Hypertension
Research
Diet & Lifestyle
xxxxx
Vegetarian Diet
& Hypertension
Research has shown that a vegetarian diet (i.e., no meat,
poultry or fish) helps maintain normal blood pressure. One study involving 59 healthy
omnivores revealed that both systolic and diastolic blood pressure fell when they ate a
vegetarian diet and blood pressure levels rose again when they returned to their meat
eating diet. (4)
Another study suggests that a vegan diet
(ie. no animal
produce - meat, poultry, eggs, dairy or fish) can be extremely beneficial even for people
who have been suffering with hypertension for years. A group of people, all suffering with
long-term hypertension, adopted a vegan diet for one year. By the end of the period, most
participants said they felt better, their blood pressure had come down and most were able
to have their medication withdrawn or reduced. (5)
Whilst it is assumed by allopathic doctors that blood
pressure inevitably rises as people get older, naturopath Leon Chaitow has stated that he
has examined many patients in their 70s and 80s whose blood pressures were perfectly
normal; the common denominator was that these people had a vegetarian or vegan diet. (6)
return to top
Magnesium
& Hypertension
The mineral magnesium has been linked with high blood
pressure. It has been found that 50% of magnesium deficient patients have high blood
pressure. When the deficiently is rectified, blood pressure normalises. (7) Foods rich in
magnesium include: green vegetables, wholegrains, nuts and yeast extracts.
Footnotes
(4) (The Lancet 1st January 1983 "Blood Pressure
Lowering Effect of Vegetarian Diet: Control Trial in Normotensive Subjects" Rouse IL
and Others
(5) "A vegan regimen with reduced medication in the treatment of hypertension"
Lindahl et al Br.J.Nutr Jul 1984 52 1 p.11-20
(6) Here's Health October 1979
(7) Better Nutrition July 1990, V52,N7,P14(2)
return to top
Water
& Hypertension
In the last few years several studies have been published on sodium in
drinking water and its effect on blood pressure.
Many researchers believe a reduced salt intake can help lower blood
pressure. There is evidence that low salt diets could help prevent high
blood pressure in humans. However, many factors are involved in high blood
pressure besides sodium. Diets high in potassium, rich in vegetables and
with less meat consumption have been shown to be effective in reducing or
preventing high blood pressure. Also, adequate calcium and magnesium
intake is instrumental in lowering blood pressure. And chloride, not
sodium, has been found to be a key factor in raising blood pressure. Salt
is a combination of sodium and chloride.
Many experts worldwide claim 2 to 5 grams of salt daily does not pose
any real problems for most people. However, in Western cultures, dietary
intake of salt is between 810 15 grams daily. 90% of all the salt we
consume is from food; 10% from water. With this background, let’s look
at the research on sodium, hypertension and drinking water.
Some studies have reported that higher levels of sodium in drinking
water resulted in higher blood pressure. (1) (2) However, most studies
have not supported this finding. No correlation was found between high
blood pressure and high levels of sodium in the drinking water in
Illinois, Michigan, Iowa and Australia. (3) (4) (5) (6) Recently, the EPA
has removed sodium from the list of 83 items to be regulated by June 1989.
However; the vital question is: "Are there studies showing a
correlation between high levels of sodium in the drinking water and higher
mortality rates?" When we ask this question and look at the studies,
we come up lacking.
Robinson in England and in Wales and Schroeder, Sauer, Greathouse and
Osborne in the United states studied this. Not one of these investigations
showed that higher levels of sodium in drinking water resulted in higher
levels of mortality. In fact, some of these studies indicate that higher
levels of sodium resulted in lower death rates, (7) (8) (9) (10)
What about water softeners? Many people use them for their laundry and
drinking water. Is this good? Are they healthy? Some water softening
techniques add sodium to the water replacing significant amounts of
calcium and magnesium. Other procedures do not add sodium but still reduce
the hardness of the water.
Earlier, we discussed people drinking harder water have less heart
disease mortality rates than people drinking soft water. Softened water is
unhealthy to drink-not because of the sodium, per Se, but because of the
lack or lower amounts of calcium and magnesium in the water. If you are
now using a water softener, have a separate cold water line installed for
your drinking water and on this line install a proper filter unit.
Recent statements from the American Heart Association and the World
Health Organization recommend limiting the sodium in drinking water to 20
mg/L. In the United States, 40% of all the drinking water exceeds 20 mg/L
of sodium. If we were to follow this advice, many people would have to
purchase either low sodium bottled water or de mineralize their own
drinking water through reverse osmosis, distillation or de-iortization.
But, if we adopt these procedures, we would create a soft water, a
water low in hardness and low in TDS. The effect of this is to create an
unhealthy drinking water.
Frequently water supplies high in sodium are also high in hardness and
TDS. Higher levels of hardness and TDS
protect us from potentially harmful substances and have been shown to
result in lower heart disease and cancer mortality rates. if we want to
lower our sodium Intake, we should look to our diets, 90% of all the
sodium we consume Is In the food we eat.
- Tuthill RW. Calabrese EJ. Elevated Sodium Levels in the Public
Drinking Water a Contributor to Elevated Blood Pressure Levels in the
Community. Archives of Environmental Health 1979; 34 (July/August):
197-203.
- Hoffman A, Valkenberg HA, Valkenberg GL. Increased Blood Pressure in
School Children Related to High Sodium. J. of Epidemology and
Community Health 1980; 34 (1980): 179-181.
- Armstrong BK, McCall MG, Campbell NA, Masarei
JRL. Water Sodium and
Blood pressure in Rural School Children. Archives of Environmental
Health 1982;37 (July/August): 236-245.
- Hallenbeck WH, Brenniman GR, Anderson PJ. High Sodium in Drinking
Water and its Effects on Blood Pressure. AM. J. Epidemology 1981;1 14:
817-825.
- Feud HS. Effects of Drinking Water and Total Sodium Intake on Blood
Pressure. AM. J. Clinical Nutrition 1982: 35 (June): 1459-1467.
- Ohanian EV, Cirolla DM. Sodium in Drinking Water as an Etiological
Factor in Hypertension. 1983: 28-36.
- Robertson JS. Slattery JA, Parker V, Water Sodium. Hypertension and
Mortality. Community Medicine 1979;1: 295-300.
- Schroeder HA. Relation Between Mortality from Cardiovascular Disease
and Treated Water Supplies. J. AM. Medical Assoc. 1960; (April 23):
98-104.
- Saurer HA. Relationship of water to risk of Dying. In: Manners DX
ed. Int’l Water Quality Symp: Water: Its Effects on Life Quality.
Wash. D. C, Water Quality Research Council, 1974: 76-79.
- Greathouse DG, Osborne RH. Preliminary Report on Nationwide Study of
Drinking Water and Cardiovascular Disease. J. Environmental Pathology
and Toxicology 1980; 3: 65-76.
Source: - Healthy Water, Martin Fox,
PH.d.
return to top
Salt
& Hypertension
According to one report (1) in
the British Medical Journal, people who consume high amounts of salt are at
risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease. The recent INTERSALT study
measured the salt intake of over 10,000 people in 32 countries and found
that a difference of just 6 grams of salt per day was found to result in a
difference of systolic blood pressure of 10mm Hg and diastolic blood
pressure of 5mm Hg for a 55 year old male or female. These figures suggest
that a extra 6 grams of salt consumed daily can increase in the risk of
heart disease by 21 percent and stroke by 34 percent.
Hanneman R. Intersalt: hypertension rise
with age revisited. BMJ May 18 1996:312, 1283-1289.
return to top
|
