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How To Prevent High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease. It accounts for two-thirds of all strokes and half of all heart disease.

One out of every five people in India has high blood pressure or hypertension. The situation is worse in Maharashtra, the ratio increasing to one in three.

Hypertension is often asymptotic. Many people never know that they have hypertension, simply because they have never had any reason to go to a doctor and check their blood pressure. It is often detected accidentally or after some tragedy strikes. That’s why it is called a silent killer!

The incidence of hypertension is so high today that it is vital that young people keep a regular watch on their blood pressure, at least once in every six months, even if they are not overweight, have no personal or family history of hypertension, and more often if they have all three plus stress.

Three decades ago, a survey amongst school children in Pune found a high incidence of obesity and hypertension, the incidence is much higher today! If your child is overweight or obese do get his blood pressure checked regularly and make sure that he loses weight.

Childhood obesity predisposes children to early hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes and heart disease.

Prolonged hypertension damages the blood vessels and various organs of the body.

It causes hardening and thickening of the arterial walls and the narrowing of their lumen. It can lead to weakening and bulging of the arteries. This is called aneurism and such aneurisms can rupture causing grave complications.

Hypertension can cause heart attacks and strokes. Raised blood pressure causes greater resistance to the flow of the blood through the arteries and forces the heart to pump harder to circulate blood through our body, causing hypertrophy (thickening) of the heart muscle. The thickened heart muscle struggles to pump blood efficiently and eventually fails to do so, causing heart failure.

Thickening and narrowing and aneurysms of the arteries in kidneys or eyes can damage these organs can lead to renal failure and loss of vision.

Hypertension also contributes to development of the metabolic syndrome that leads to development of diabetes, heart disease and strokes.

It can also cause circulatory problems and strokes in the brain and lead to impairment of memory and understanding and development of vascular dementia.

Thus you can see that untreated hypertension can cause blindness, renal (kidney) failure, heart attacks, strokes, and death. Even those people who are on proper medication may not necessarily escape these complications.

This said, it is vitally important that people consult their doctor, take the prescribed medication regularly and never stop medication on their own, without the knowledge of the doctor. Many people commit this mistake and pay the ultimate price for it.

Even amongst the people who are on regular medication, few have well-controlled blood pressures, 140/100 m.m. of Hg or more are not uncommon, when the levels should be 120/80 m.m. of Hg or less! Such people run the same health risks as mentioned above.

So our best option is to prevent hypertension and most people can definitely do it.

High blood pressure most often occurs without having any specific underlying disease leading to it. This hypertension is called primary or essential hypertension. About ninety to ninety-five percent of all hypertension cases fall into this category. Only five to ten percent people have an underlying disease leading to hypertension. This kind of hypertension is called secondary hypertension.

Various theories have been put forth about the causes of essential hypertension. Broadly speaking high blood volume, increased cardiac output, increased resistance of the arterial walls due to their thickening and reduced elasticity, narrowing of the lumen of arteries, increased vascular tone and a few other causes are thought to lead to primary hypertension.

But the fact remains that, with proper precautions, most people can prevent the onset of primary hypertension, many may overcome the problem completely.

Here are some interesting facts about the effects of food, exercise and weight loss on blood pressure.

Exercise alone has been shown to reduce systolic blood pressure by 3.5 and 2.0 mm respectively.

Improvement in diet by shifting to low fat dairy (milk, curds, buttermilk) and fibre rich foods viz. vegetables and fruits, we already have ample pulses and legumes in our food, has been shown reduce blood pressures by 5.5 and 3.0 mm Hg in people whose diets are rich in high fat dairy, flesh foods and low in low fat dairy and fibre rich foods.

Weight loss of every four kg has been shown to reduce systolic blood pressure by 6.25 mm and diastolic blood pressure by 4 mm.

The combined effects of exercise and weight loss has been shown to reduce systolic blood pressure by 12.5 mm and diastolic blood pressure by 8 mm in overweight or obese people.

Exercise has also been shown to improve ventricular mass and wall thickness, reduce arterial stiffness and improve endothelial function, improving our chances of fighting off coronary artery disease, strokes and peripheral vascular health by lowering blood pressure.

