What everyone should know about blood pressure

Dr. Norm Campbell sees

a lot of patients who tell him they eat a healthy diet. Then he checks their blood pressure – and finds a problem.

“I often hear, ‘My diet is fine.’ But for most Canadians, it’s not,” says Dr. Campbell.

What you eat has a major impact on blood pressure, says Dr. Campbell, newly appointed Chair in Hypertension Prevention and Control Initiative.

His message to Canadians: Take a critical look at your grocery list.  While current estimates say about 6 million Canadians, or one in five, have high blood pressure or hypertension, Dr. Campbell believes the number to be considerably higher, with hundreds of new cases diagnosed every day. That’s shocking, considering it is the leading risk factor for stroke and a major risk factor for heart disease.

To keep the pressure down, Dr. Campbell has these tips:

1. Adopt a DASH diet

   (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) that is high in fresh fruit and vegetables, high in lower-fat dairy products and low in saturated fats.

2. Cut the salt – Sodium is a major contributor to high blood pressure. Dr. Campbell believes two million Canadian hypertension cases are caused just by excess sodium, most of which is found in processed foods like fast food, prepared meals and processed meats.

3. Cut down or avoid processed foods –“People don’t understand that when they eat a processed food, it’s highly unhealthy,” said Dr. Campbell. Feeling that today’s food labels aren’t strong enough, he is lobbying government to establish warning labels on products that are high in sugar or trans fats.

4. Push for a smoke-free environment wherever you work or live, especially if you have high blood pressure. (When high blood pressure is mixed with smoking, blood vessel damage rapidly accelerates, leading to heart attacks and strokes.)

5. Take a walk – Moderate physical activity such as a brisk walk an hour a day is optimal for lowering blood pressure.

6. Get checked regularly, even if you’re slim –  Most associate high blood pressure with obesity, and while there is a connection, it’s possible to be slim and still suffer from hypertension.

7. Keep an eye on “normal” –Blood pressure that’s in the higher end of the normal range can still be dangerous. (If your blood pressure is between 130/85 mm Hg and 139/89 mm Hg, it is in the "high-normal" zone, which makes it more likely to develop into hypertension. A normal range is between 120/80 mm Hg and 129/84 mm Hg.)

8. Ease the pressure, live longer – With proper diagnosis and treatment of high blood pressure, you can cut your risk of stroke by up to 40 percent and heart attack by up to 25 percent.

Dr. Campbell is a professor of medicine at the University of Calgary and a member of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta. His appointment as Chair in Hypertension Prevention and Control Initiative is funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada in partnership with the CIHR Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health.

Manage your blood pressure with the new My Heart&Stroke Blood Pressure Action Plan, with easy-to-use tools to track blood pressure readings, set goals and receive appointment and medication reminders.

© – Reproduced with permission of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, 2012