Blood Pressure Facts and Myths: A Heart Health Consumer Guide

MYTH: If you have high blood pressure you need prescription drugs to lower it.

High BP is a widespread and therefore profitable disease that constantly drives the development of new drugs to treat it. The good news is that there is a wide array of prescription drugs that allow doctors to mount a multi-faceted attack on high BP if needed.  Among the most common are:

• § Thiazide diuretics (e.g. hydrochlorothiazide)
• § ACE inhibitors (e,g, lisinopril)
• § Calcium channel blockers (e.g. amlodipine)

The 40,000 participant ALLHAT study concluded these drug regimens worked equally well and recommended diuretics as the lowest cost alternative.  But all these drugs, even the newer ones, have their own problems, counter-indications, and side effects, not to mention the cost.

FACT: There are many non-prescription blood pressure lowering treatments that are equally as powerful as drugs and offer one huge benefit that drugs alone do not

As I just mentioned, there is a dazzling array of drugs to lower BP and they work just fine.  But what if you would prefer to eliminate the cost and side effects of drugs or simply wish to limit your need for drugs?  Unfortunately, many doctors are not knowledgeable about or are slow to offer natural methods to reduce BP.  More ominously, some may have financial motives for pushing drugs.

The fact is many natural treatments are equally effective as compared to drugs, especially when used in combination.  True, they are not as fast acting as drugs and may require months to see the full effect but they also have one powerful advantage that drugs alone do not, they can help prevent high BP from ever becoming a problem in the first place!  Consider these natural strategies to prevent and reduce high BP:

Lifestyle

If you are overweight, lose it!  The larger the weight loss (assuming you are overweight), the greater the blood pressure reduction.

Exercise helps with weight reduction and reduces BP.

Reduce your intake of processed carbohydrates.  This means a reduction or elimination of wheat and corn starch products and can be difficult.  This includes virtually all wheat products such as breads (white and whole grain), cereals, pretzels, crackers, pancakes, waffles, donuts and corn starch products such as tacos, chips, and, cornbread. Combined with weight loss, the drop in blood pressure can be 20mmHg or more.

Be certain to get plenty of sleep - 7 to 8 hours per night.

If you are known to be sodium sensitive, cut back on salt.  Salt restriction has been overplayed in the conventional high BP guidelines.  However, there are people who must avoid salty foods.  Some foods such as potato chips and pretzels are easy to spot.  Others require careful label watching.  You would be amazed at the levels of salt/sodium in many processed foods like tomato juice and processed soups.