Hypertension (High Blood Pressure)

To learn facts about what is hypertension, and things that can cause it, and even a short discussion on the better drugs to take for it (if you choose that route) you must read the article we are working on right now (4/27/2018) called Blood Pressure— The How Tos and How Not Tos. It’s very short but important. 

To the medical community, the causes of hypertension are not very clear, though the medical and pharmaceutical industries have recently begun focusing on those people with a high level of renin in their system. Why? Because it is treatable with drugs such as beta-blockers. As this is being written, the news media is reporting how Afro-Americans suffer from this disorder (high renin levels) more than other nationalities. On the average, though, only about 10% of people with hypertension have a high level of renin in their blood. This is why modern medicine coined the term essential hypertension, to cover all the rest of those suffering from high blood pressure for unknown causes.

The kidneys produce your renin. They produce renin when your blood pressure drops (e.g. internal bleeding due to an accident in which you lose a lot of blood), or when blood flow to the kidneys is restricted. Your doctor has a whole line of drugs to inhibit the effects of renin levels—none of which will extend your life any or increase the quality of it.

We’re basically dealing with prostaglandin chemistry here and we’re not about to get technical on you, only to mention that there are good prostaglandins and bad prostaglandins. Bad prostaglandins are produced by diets high in certain fats: polyunsaturated oils and trans-fatty acids called partially hydrogenated oils. These same “bad” prostaglandins are also responsible for many cancers. To reduce the bad prostaglandins and promote good prostaglandins you need your essential fatty acids. Flax oil, hemp oil, fish oils, olive oil (virgin or extra virgin), or MCT oil, and evening primrose oil all contain essential fatty acids. Of these, hemp oil is the best. Taken with protein, the oils become water soluble, thus more bioavailable.

Finally, avoid chlorinated water as if it was poison:

• it destroys your essential fatty acids,
• it attacks your arteries and causes arteriosclerosis.

You will hear a lot about essential fatty acids at this site and in our publications. They battle, and prevent heart attacks and strokes, and can help to reverse cardiovascular disease, cancer, and type II diabetes.

The main message in this chapter is: reduce bad prostaglandins and increase your good prostaglandins with a proper diet and you’ve got a better handle on your blood pressure.

But first an update:

Arjuana 

The full name is Terminalia Arjuna. It’s been used in Ayurvedic medicine for a few thousand years. For blood pressure, you take 500 mg, 3 times a day (every eight hours). There are many forms; some like the extract, others the raw bark, it’s up to you. I can guarantee you that this stuff worked on me. My blood pressure was climbing and on my last checkup my doctor did a double-take when she saw my figures next to my previous figures. I get mine here: Swanson’s.

To learn more about this magnificent herb, go here: Nutrients and Supplements for Preventing and Reversing Cardiovascular Disease.

Is Hypertension Genetically Inherited?

Now if you visit Dr Lown’s web site, the Lown Cardiovascular Group, you will find in an article on hypertension written by one of his physicians: “Scientists are still looking for the underlying cause of high blood pressure, but one thing is clear: It is a disease that travels in families. If both parents have high blood pressure, there is a strong likelihood that their children will develop the problem as well.”

Dr Lown has written an amazing book, The Lost Art of Healing. He invented the direct current defibrillator for cardiopulmonary resuscitation of a patient dying suddenly. He has had a glorious career in medicine. However, the above statement, made by one of his physicians, might lead you to believe that there is a genetic component to hypertension.

When something runs in a family, it does not necessarily have to have a genetic component. We learn our habits at home. Our eating habits are learned in the home. We eat what our parents ate. It is this simple. The reason some scientists don’t see this is that they are not paid to see it; and physicians are not taught to look for nutritional causes to diseases.

As we went to print (publishing Bypassing Bypass in 2002), we learned of a hypertension therapy that proved itself to be 88% effective. The work leading up to the study also discovered one of the main causes of essential hypertension. Here’s what we learned:

Researchers have realized that a significant number of hypertension patients share a condition of low blood calcium levels and elevated parathyroid hormone (the hormone responsible for maintaining blood calcium levels). Something was definitely wrong with this picture, but the answer evaded most scientists till a Dr Peter Pang from Canada (and his researchers) discovered a second hormone produced by the parathyroid gland responsible for depressing calcium levels. They named it parathyroid hypertensive factor, or PHF.

