Hypertension and its consequences

Most people with high blood pressure actually have no symptoms at all and may not even know they have it. Sometimes high blood pressure can cause symptoms such as headache, shortness of breath, dizziness, chest pain, palpitations of the heart or nose bleeds. If a person is said to suffer from hypertension, this expression means that the average arterial pressure of that person is above the level which is accepted as normal.

The higher the pressure in the blood vessels, the harder the heart has to work in order to pump blood. If left uncontrolled, high blood pressure may lead to enlargement of the heart, a heart attack and, eventually, to heart failure.

The increase in blood pressure is an interesting health problem for three reasons; it is frequently seen, its effects are sometimes destructive and its symptoms are not recognizable even in the later phases of the clinical course.

The risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality is directly correlated with blood pressure. Risks of stroke, MI, angina, heart failure, kidney failure or early death from a cardiovascular cause are directly correlated with blood pressure.
Hypertension and its consequences

Oatmeal for Your Heart

Oatmeal for Your Heart
In recent years, clinical studies have affirmed the ability of oatmeal and oat bran to reduce blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure and generally reduce the long term risk of hart disease.

In recognition of these well-established benefits, in 1996 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted manufacturers/packagers of oatmeal the right to make specific health claim about this food, stating that diets high in oat meal or oat bran may reduce the risk of heart disease.

It was the first permissible health claim ever accorded to a food by the FDA, an agency that generally has favored drugs over natural substance.

In 1995, researchers at John Hopkins, in Baltimore, Maryland, reported that people who regularly consumed even a modest portion of oatmeal (one ounce cooked daily) had lower blood pressure and cholesterol readings than those who never ate oatmeal.

The study was based in the evaluation of 850 men, 17 – 77 years old living in China; their oatmeal consumption was 25 – 90 g daily.

The researchers stated that “the higher the oats intake, the lower the blood pressure,” regardless of other factors such as age and weight or alcohol sodium, or potassium intake, which are known to affect blood pressure.

According to researcher, it is oatmeal’s high content of water soluble fiber (beta glucan) that can produces the heart benefits.

A six-year study involving 22,000 middle-aged Finnish males showed that consuming as little as 3 g daily of soluble fiber (from the beta glucan fiber component of oats, barley or rye) reduce the risk of death from heart disease by 27%.
Oatmeal for Your Heart

Causes of High Blood Pressure

Causes of High Blood Pressure
The causes of short term rises in blood pressure high last only seconds or minutes are well understood, but these are not what we normally mean by high blood pressure. High blood pressure is important only when it is maintained for months or years – it is a high average pressure which is significant, not occasional high peaks. The causes of a long term rises in average pressure are not fully known, but we do know that it runs in families. This inherited tendency seems to account for about half the differences between people; the rest seems to depend on how they live and what they eat (not just in adult life, but they ate in infancy and childhood and how well nourished they were before they born).

One cause we do know about is overweight and weight reduction is a sensible first step in treatment. Weight loss depends mainly on using up more energy by taking more exercise and reducing energy input. In practice the most healthy way to do this is by reducing the amount of fats, oils, meats, sugar and alcohol in the diet, and instead eating more fruit, vegetables, cereal foods and fish. Eating less fat and oil is by far the most important of these changes. Another benefit from these changes in diet is that they help lower blood cholesterol levels and so reduce the risk of developing coronary heart disease.

Another known cause us excessive alcohol (which means more than 4 units of alcohol a day for a man or 3 units a day for woman – a unit alcohol is one glass of wine or one single measure of spirits or half a pint of average strength beer or lager). Again the biggest effect is in young people, limiting alcohol intake often brings high blood pressure back to normal without any other treatment.
Causes of High Blood Pressure

Risks of High Blood Pressure

Risks of High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure is the most common continuing medical condition seen by family doctors. At just what measurement ‘normal’ blood pressure becomes ‘high’ blood pressure that justifies action taken to reduce it is still a subject among doctors. Whatever the definition, the numbers of people needing some sort of treatment for high blood pressure include at least 10% of any larger group of all adult, up to 33% of poorer city adults, and about 50% of all people over 65 years of age.

What high blood pressure is and what it is not?
Everybody’s blood is under pressure, otherwise it wouldn’t circulate around the body. If blood pressure is too high it damages walls of the arteries. After many years, this damage increase risks of coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, bleeding or detachment of the retina, and kidney failure. High blood pressure itself is not a disease, but a treatable cause of these serious disease, which are thereby partly preventable. All these risks are greatly increased if the person also smoke or have diabetes.

Unless it has already caused damage, high blood pressure seldom makes the person feel unwell. It can be very high without causing headaches, breathless, palpitations, faintness, giddiness or any of the symptoms which were once thought to be typical of high blood pressure.
Risks of High Blood Pressure