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High Blood Pressure Essays

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Raised blood pressure is major preventable cause of CVD, and hypertensive people are three times more likely to develop CVD. High blood pressure increases the workload on the heart and can damage the endothelial lining of blood vessels, cause an upsurge of infiltration of lipids into the arterial wall, worsen endothelial damage and enhance atherosclerotic deposition (Thomas & Bishop, 2007). The most significant influences are obesity, excess alcohol and excess salt intake (Williams et al., 2004). Dietary modifications are proven to lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure (Apple, 1997). A review showed that among overweight hypertensive people, a weight reduction of 3–9% is associated with a decrease of about 3 mmHg in systolic and …show more content…

However, people who consume high amount of fruits and vegetables are more likely to have a healthier lifestyle and habits (Bazzano, Serdula & Liu, 2003). Joshipura et al. (2001) reported that each single serving per day increase in intake of fruits or vegetables was associated with a 4% lower risk of coronary heart disease. The participants were from a nurses' health study and health professionals' follow-up study; 84,251 women 34 to 59 years of age were followed for 14 years, and 42,148 men 40 to 75 years were followed for eight years. A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies reveals that increased consumption of fruit and vegetables from less than three to more than five servings/day correlates with a 17% reduction in coronary heart disease risk (He, Nowson, Lucas, & MacGregor, 2007).
The hypothesis that dietary fibres protect from ischemic heart disease was introduced in 1970s (Trowell, 1972). Since then, a diet rich in fibre has been linked to the CVD risk factors (e.g. obesity, high cholesterol and hypertension) (Van Horn et al., 2008; Truswell, 2002). Fibres' slow gastric emptying speed in the small intestine slows the absorption of nutrients, such as glucose, from the small intestine; therefore, it has a

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