Next, Dr Pang—Yale trained with a background in both Oriental medicine and pharmacology—developed a product called Pressure FX, a combination of a mushroom (Cordyceps Sinensis) and shark cartilage. Shark cartilage contains a good amount of calcium and in animal studies, rats were given hypertension by injections of PHF and then were injected with shark cartilage which brought their levels right back down.

Pressure FX has not been widely tested, though the limited testing has shown one capsule taken three times a day to be 65% to 88% effective.

From Dr Rath’s Research

For hypertension, Dr Rath recommends adding the following to his basic cellular medicine program:

Vitamin C: like all antioxidants, your requirements are based on your lifestyle and where you live. If you breathe fresh air and drink clean water, your requirements are at the low end of Dr Rath’s recommendations. However, if you live in a polluted area your daily requirements can be up around 5 or 6 grams per day.

Make sure you get a Vitamin C Complex, with a host of bioflavonoids. In fact, Swanson’s has a brand new product that has an equal amount of bioflavonoids as it has vitamin C: Supreme C Complex.

Vitamin E: You can get supplements of mixed tocopherols or mixed tocotrienols, or eat foods high in vitamin E; wheat germ, nuts, seeds, avocado. These antioxidants protect your arteries and your blood. The version of vitamin E we use is Vitamin E with Tocotrienols – Full Spectrum.

Magnesium: be careful with magnesium. Again, over 500 mgs daily can cause your body to “dump” needed minerals; 400 mgs is a good, solid dosage. I take one of Swanson’s Triple Magnesium caps daily.

Calcium: there are so many forms of calcium on the market that it is hard to tell which is best. However, many naturopaths tell us we need one with cofactors for strong healthy bones and teeth. Glucosamine and chondroitin are cofactors for joint support in the best form possible. Taking something without cofactors can result in depletion of those cofactors from other parts of the body. Calcium lactate takes one chemical step to turn into calcium bicarbonate (the type the body uses and needs). Calcium carbonate (a very popular brand) takes twelve chemical reactions to do this and it requires stomach acid.

Next you have shark cartilage, which is a very good form of calcium and its cofactors, and is a low grade anti-inflammatory, though it is a bit more expensive than NOW’s Calcium Hydroxyapatite, which is very bioavailable.

Finally you have pH-FX that you can add to water to raise the pH (to alkaline). Along with their other product, Ionyte, you’re adding very needed minerals to your daily routine just by drinking water. These are both found at Simply the Best. And they have Structured Water devices. These two products and the Structured Water devices just help the minerals you take get into your body faster and hydrate better. Keeping hydrated helps keep your blood pressure lowered. [Ref]

The Miracle Molecule

If you are at all paying attention, you must know about Nitric Oxide. Everyone in the universe is talking about it.

Nitric Oxide, or NO, is a “gaseous signaling molecule” in the lining (endothelium) of our arteries. Signaling is part of communication. Every system in our body works best when there is communication, and events are all perfectly orchestrated through this communication. When there’s a break in communication, say a necessary chemical is missing, a signaling molecule will communicate to all systems to get to work and either find this missing chemical or manufacture it.

Thus one of NO’s jobs is to communicate between the nerves and the brain. Additionally, it has a role in our immune system in fighting off invaders and playing defense against tumors. For this NO is generated by our phagocytes when signaled by interferon or TNF (tumor necrosis factor). NO also improves sleep, reduces inflammation, increases strength and endurance, and helps out in moving our food through the digestive system.

What we focused on previously in two of our recent articles (last quarter of 2015) was how NO helps prevent strokes and normalizes blood pressure, though for us doddering old men, it has a sizable part in helping erectile dysfunction.

It’s the NO’s cardioprotective function we are most interested in for this discussion, but first here’s a little fun fact for you: NO was used in medicine more than 100 years before it was actually discovered.

