigarettes smoked, and recent studies hae found that low-tar, low-nicotine cigarettes do not lower the risk of heart disease. Stopping smoking is now considered one of the best things you can do to help prevent a heart attack.

Other Risk Factors

Sedentary life style. Although evidence linking a sedentary life style to increased likelihood of heart disease is indirect, physically active people are known to have wider coronary arteries, which presumably would not be as prone to blockage as those sedentary people.

Type A personality. In recent years, much discussion has focused on the relationship between the type A personality, characterized by anxiety, impatience and perfectionism, and the risk of a heart attack. Although many assessments have confirmed this relationship, scientific proof definitely linking personality type and the development of heart disease is yet to come.

Diabetes. People with diabetes, a serious disease in which the body cannot regulate its blood sugar (glucose), have a higher incidence of coronary disease and heart attacks. The incidence is increased further if the diabetic has other risk factors.

Obesity. the Framingham Study recently concluded that obesity alone increases the risk of heart disease — a hypothesis that has been debated for years. Since obesity often coexists with hypertension, diabetes and a sedentary life style, weight control is an important factor in reducing a number of coronary risk factors.

Sex and age. Some risk factors, such as age and aging and a person´s sex, are unavoidable. Statistics show that men under the age of 45 years are 10 times as likely to develop coronary artery disease as women in the same age group. Between the ages of 45 and 60 years, however, the sex difference diminishes. After age 60 years, the incidence of coronary artery disease is about equally distributed between men and women.

Family history. An inherited susceptibility is also an important risk factor that cannot be avoided. Some manifestations, such as high blood pressure or an inherited tendency to have very high blood blood cholesterol levels (familial hyper-cholesterolemia) can be controlled by drugs and diet.

It is common knowledge that people who live around the Mediterranean region tend to live longer and have less overweight related diseases than people in the developed countries except perhaps, Japan.

Not very long ago, the Mediterranean climate was thought to be the reason why people live longer and are healthier in the region. Now it has become rather clear that while the weather of the Mediterranean area may be pleasant and refreshing, it is the diet of the people in the Mediterranean that account for their longer lives. Read the rest of this entry »