Exercise also improves the health of the arteries by reducing inflammation of the endothelial lining of the arterial wall, improves their flexibility, prevents clot formation and also prevents coronary and cerebral vascular accidents.

So you can see why it is essential to eat healthy, exercise regularly and lose weight to overcome hypertension.

Following are the essential steps you must take to prevent this hypertension.

Adapt a healthy lifestyle.

Keep your nutrition healthy, complete and moderate in calories.

Eat minimum fatty and sweet food and red meat.

Eat salt minimally. Avoid high salt foods like ‘papad’, ‘chatani’, ‘pickles’, dried and salted fish. Salt causes the blood volume to increase and this, in turn, causes blood pressure to climb. The sodium content of mineral salt may be higher than table salts. So, contrary to popular belief, mineral salts like ‘saindhav’ may be worse for hypertension than the table salts. Avoid mineral salts and ‘chat masalas’.

In general, foods rich in potassium, beans, dark leafy vegetables, all fruits, notably bananas, potatoes, fish, mushrooms, will help lower blood pressure. So include them in your food regularly.

Foods high in sodium, table salt, mineral salts, chaat masala, pickles, dried fish, fast foods, chips, French fries, salted nuts, canned foods (meats, fish and beans), sauces, salad dressings, will increase blood pressure. Keep them out of your food.

In general, animal source foods are high while vegetable source foods are low in sodium. So eating less of flesh and more of vegetables and fruits will help lower blood pressure.

Workout sufficiently; a brisk walk of at least thirty to sixty minutes will be good enough for most people, thirty if you are slim, sixty if you are overweight.

Make sure that you move around, get a little stroll whenever possible and generally remaining more active during work hours if you have a sedentary job.

Lose weight. A slim tummy will dramatically help bring down blood pressure, blood sugar and blood fats and cholesterol. Abdominal obesity leads to hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.

Quit smoking and consuming tobacco in any form.

Sleep and rest adequately. Seven hours of sound sleep will prove invaluable.

Be happy, positive, contented and peaceful.

A mind full of negative thoughts, sorrow, irritability, anger, endless desires, and a king size ego causes immense damage to our health. This kind of mindset leads people to hypertension, diabetes and heart disease sooner or later.

Any honest and intelligent person can identify if he or she has such a mindset. A bloated ego or plain stupidity can prevent us from identifying that we have such a mindset.

You must calm down your mind, free it from the clutches of negative and violent thoughts if you really want to become happy and healthy and free from the impending threat of hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.

And it can be done for sure, only you should want to be happy and healthy.

Take up a technique as simple as ‘yoganidra’ if not meditation if you wish to be calm, happy and healthy. Consistent yoganidra will immensely help in making you peaceful, happy and positive.

So ensure that you take these steps urgently and see how dramatically your blood pressure and blood chemistry improve. These steps will give you much improved mental and physical health and prevent hypertension, diabetes and heart disease and also slim you down!

Also read ‘Health Problems Of The Young: Hypertension’, ‘Hypertension Prevention And Control Program’ and ‘Preventing Diabetes‘ on this website.

The Dilemma Faced By Many people!

An egg contains six grams of the best quality proteins with all the essential amino acids.

An egg also contains 6 grams of fat, of which 1.5 grams are saturated fats. It also contains about 210 mg of cholesterol.

The protein content is almost evenly divided between the white and the yellow (yolk) of the egg, just a bit over 3 grams in the white and just under 3 grams in the yolk. The major part of the good nutrition as well as the entire fat and cholesterol are housed in the yolk.

Thus if you eat only the egg white, you get just over 3 grams of excellent proteins with only 12 calories and don’t have to worry about fats or cholesterol. Unfortunately, you miss out on most of the other excellent nutrition housed in the whole egg.

Plus the egg white is rather high in sodium. This could give you elevated blood pressure if you consume too many egg whites.

Eggs are one of the very few foods that contain naturally occurring vitamin D. Thus they help build healthy bones, teeth and help prevent osteoporosis.