In 1847, Ascanio Sobrero discovered that NG (nitroglycerine) caused almost an immediate headache when a small amount was applied to the tongue. Not long afterwards, NG was further diluted to produce a homeopathic remedy for headaches, following the doctrine of “like cures like.” [A short history of nitroglycerine and nitric oxide in pharmacology and physiology.]

The gas, Nitric Oxide, NO, was discovered in 1998 and the discoverers won the Nobel Prize in medicine because NO was a critical factor in preventing hypertension (high blood pressure), heart disease, and stroke.

These scientists went on to discover ways of boosting NO levels in the body and settled on the amino acid L-arginine which triggers an enzyme (eNOS) that makes NO.

Drinks all around.

However, there turned out to be a fly in the ointment.

There seemed to be a cut-off age for NO’s effectiveness. The L-arginine pathway has been found to lose its effectiveness in middle aged men (when hypertension and heart disease really starts taking their toll), and even worse, it can do damage. People who’ve had heart attacks get no NO from this particular pathway, and people with heart disease can be pushed over the edge taking L-arginine supplements; we found a study in which six subjects died while taking large doses of L-arginine.

Luckily, there are other pathways to manufacturing NO in the body, and (you’re going to love this) one is called “nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway.” [Wikipedia] [The nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway in physiology and therapeutics.]

This pathway was first suggested to us by the father of medicine, Hippocrates when he said: “Let your food be your medicine . . . .”

The nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway takes foods rich in dietary nitrates and nitrites and converts them to NO.

And these foods will be found in the produce section or at your local farmer’s market for the most part. You’ll see that you can get an NO booster from the meat counter too, but the fewer chemicals the better when choosing meat and fish.

Shocking!

NO is a free radical! Once created, NO has a very short half-life of just a few seconds!

Having learned this, I came across an article that claimed orange juice would protect my NO against free radicals and I didn’t know what to think. Also, this short half-life occurs after NO hits the blood stream.

The thing is, in its short lifespan, NO attenuates quite nicely (spreads out) into the endothelial tissues to relax your arteries and lower your blood pressure.

And get this: the moment sunlight hits your skin NO is released into your bloodstream. [Sunshine could benefit health and prolong life, study suggests.]

So, let us go over all of the benefits for NO:

• Anti-hypertensive (maintains healthy blood pressure by dilating arteries )
• Oxygenation: elevates oxygen delivery during exercise and increases endurance and strength (you need less oxygen and improves “exercise tolerance”)
• Anti-Acid: lowers lactic acid following exercise
• Cardioprotective: slows vascular aging
• Reduces inflammation
• Immunosupportive: fights bacterial infections and tumors
• Assists the transmission of information between nerve cells and the brain (better memory, better reflexes)
• Improves quality of sleep

We’re going to end with foods (and a few supplements) that boost NO levels (nitric oxide potency). We’re listing them from the biggest producers to the least.

Very High

Arugula
Beet Juice/Super Beets
Bok Choy
Celery
Ginseng
Lettuce
Spinach
Swiss Chard

High

Chinese cabbage
Cranberries
Dark Chocolate
Ecklonia Cava Extract (found at Simply the Best)
Endive
Fennel
Mustard leaf
Organ Meats
Pomegranate & Pomegranate Juice
Radish
Red Beet Roots
Watermelon
Wild Salmon (CoQ10)

Medium

Cabbage
Carrots
Cayenne Pepper
Green Beans
Grape Seed Extract
Leeks
Turnips

Low

Broccoli
Cucumber
Cauliflower
Honey
Potato

Very Low

Asparagus
Brussels sprouts
Garlic
Onions
Peas
Tomato

The Downside of NO

Yes, there is a downside. NO stimulates some viruses, like herpes. So you have to weigh the good and the bad.

We’ve given you a lot of his recommendations, and if they’re not working for you, say, you still have a bit of high blood pressure, adding NO potentiating foods to your regimen might be something to consider. Additionally, since I play tennis and work out, I ignore the downside to NO.

Simply the Best sells both Beet Juice (organic) juice powder and Pomegranate (organic) juice powder.

