Hypertension Treatments

Non-drug treatment (lifestyle change) is often the best course of action for people with hypertension. These changes include weight loss (if you're obese), increased physical activity and exercise, reduction of alcohol, caffeine and of dietary salt intake and an increase in your intake of dietary potassium.

• reducing salt intake
• reducing fat intake
• losing weight
• getting regular exercise
• quitting smoking
• Less Caffeine - reduce coffee intake
• reducing alcohol consumption
• managing stress

Any lifestyle changes you make to try to lower hypertension should always be done in consultation with your doctor. The key to avoiding serious complications of hypertension is to detect and treat it before serious damage occurs.

It is also important to identify other causes of high blood pressure, such as the use of aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, and of oral contraceptives.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Taking supplements of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, a substance found primarily in fatty cold-water fish, like salmon, mackerel, sardines, and herring, may significantly lower blood pressure in people with hypertension. Available omega 3 fish oil supplements include eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), flaxseed, and fish oil capsules. (visit this Omega 3 info site for more info)

Diet to Lower Hypertension

Changing your eating habits is one of the best ways to avoid hypertension in he first place, or to lower your blood pressure if you already have hypertension problems. Increasing the amount of vegetables and fruit that you eat and reducing the amount of fat and cholesterol will help to reduce hypertension. If you are overweight, eating a healthy balanced diet will help you to lose weight, which in turn will lower high blood pressure.

Fresh unprocessed foods are best. Including....
Fruits and Vegetables. Garlic, onion, whole grains, soy, beans, seeds, nuts, olive oil, and cold-water fish.
Low sodium - high potassium diet. Reducing sodium (salt) intake to lower hypertension appears to work better if done in combination with increased potassium intake. Reducing the amount of sodium eaten involves more than not using a salt shaker, but also reading processed and prepared food labels for the sodium content.

Drink plenty of your water everyday. This is a very good idea whether you have hypertension or not.

A useful link for hypertension reducing diet is...
Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan - www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash

Olive oil to lower blood pressure

Olive Oil is widely promoted as being good for preventing heart disease, but up until recently has not been associated with the lowering of blood pressure. A recent study in Italy now suggests that it may be a very effective in helping to lower high blood pressure, as part of a more mediterranean style healthy diet.

23 patients with moderate hypertension, who were being treated with blood pressure-lowering drugs were monitored in three situations over a one year period.

1. While on their normal diet, which had 34% of its calories from fat and 11% from saturated fat. This issimilar to an American or western European diet.

2. For six months on a diet where some of the saturated fat was replaced by extra-virgin olive oil, which is a mono-unsaturated fat.

3. For six months on a diet where the saturated fat was partly replaced by sunflower oil, which is a poly-unsaturated fat .

Over the year of the study, the blood pressure was measured regularly, and if it fell by 5 mmHg or more, the blood pressure medications were reduced. The main finding was that the olive oil diet resulted in a reduction of blood pressure medications by 48%, while the sunflower oil reduced them by only 4%. The blood pressure was 135/90 at the end of the sunflower oil diet and 127/84 after the olive oil diet. The total cholesterol and triglycerides were also slightly lower after the olive oil diet.

The general idea behind this study is that the Mediterranean diet, which is rich in mono-unsaturated fat derived from olive oil, is generally associated with a low blood pressure, but no previous study has systematically examined the exact effects of olive oil on blood pressure.

The way thatolive oil lowers pressure is not known. The authors of the Italian study suggested that one component might be polyphenols, which are present in extra-virgin olive oil, and which are antioxidants. It is not known whether they affect blood pressure, however. Whether the same blood pressure lowering effect would be seen with ordinary olive oil is not clear from this study. The main message is that olive oil appears to be the best source of fat for people concerned about their health, and that it may help to keep the blood pressure down as well as preventing heart disease.

(Italian Study Info from - LA Ferrara and colleagues. Olive oil and reduced need for antihypertensive medications. Archives of Internal Medicine 2000; 160: 837.)

Types of Blood Pressure Medications

Drug therapy should be considered when your doctor has observed consistently high blood pressure levels over a period of time, despite lifestyle changes having been made. Your doctor will prescribe appropriate drugs to lower blood pressure. Some of the commonly used classes of drugs are diuretics, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors and calcium channel blockers.

Here are the main types of drugs used for hypertension. Often, two or more drugs work better than one.

• Diuretics or water pills, help the body get rid of extra fluid and sodium.
• Beta blockers - lower the heart rate and increase the amount of blood pumped with each heartbeat.
• ACE inhibitors - these block the production of a body chemical that constricts the arteries.
• Calcium channel blockers (CCBs) - lower the heart rate and relax the blood vessels.
• Alpha blockers
• Alpha-beta blockers
• Angiotensin II receptor blockers - block the effect of a body chemical that constricts the arteries.
• Nervous system inhibitors - keep the nervous system from constricting arteries.
• Vasodilators - these relax the muscles in the blood vessel walls and allow the vessels to dilate.

Because antihypertensive medicines control blood pressure, but do not cure it, patients must continue taking the medications to maintain reduced blood pressure levels and avoid complications.

Disclaimer: The text on these pages is for your information only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult your doctor if you have any questions or concerns about your blood pressure.