Eggs are also beneficial to the health of the eyes. The carotenoid content of the eggs, specifically lutein and zeaxanthin may prevent cataract and macular degeneration, an eye disease that leads to loss of central vision.

Eggs are a good source of choline. Choline is an important nutrient that helps regulate the brain, nervous system, and cardiovascular system.

New research shows that, contrary to previous belief, moderate consumption of eggs does not have a negative impact on cholesterol. Research suggests that it is saturated fat that raises cholesterol rather than dietary cholesterol.

According to a study by the Harvard School of Public Health, there is no significant link between egg consumption and heart disease.

One study suggests that regular consumption of eggs may help prevent blood clots, stroke,and heart attacks. Another study suggests that women who consumed at least 6 eggs per week lowered their risk of breast cancer by 44%.

Eggs also promote healthy hair and nails because of their high sulphur content and wide array of vitamins and minerals.

Thus it is clear that eggs are highly nutritious. But an egg still provides two third of the safe upper limit of the daily recommendation of cholesterol for a healthy person, viz. 300 mg, while a person with high cholesterol or bad lipid profile shouldn’t cross 200 mg.

Dr. Thomas Behrenbeck, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, advises that a healthy person should not cross 4 whole eggs a week.

A person with high cholesterol or bad lipid profile should follow his doctor’s advice.

Even a healthy person should avoid eating other high cholesterol and high saturated fat food and fatty deserts the same day.

Newer research thus tends to exonerates the egg from the demon of heart disease, but prudence must still be exercised while eating whole eggs.

It would be a good idea to keep an eye on your lipid profile every six months if you eat whole eggs regularly.

For more information about fats and cholesterol, read the article ‘Basics Of Nutrition‘ on this site.

Why You Must Replace White Rice With Brown Rice

Rice is a cereal and all cereals have more or less similar nutritional composition. But this is true for whole grain rice, not the polished white rice that people generally eat.

A grain of rice that is obtained after removing the husk by minimally processing it is the whole grain rice.

It is brownish in colour and is called the brown rice.

Brown rice is further milled to separate the outer cover called the bran and the germ from the rest of the grain of rice.

This grain is the white rice and it is composed mostly of the endosperm.

Brown rice and white rice have a similar number of calories and carbohydrates. The main differences between the two forms of rice lie in processing and nutritional content.

The bran and the germ house most of the fibre, vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, antioxidants and about twenty five per cent of the proteins from the original whole grain rice.

The white grain of rice left behind houses most of the starch and seventy five per cent of the proteins from the original whole grain rice.

In short, brown rice is the whole grain rice, while white rice has the bran and germ layers removed from the whole grain rice, this process strips away the fiber, vitamins, minerals and healthy fats and the antioxidants from the whole grain rice.

Thus brown rice is superior to white rice when it comes to fibre content, minerals, vitamins, and phytochemicals.

The fibre content of the whole grain rice is 3.5 gm while that of the white rice is 0.5 gm.

The higher fibre content in the brown rice slows down the absorption of carbohydrates in the blood and does not generate as large an increase in blood sugar levels after a meal as white rice, that is the glycemic index of brown rice is lower than that of white rice.

Milling and polishing brown rice removes most vitamins and minerals. In addition, milling strips away most of its fibre, which helps deter diabetes by slowing the rush of sugar (glucose) into the bloodstream.

Eating white rice daily may help trigger the onset of diabetes in those who are at a higher risk of developing diabetes due to family history or poor lifestyle, poor nutrition, lack of exercise and stress.

Replacing white rice with brown rice in four or five meals a week will substantially lower this risk.

Several vitamins and dietary minerals are lost in this removal and the subsequent polishing process. A part of these missing nutrients, such as vitamin B1, vitamin B3, and iron are sometimes added back into the white rice making it “enriched”, as food suppliers in the US are required to do by the US Food and Drug Administration. We have no information what happens in India.

One mineral that is lost substantially in white rice is magnesium.

When the bran layer is removed to make white rice, the oil in the bran is also removed. Rice bran oil may help lower LDL cholesterol. Rice bran oil contains ‘Oryzanol’ which is considered to be helpful in lowering blood cholesterol levels.