More Supplements/Foods (Update 2016)

Pomegranate Juice─ Studies show that drinking pomegranate juice regularly will lower your blood pressure. Above we show you that this provides nitric oxide, but something else important is going on here: it’s cleaning the fatty deposits off your arteries.

Concord Grape Juice ─ Does the same as pomegranate juice, just not as good. But mix in a raw egg and you’ve got a great shot of B-12.

Serrapeptase  ─ An anti-inflammatory (used in European countries as much as NSAIDS) that has an interesting side effect: cleans your arteries

MK – 7─ Have some patience. This is going to take a while to explain. I’ve read an awful lot about vitamin K for years. It’s just plain necessary to good health.

What few realize is that there are two forms, Vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) and Vitamin K2 (menaquinones) and the food sources for these are as dissimilar as Venus is to Jupiter. Additionally, menaquinoens come in a variety of forms: MK-4 (found in meats, highly processed meats like pepperoni) and MK-7, MK-8, MK-9 found in fermented foods and cheese.

The one fermented food that has the most MK-7 (the acknowledged best form) is a fermented dish of soybeans known as natto. It’s not on the menu anywhere I know of, and it doesn’t look all that edible, but I would try it because I like to try new things.

I’ve found one study in which higher levels of menaquinoens showed lower levels of C-Reactive Protein (inflammation index). As you should already know, inflammation and diabetes go together.

In another study, people with high blood pressure turned out to also have low levels of vitamin K1 in their blood. K1, again, comes from dark green vegetables. Another study showed that people with the most calcium deposits in their arteries had the lowest serum levels of vitamin K1.

Researchers pointed out in these studies that K2 (MK7) has a much longer half-life than K1, thus sustaining vitamin K serum levels longer.

But most important is the role of vitamin K in keeping altherosclerotic calcium plaque off our arteries.

“High dietary Vitamin K2 is associated with decreased coronary calcification and therefore is important to prevent cardiovascular [problems]” [Beulens J.W. et al. Atherosclerosis 2009 April, PMID 18722618]

It seems that K1 keeps calcium out of the blood vessels and K2 inhibits calcification, but out of all the thousands of studies (over 15,000), if you want to clear calcium out of your arteries and improve blood flow, lowering your blood pressure, MK-7 is the one that does this.

Again, K1 is easy to get, but has a short half-life. We need our dark green veggies, but nobody (and I mean nobody) is going to go out and chow down on natto to get their K2/MK-7.

Thus, if you want MK-7 in your regimen, you’re going to have to supplement like I do, and of course, I like NOW Foods’ version.

Natto also produces Natokinase, which is a natural blood thinner. It is enormously hard to find a product with both of these nutrients in them, even though they both come from the same source: Natto.

Further Reading:

Hypertension Update [Still working on this one.]

Stubborn Hypertension

Vitamin K may affect arterial calcification for hypertensives: Multi-ethnic study

Volunteerism

In a recent study involving over 1,000 people over the age of 50, conducted between 2006 and 2010 by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, it was learned that people who volunteered over 200 hours a year were less likely to develop hypertension than non volunteers, and less likely than volunteers who performed less than 200 hours a year of volunteering. [A prospective study of volunteerism and hypertension risk in older adults. Sneed, Rodlescia S.; Cohen, Sheldon Psychology and Aging, Vol 28(2), Jun 2013, 578-586. doi: 10.1037/a0032718]

Hear and understand me.

Even if you disagree, please don’t make me wrong.

Acknowledge the greatness within me.

Remember to look for my loving intentions.

Tell me the truth with compassion.

If You Cannot Lower Your Blood Pressure With Nutrition, Supplements, and Exercise: SEE YOUR DOCTOR

There is nothing wrong with reaching out for help. Just make sure that you are fully informed about the drugs you’ll be prescribed. And fully informed means also knowing the nutritional cost . . . what they block or use up or what you’ll run short of. Work with your doctor, and keep up the diet and exercise. Take your blood pressure daily. 

Sure, you’ve suffered a setback. But you’re still above ground and still able to fight and live your life to the fullest.