High blood pressure (hypertension)

What is it?

It is the continuous or sustained elevation of blood pressure levels. To better understand it, it is important to define blood pressure. The heart exerts pressure on the arteries so that they carry blood to the different organs of the human body. This action is what is known as blood pressure. The maximum pressure is obtained with each contraction of the heart and the minimum, with each relaxation.

Hypertension: why is it a risk factor?

• Hypertension means greater resistance for the heart, which responds by increasing its muscle mass (left ventricular hypertrophy) to cope with this overexertion. This increase in muscle mass ends up being detrimental because it is not accompanied by an equivalent increase in blood supply and can lead to coronary insufficiency and angina pectoris. In addition, the heart muscle becomes more irritable and more arrhythmias occur.
• In patients who have already had a cardiovascular problem, hypertension can intensify the damage.
• It promotes arteriosclerosis (cholesterol accumulation in the arteries) and thrombosis (which can cause myocardial infarction or cerebral infarction). In the worst cases, high blood pressure can weaken the walls of the aorta and cause its dilation (aneurysm) or rupture (which inevitably causes death).

Hypertension: treatment and prevention

The best treatment for hypertension is good prevention that avoids its onset. For this, it is essential to follow a heart-healthy lifestyle:

• Do not smoke. Tobacco increases blood pressure and heart rate. In addition, hypertensive smokers multiply the harmful effect of tobacco. Quitting smoking has positive effects superior to any medication for hypertension.
• Be careful with alcohol. Excessive alcohol consumption causes an increase in blood pressure and other harmful alterations to the heart and other organs.
• Control your weight. Overweight is a cause of hypertension. Losing weight reduces blood pressure and decreases cardiovascular risk and diabetes.
• Exercise. Regular physical exercise helps lower blood pressure numbers. In addition, it increases muscle mass and exercise capacity, helps control weight, and reduces cardiovascular risk.
• Pharmacological treatment. If you are hypertensive, you cannot be satisfied with the previous recommendations, as you may need to follow pharmacological treatment. The results do not always reflect an immediate reduction in blood pressure, so it is necessary to wait a little before asking your doctor for a change in medication.

Nutrition and hypertension

The diet in the prevention of hypertension is based on a diet rich in: fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, white and oily fish, lean or less fatty meat, and olive oil. It is recommended to reduce preserved or pre-cooked products (rich in salt), salted meats, pickled foods, and foods rich in saturated fats (whole dairy products, cured meats, fatty meat products (hamburgers, sausages,...), pastries, baked goods, etc.) as they are harmful to the heart and, consequently, alter blood pressure.

Dietary recommendations to reduce sodium in the daily diet.

Avoid table salt (normal, sea, iodized) and cooking food with salt. The habit of bringing the salt shaker to the table should be avoided.

• To enhance the flavor of the dish, use aromatic herbs and condiments: basil, fennel, cumin, tarragon, bay leaf, thyme, parsley, pepper.
• Avoid pre-cooked products due to their high salt content. A very healthy alternative is to freeze food after cooking.
• Reduce the consumption of foods that use a large amount of sodium as a preservative and in their processing (canned goods, pickles, salted or smoked meats, cured meats, bacon, potato chips, nuts, gherkins...)
• To reduce sodium in foods, prolonged soaking (more than 10 hours) or double cooking (changing the water halfway through cooking) can be used. These techniques can be used for canned vegetables, canned legumes, frozen fish, and canned goods.
• Avoid cooking techniques with excessive fats such as stewing, breading, and frying. Choose healthier cooking methods such as grilling, broiling, boiling, steaming, or baking.
• Steaming retains the properties of food better than boiling and avoids seasoning with salt because it preserves the flavor.
• Alcohol consumption should be moderated. Abusing it causes blood pressure to skyrocket.
• Choose natural water or low-mineralization mineral water and avoid sparkling water and carbonated drinks as they contain sodium.
• Regular physical exercise of moderate intensity helps improve blood pressure.
• Sustained stress causes elevations in blood pressure, so it is necessary to learn to relax.

IMPORTANCE OF SPIRULINA FOR THE PREVENTION OF HYPERTENSION

A group of Italian researchers studied the effect of Spirulina consumption on blood pressure reduction. Spirulina is a cyanobacterium considered a "superfood," with a high content of protein, iron, and other nutrients. Some research has indicated that Spirulina helps control blood glucose and lipid levels, has anti-inflammatory properties, and helps protect against certain types of cancer. Now, work recently published in the journal Hypertension shows that Spirulina consumption reduces blood pressure through the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signaling pathway. The researchers found that a Spirulina peptide, SP6, interacts with this signaling pathway, releasing nitric oxide, which consequently reduces blood pressure. In this way, the researchers found a natural source to positively regulate the mechanism by which nitric oxide acts on the endothelium of blood vessels.