Among other key sources of nutrition lost are small amounts of fatty acids and fiber.

Summary:

Brown rice is more nutrient dense offering more fibre, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and healthy fats.

White rice is primarily a source of easily digestible carbohydrates and some proteins but significantly less nutrients.

Read the article ‘Basics Of Nutrition‘ on this website for more information

Snacking On Nuts And Cheese Is Not Going To Make You Slim!

Many people ask me if snacking on ground nuts and other nuts like almonds and walnuts and cheese helps in slimming.

Hardly. In fact, all nuts including groundnuts and dry fruit nuts are very high in fats. They provide between 50 to 60 per cent fat, walnuts providing 60 gm fat by weight, meaning every 100 gm of these nuts provide you with 40, 50 or 60 gm of fat. That is the same as eating 10 to 12 teaspoons of pure fat, like oil or ghee!

A major part of the fat in nuts is the monounsaturated kind, though walnuts also provide the plant source omega-3 fatty acids, which help protect us from coronary artery disease, although not as valuable as the sea source omega 3. Almonds and walnuts are also rich in a wide range of antioxidants. So it makes sense to have a few almonds and walnuts daily, walnuts especially if fish is not a part of your food, especially if you’re slim.

Luckily there is no cholesterol in nuts.

Eating nuts because nuts have fibre, makes no sense for Indians. Pulses, whole grain cereals, vegetables, especially leafy vegetables and fruits provide adequate fibre in Indian diet at the cost of much fewer calories. Our normal Indian food has all four in most meals, so we don’t need high fat nuts for fibre. Plus all four are far cheaper than dry fruit nuts!

For most Indians, the normal diet consists of cereal – pulses – vegetables routine in the majority of meals and meat only a few meals, probably no more than a couple of days a week. So getting enough fibre is not a great problem for us.

Predominantly ‘meat only’ Western diets include little whole grain cereals and vegetables and probably lack adequate monounsaturated fatty acids as well as fibre. Hence some Western experts may advise a handful of nuts as snacks. But for Indians, the advice is totally misplaced.

Nor do we need nuts to give us proteins. Milk and a combination of cereals and pulses and legumes  provide us with adequate proteins. Also the proteins in nuts are not of high quality, not containing all essential amino acids.

So we don’t need to buy a lot of fats to get some incomplete proteins and a little fibre.

A diet high in overall fat, and particularly saturated fats, builds more cholesterol in our blood.

Cheese will be 30 per cent fat, major part of it saturated, and ample cholesterol. Both are bad for your blood cholesterol levels and your heart.

We don’t need cheese to give us proteins and calcium; milk and leafy vegetables can provide them amply.

So snacking on nuts and cheese is bad for your weight as well as the heart. Make no mistake about it.

Eating either, in small quantity, occasionally isn’t exactly akin to committing suicide, but snacking on them every day definitely is!

Read more about the Basics Of Nutrition on our website.

Keeping Our Bones Healthy For A Life Time!

Osteoporosis is a disease in which bones lose calcium, mineral mass and density, become fragile and fracture easily. Even sneezing or coughing can cause fractures.

It is a highly crippling disease whose threat is not perceived seriously enough by people.

Fractured hip bone or femur (the thigh bone) in old age can be life threatening.

Osteoporosis is a lifestyle disease common amongst older men and women, more so amongst post-menopausal women.

The wrists, the hip bone, and the vertebrae are the common sites of fractures caused due to osteoporosis. Many old people fracture their hip bones and femur and have to undergo extensive orthopedic surgeries, and many of them become bedridden and never recover.

Lack of adequate calcium and vitamin D in the diet, minimum exposure to sunlight, lack of exercise and sedentary lifestyle are the major factors leading to osteoporosis.

There is the danger of developing osteoporosis during breast feeding, if the mother’s food doesn’t supply enough calcium and she doesn’t get enough Vitamin D.

Prolonged breast feeding is beneficial to both the baby and the mother in the long term.

But it puts strain on the mother’s body.

