Chapter 6 D
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

 

High blood pressure is one of the most common diseases in the Western countries. Of the adult population in the Western countries, about 15-30% suffer from it. For example, in Finland over half a million people use blood pressure medicine, which is about 10% of the total population.

   As far as the care of high blood pressure is concerned, it begins from the very same starting points as the care of other cardiovascular diseases. Useful ingredients are, for example, fatty fish and plant oils because they contain the omega-3 fatty acids that are generally believed to prevent cardiovascular diseases.

   In the care of blood pressure, there are a few factors that should be noted, because they can be useful in its care. They can decrease high blood pressure:

 

Decreasing salt or having an unsalted diet has been noted to be very good in the care of blood pressure. The larger the salt content of the body, the higher the blood pressure. If the amount of salt in food (the recommendation is 1.2 grams per day, when for example Finnish people get about ten times that amount) can be decreased, blood pressure will also decrease. Some foods that raise blood pressure are also liquorices and sal ammoniac, that is a popular candy in Finland.

   Therefore, use less salt or use salt containing potassium that is much more beneficial to the body. You should not add salt to your food, because there is already enough salt in those foods that we buy from the stores. For example, there is a lot of salt in ordinary sausages and breads.

 

Potassium is one of those ingredients that has been found to affect the blood pressure in positive way. It functions as an antagonist to sodium (which appears in salt) and restrains its harmful effects. Thus, if our diet contains enough potassium, the ability of our kidneys to filter sodium increases, which will lead to decreasing of blood pressure. If we get plenty of potassium, it will assist greatly in the care of high blood pressure.

   Good sources of potassium are bananas (360 mg / 100 g) and avocado (450 mg / 100 g), but it can be found also in whole meal grain, cabbages, potato, soybeans, nuts, milk products, peas, and beans as well as in almost all fruit and vegetables.

 

Folic acid. If we get much folic acid from our diet, it will assist us in reducing our blood pressure and prevent apoplectic seizures. For example, a health study of nurses in Harvard showed that the blood pressure of people who got plenty of folic acid did not rise. (Magazine Terveys-Hymy 3 / 2005, p. 12) 

   Good sources of folic acid are all cabbages, sweet pepper, spinach, whole meal grain, peas, beans, lenses, fruit, berries, and meat. For example, we get 100 micrograms of folic acid from one helping of broccoli or Brussels sprouts, seven slices of whole meal bread or one sweet pepper. A tall glass of orange juice contains about 40 micrograms.