New Guidelines for High Blood Pressure

[bradly1101]

Actually, for quite some time now, it has been known that high salt(sodium) content is not the blood pressure boogeyman it was once thought to be.

-KeithP

Got a reputable link on that?

"Most of the sodium we consume is in the form of salt, and the vast majority of sodium we consume is in processed and restaurant foods. Your body needs a small amount of sodium to work properly, but too much sodium is bad for your health. Excess sodium can increase your blood pressure and your risk for a heart disease and stroke. Together, heart disease and stroke kill more Americans each year than any other cause."

https://www.cdc.gov/salt/index.htm

"Eating salt raises the amount of sodium in your bloodstream and wrecks the delicate balance, reducing the ability of your kidneys to remove the water.

The result is a higher blood pressure due to the extra fluid and extra strain on the delicate blood vessels leading to the kidneys.

Over time, this extra strain can damage the kidneys - known as kidney disease. This reduces their ability to filter out unwanted and toxic waste products, which then start to build up in the body.

If kidney disease is left untreated and the blood pressure isn't lowered, the damage can lead to kidney failure. This is when the kidneys are no longer able to be filter the blood and the body slowly becomes poisoned by its own toxic waste products."

http://www.bloodpressureuk.org/microsites/salt/Home/Whysaltisbad/Saltseffects

Myths about high blood pressure (look at the ones about salt).

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Condi...ure-Myths_UCM_430836_Article.jsp#.WguFBVtSw0Y

 

[Charmonium]

Fast food... I know the menu inside and out everywhere. Generally chicken at most places has no trans fat. I eat alot of chicken.

Its better than it used to be these days, but still depends on the place.

Baked goods, nope never. I instantly associate those bins of grocery store cookies with trans fat. If I have to eat one at a social event I will eat literally one baked goods cookie to make them feel better, but generally no.

I can count on my fingers the number of krispy kreme donuts I've eaten in my life, back in the day they were pretty loaded with trans fat. Apparently they removed alot of it but it became pretty much ingrained to avoid them.

Pie crust.. don't get me started on pie crust!!!

I've avoided trans fats since the early 90's when it first became known that macrophage cells choked on oxidized trans fat and also that trans fat tended to become oxidized more easily than cis fats. That was long before there were labeling requirements for trans fats. You just had to scour the labels on products and look for anything that said 'hydrogenated.' I probably ended up eating some small amount in restaurants and the occasional burger but I still avoid anything that has hydrogenated oils regardless of whether or not it says 0g trans fat - since they round down for anything less than 0.5g per serving.

 

[TheVrolok]

Six months from now they* will change their minds and come out with new guidelines.

*Who they is will depend on who is funding what with whom.

Follow the money.

Nope.

useless guideline. 140/90 was fine. I guess they need to sell more drugs.

Interesting insight. Would you mind sharing the evidence supporting your opinion?

 

[BoomerD]

I remember years ago, anything under 150/ 90 (?) was considered acceptable...then 10-15 years ago (?) they changed it to 140/90...now 130/80? Hell, I remember being told that my age + 100 was normal blood pressure...I'd be blowing brain vessels with that nowadays!

Pretty soon, anything over 100/50 is gonna be hypertension and in need of pills...

 

[Elixer]

I went to one of those "health station" that you can run a variety of tests on, and I tried the blood pressure and it said 210/140 Poor/Poor.

I went to another one at another store, and this one said 120/50 Good/Good.
So, seems the calibration of these things vary wildly.

 

[IronWing]

I went to one of those "health station" that you can run a variety of tests on, and I tried the blood pressure and it said 210/140 Poor/Poor.

I went to another one at another store, and this one said 120/50 Good/Good.
So, seems the calibration of these things vary wildly.

Was the high one next to the pharmacy and the low one next to the bakery, perchance?

 

[BoomerD]

Was the high one next to the pharmacy and the low one next to the bakery, perchance?

rofl...those machines are rarely very accurate...no matter where they're at.

 

[Chaotic42]

rofl...those machines are rarely very accurate...no matter where they're at.

Yeah, you really need to go to the doctor to get that measured. Even my home unit is wildly inaccurate.

 

[Elixer]

Was the high one next to the pharmacy and the low one next to the bakery, perchance?

Heh, that would have been funny.

One was at a mega store (pharmacy/grocery/hardware/clothes and so on) , and the other one was at a Rite-aid (low score).

 

[IEC]

Push those statins!

Statins are used for hyperlipidemia to lower cholesterol, not to lower BP.

 

[BoomerD]

Yeah, you really need to go to the doctor to get that measured. Even my home unit is wildly inaccurate.

Even the ones in the doctor's office can be crazy different...different nurses, different cuffs, even different tjmes of day...I know if they use a "normal" cuff, my reading is way different than if they use a large cuff.

 

[TheVrolok]

Yeah, you really need to go to the doctor to get that measured. Even my home unit is wildly inaccurate.

It's admittedly tough to establish where the more accurate measurements occur. Doctor's office measurements are also notoriously inaccurate as blood pressures are rarely taken in the appropriate manner. Not to mention, the literature supports ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (essentially fancy checking at home) as superior to office measurement. This is actually reflected in the new AHA guidelines. In the absence of true ambulatory monitoring (almost impossible to get it covered by insurance anecdotally), taking your home BP cuff into the office to at least check that it's accurate is the next best thing.