You already know about the damage that excess pressure can cause. When you want to water the flowers in your garden, you open the hose nozzle carefully so the water comes out like a gentle rain. If you forget, the pressurized water does major damage, and your petunias are toast.
Many tissues inside your body are every bit as delicate as petunia petals. When your blood pressure is normal, blood flows through your body as it should, bringing nourishment to every cell. However, when blood flows through under excess pressure, it swirls against the delicate walls of your blood vessels, gradually causing more and more damage. Damaged blood vessel walls provide places for plaque to adhere to, contributing to arteriosclerosis, the most common form of heart disease.
Of course, the garden hose is not a perfect analogy. If you close down the nozzle on your garden hose, the pump that delivers water to your house doesn’t have to work any harder. But if your blood vessels narrow down, then your heart—your own pump—has to work harder to do its job. And, as a result, it wears out faster.
In simple terms, your blood pressure is a measure of how hard your heart has to work in order to send blood through your body.
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is often referred to as the silent killer. If your blood pressure is elevated, you can’t feel it at first. There are simply no symptoms to give it away. Until detected and treated, the condition continues to damage the body, contributing to heart disease and accelerated aging. Most people find out that they have high blood pressure only when a health-care provider tells them, or when they experience a life-threatening medical emergency.
High blood pressure, in fact, puts you at greater risk for having a heart attack or stroke, and also for going blind or having kidney damage. These are all good reasons to pay attention to those numbers, even if you don’t feel anything. What do those numbers tell you, exactly?
A blood pressure reading is part of any routine medical examination. The reading comes in the form of two numbers, which are sometimes written like a fraction, with the higher number on top. The first number or higher number is the systolic pressure—the amount of pressure the heart uses to propel blood through the arteries. The second number, the diastolic pressure, is a measure of the pressure in the arteries when the heart is resting between beats.
Twenty years ago, medical experts maintained that 140 over 90 was the cutoff point for high blood pressure. Currently, many doctors say the cutoff number for high blood pressure is more like 120 over 80. And a growing number of cardiologists would like to see those numbers go even lower.
“The new best blood pressure to have is 115 over 75,” says Stephen T. Sinatra, MD, CNS (certified nutrition specialist), a cardiologist and assistant clinical professor at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Farmington. “We need to be more aggressive with high blood pressure.” Dr. Sinatra is also the author of several books, including Lower Your Blood Pressure in Eight Weeks.
Some 73 million people in the United States have high blood pressure, according to the American Heart Association. It affects African Americans more than white people. An estimated one out of three African Americans will be affected at some point in their lives. It’s also more prevalent in Hispanics. Interestingly enough, in other parts of the world—in Africa, Asia, and many parts of Europe—high blood pressure is not so pervasive a problem. Why the high numbers in this country?
“We are a country of sugar. We are a country of fat. We are a country of overweight people,” says Dr. Sinatra. People with high blood pressure need to eat fewer sweets and less fatty foods, he says.
Dr. Sinatra is particularly on the war path concerning high fructose corn syrup, an ingredient used in many processed foods and in most sodas. How bad is it? “It’s toxic,” he says, “one of the worst things you can put in your body.”
So what should you eat? More fruits, vegetables, olive oil, soy, and fish, says Dr. Sinatra. He calls this diet the Pan Asian Modified Mediterranean Diet, or PAMM diet.
People with high blood pressure also need to exercise more and concentrate on getting their weight down, says Dr. Sinatra.
Along with diet and exercise, there are also a number of helpful nutrients to pay special attention to when you have high blood pressure.
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a vitamin-like nutrient necessary for heart health, says Dr. Sinatra. If you have high blood pressure, your heart has to work too hard to do its job. Your body manufactures its own CoQ10, but the supply dwindles as you age. And studies have shown that people with high blood pressure tend to have low CoQ10 levels in their bodies, he says.
Taking a coenzyme Q10 supplement will help supply your heart with energy, says Dr. Sinatra. Also, he says, several studies have shown that CoQ10 can actually lower blood pressure. He suggests taking 180 to 360 milligrams. If you’ve also been diagnosed with heart disease, you may want to consider taking more. (For the full nutrient picture, see the chapter on Heart Disease.)
It’s also worth noting that statin drugs, which are prescribed to lower cholesterol, deplete the body’s store of CoQ10. Many people who have high blood pressure also have high cholesterol. If you’re taking a statin drug, you need to pay special attention to this nutrient.
