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.