Breast milk draws vital nutrients from the mother’s body and provides it to the baby.

If the mothers food doesn’t supply it, the breast milk draws it from her body, e.g., if adequate calcium is not present in the mother’s food, the calcium is drawn from the mother’s bones, which ultimately may lead to osteopenia and eventually osteoporosis.

So multiparous women who breast feed many children for years, could suffer from osteoporosis most often.

All commercial slimming programs inevitably force you to take up very low calorie diets (VLCD). Such diets invariably lead to calcium loss from bones, amongst multiple other nutritional deficiencies. If you are prone to take up starvation based low calorie diets off and on in a desperate attempt to lose weight, you are a prime candidate for osteoporosis. So stop such yo-yo dieting if you want to have healthy bones for a lifetime.

A high protein diet, excessive consumption of coffee and alcohol, smoking, stress, and depression also enhance calcium loss and slow down fresh rebuilding of bones, thus helping the development of osteoporosis. Caffeine in coffee and raised levels of the hormone cortisol in stress enhances calcium loss from bones.

People who have taken steroids for long periods for diseases like asthma or other allergies, also develop osteoporosis as steroids cause the body to lose calcium through the urine.

The threat of osteoporosis has increased multi fold during the Corona pandemic as we are home locked and get even less exposure to sunlight and may not get enough vegetables or drink enough milk to get sufficient calcium from our food.

Osteoporosis is undoubtedly a very grave disease that can be prevented simply by leading a healthy lifestyle from childhood. Which means that parents must have adequate knowledge about the dangerous disease which can be prevented or arrested but not completely reversed once it sets in.

So you must learn all about this illness and teach your children to eat healthy, play physical sports involving activities like running and climbing, get into the habit of exercising regularly and being happy and peaceful.

You must include ample skim milk, lots of green leafy vegetables, nachani (a cereal, also called ragi) and soya in your diet to ensure getting adequate calcium.

You can consult your doctor and discuss with him or her about whether you need calcium and vitamin D supplements. If you don’t get sufficient calcium in your food, you may be benefited by taking them.

Our body synthesizes vitamin D from sunlight. We also get it from food.

Our body builds a precursor of vitamin D under the skin with the help of cholesterol when exposed to the sunlight. Eventually the liver and the kidneys also play a role in the synthesis of vitamin D.

So ensure that you get adequate early morning sunlight to allow your body to build vitamin D without suffering from the damaging effects of strong sunlight. Five-minute exposure of your arms, legs and face to the morning sun, three to five days a week is adequate for most people to synthesize sufficient vitamin D.

The food sources of vitamin D are limited. Fatty fish oils, fatty fish, liver, eggs, and milk are the major sources of vitamin D. So you could consume milk every day, a couple of whole eggs a week (unless your doctor recommends not eating them to limit dietary sources of cholesterol) and fish to improve your supply of dietary vitamin D.

A whole egg four days a week would serve you nicely if your cholesterol is excellent, providing wide health benefits other than vitamin D. But you must avoid other sources of cholesterol, viz. non-vegetarian source foods, ghee, butter, and cheese on these days.

You may not get enough vitamin D if you do not have much exposure to sunlight. Barring milk, the food sources of the vitamin are not common foods. In such a case, it may be necessary for you to take vitamin D supplements. Ask your doctor about this issue.

Take up regular weight-bearing exercises. They help stop further bone loss and may help to build bone as you age. By improving your posture, balance, and flexibility, they also reduce your risk of falls that can break fragile bones. Exercise for at least 30 minutes three times a week. Take up antigravity exercises like walking, running, jogging, aerobics, hill climbing, stair climbing, tennis, football, basketball or volleyball and moderate weight training. Swimming doesn’t help in building healthy bones as your bones and muscles must work against gravity to do so.

A word of caution will not be out of place here. While taking up these exercises, don’t get carried away and damage your knees! Taking up knee strengthening exercises simultaneously is equally vital. We want strong bones as well as healthy knees.

So consult your doctor before taking up these exercises.

Read the articles ‘Can I Eat A Whole Egg?‘ and ‘Save Your Knees‘ on this site for more information.