Two essential fatty acids contained in fish oil—EPA and DHA—help prevent heart attacks and stroke, and so are important for anyone who has high blood pressure, says Dr. Sinatra. He recommends taking 1 to 2 grams of fish oil supplement daily.
Also, he says, make wild-caught salmon, anchovies, and sardines a part of your diet. All of these fish have the right kinds of essential fatty acids for lowering blood pressure.
The average American gets only 11 grams of dietary fiber per day. We should be getting more like 50 grams a day, says Dr. Sinatra.
Fiber is technically not a nutrient, as it passes right through the body without getting incorporated into the tissues. But it does directly affect digestion, including the amount of fat and cholesterol in the blood, and how well other nutrients are absorbed.
You can get more fiber by eating more fruits and vegetables, preferably organic, says Dr. Sinatra. Start at breakfast with a high-fiber organic cereal, then add some fresh berries and crushed flaxseed, and you’ve already taken in about 30 grams of fiber, he says. And that’s just the first meal of the day.
Other good sources of fiber include oatmeal, beans and legumes, apples, and berries, such as blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries.
While B vitamins in general are known to help protect the heart, the B vitamin folate came under special scrutiny as a nutrient that protects against high blood pressure in a large study done in 2005 by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. The researchers analyzed data from two large studies done in the 1990s—the Nurses’ Health Study I, involving more than 62,000 older women, and the Nurses’ Health Study II, involving more than 93,000 younger women.
Among these women, the researchers identified 7,373 cases of high blood pressure in the younger women and 12,347 cases in the older population. They found that both younger and older women who consumed at least 1,000 micrograms of folate daily from both dietary and supplement sources were less likely to have developed high blood pressure. The beneficial effect was more pronounced for younger women. The typical multivitamin contains 500 micrograms of folic acid (the supplemental form of folate). Good food sources of folate include fortified cereals, beans, and green vegetables, including spinach, broccoli, and lettuce.
Your body produces its own supply of the amino acid L-carnitine. Taking an L-carnitine supplement will help supply extra energy to your heart, says Dr. Sinatra. He recommends taking 500 to 1,000 milligrams.
Lower Your Blood Pressure in Eight Weeks: A Revolutionary Program for a Longer, Healthier Life by Stephen T. Sinatra
The average American consumes something like 20 to 30 times more sodium than needed. This excess sodium makes the body retain water, makes the heart work harder, and increases blood pressure, explains Stephen T. Sinatra, MD, CNS (certified nutrition specialist), a cardiologist and assistant clinical professor at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Farmington.
Most of the excess sodium, Dr. Sinatra says, comes from processed foods. He recommends limiting your sodium consumption to under 3 grams a day. To do that, you’ll need to limit your consumption of processed foods or at least carefully read labels and select only low-sodium items. You’ll also need to take the saltshaker off the table and use seasonings other than salt in your cooking.
This mineral is “absolutely vital for lowering blood pressure,” notes Dr. Sinatra. What’s more, most people in this country simply don’t get enough, he says. He advises taking 400 to 800 milligrams in supplement form.
Ribose is a form of sugar that is healthful for the body and will help fuel the heart’s energy supply, says Dr. Sinatra. He recommends taking 5 to 10 grams in supplement form.
In 2008, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley looked at the relationship between blood levels of vitamin C and high blood pressure in young women. Analyzing data from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study, they found an inverse relationship between vitamin C levels and the likelihood of the woman having developed high blood pressure over the previous 1-year period. That is, the higher the vitamin C level, the less likely the women were to have high blood pressure. The researchers noted: “The findings suggest the possibility that vitamin C may influence blood pressure in healthy young adults.”
Vitamin C is really good for lowering blood pressure, and most people simply don’t get enough, says Dr. Sinatra. He recommends taking a 500-milligram supplement.
Coenzyme Q10 |
180 to 360 milligrams |
Essential fatty acids |
1 to 2 grams of fish oil a day* |
Fiber |
50 grams |
Folate |
1,000 micrograms (including what you get from food) |
L-carnitine |
500 to 1,000 milligrams |
Magnesium |
400 to 800 milligrams |
Ribose |
5 to 10 grams |
Vitamin C |
500 milligrams |
*Fish oil has a blood-thinning effect. If you’re taking any kind of blood-thinning drug, talk to your doctor before taking fish oil supplements.