Effects of life style and diet on Hypertension

Background and Objective: Hypertension (HTN) or high blood pressure (HBP) is a long term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistentlyelevated that can lead to serious complication if untreated such as heart failure, heart attack, stroke and kidney damage. Different dietary and environmental agents areeffective in the treatment of hypertension, including sodium intake, alcohol, fruits and vegetables, fiber, fish, caffeine, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DAHS) diet,exercise and weight loss. In this regard, Search Method:A comprehensive search was done in The Pubmed and Google Scholar databases in order to review the effect of comprehensive dietary modification, as well as the effect of individual dietary intervention on BP. Findings: Making change to what you eat and what you do can help you to control HBP. A diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, and low-fat dairy products and low in snacks, sweets, and meats (such as DASH diet) may lower BP and preventhypertension. Fish is also beneficial if combined with weight loss. Existence of 20 to 35 grams of fiber per day such as breakfast cereals is also helpful. Drinking alcohol isone of the risk factors for HBP especially in people with more than 2 drinks per day. Moderate amounts of caffeine (less than 2 cups per day) does not threaten your bloodpressure. Exercise can lower your BP, even if you don’t lose weight. (75 minutes per week of strenuous activity or 150 minutes per week of moderate activity). People withBMI> 25 means over weights and BMI> 30 means obesities are probable to HBP. So weight loss by eating fewer calories and exercise can help them to reduce the harmfuleffects of BP. Sodium intake is the other agent affects the blood pressure. The important source of sodium, is in processed foods and restaurant foods. Sodium intake for people with/without hypertension is 2/3 gram sodium or 6 gram sodium chloride per day. Conclusion: The optimal effects on BP is achieved with correction of multi contributors to hypertension including salt intake, excess alcohol intake and obesity. Using controlled diet and life style, it can be reduced the harmful effects of HBP such ascardiovascular disease.

Keywords:

Hypertension , heart failure , salt intake , weight loss , exercise