Hypertension refers to high blood pressure. Blood pressure is the force exerted by blood on the walls of the arteries when the heart beats. When measured, two readings are recorded.

The first is called the systolic pressure and represents the force of the blood as the heart contracts (beats) to pump it around the body. This is the higher of the two readings.

The second, called the diastolic, is the pressure while the heart is relaxed and filling with blood again in preparation for the next contraction or heart beat. This value is lower than the systolic pressure.

Blood pressure changes throughout the day. Particularly, it increases during exercise and decreases during sleep.

What is considered to be an acceptable blood pressure and what is hypertension (and then what needs treatment) depends on several factors. A single high reading is not enough to warrant a diagnosis of hypertension, as blood pressure can be raised in all of us now and then, sometimes just the sight of a doctor can put it up. So there must be at least two high readings to cause concern.

Hypertension is then diagnosed when either or both of the systolic and diastolic pressures are persistently raised above 140(systolic)/90(diastolic) mmHg. Hypertension, therefore, may just be a high systolic pressure (this is known as isolated systolic hypertension), just a high diastolic, or both.

Although high blood pressure can cause headaches, dizziness and problems with vision, the majority of people suffer no symptoms at all. As a result, many people with hypertension remain undiagnosed because they have no symptoms to motivate them to see a doctor or get their blood pressure checked.

However, despite the lack of symptoms, hypertension can lead to heart attack, stroke, kidney damage, and many other medical problems, which is why it is important for people to have their blood pressure checked regularly so it can be diagnosed and treated.

In 90-95% of cases, there is no specific cause that can be found for the raised blood pressure. This is known as essential hypertension and it is probably due to a variety of factors. It does tend to run in families, and genetics may play a part.

In around 5-10% of cases, kidney disease, endocrine disease (for example, underactive thyroid) and drugs (such as the contraceptive pill) are found to be responsible. This is sometimes called secondary hypertension. For example, narrowing of the artery to the kidney, known as renal artery stenosis, accounts for approximately 1% of mild to moderate cases of high blood pressure and as many as 10% of cases of severe or difficult to treat hypertension.

If your blood pressure is normal, then it needs to stay that way. If it is high, it needs to be brought down to a normal level. And the aim is usually to get the blood pressure down to below 140/90 mmHg.

When high blood pressure is first diagnosed, tests may be done for an underlying cause (i.e. secondary hypertension) especially if the person is young or has very high blood pressure. If an underlying cause is found, it should be treated.

Research has shown that following a healthy eating plan can both reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure and lower an already elevated blood pressure. Raw Foodists, in general, have lower blood pressure levels and a lower incidence of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. Experts postulate that a typical vegetarian diet contains more potassium, complex carbohydrates, polyunsaturated fat, fiber, calcium, magnesium, vitamin C and vitamin A, all of which may have a favorable influence on blood pressure which means that a well balanced raw food lifestyle would have better results than a vegetarian diet.

A high fiber diet has been shown to be effective in preventing and treating many forms of cardiovascular disease, including hypertension. The type of dietary fiber is also important. The dietary fiber that is of greatest benefit to hypertension is the water soluble, gel-forming fibers such as apple pectin, psyllium seeds, etc. These fibers, in addition to the benefit against hypertension, are also useful to reduce cholesterol levels, promote weight loss, chelate heavy metals, etc.

Incorporate the following into your daily eating habits:

• Apples
• Dandelion
• Ginger
• Fennel

Take a diet that is rich in high potassium foods (vegetables and fruits) and essential fatty acids. Daily intake of potassium should total 7 grams per day. The diet should be low in saturated fat, sugar and salt. In general, a whole raw food diet emphasizing vegetables and members of the garlic/onion family should be consumed.

A number of common vegetables and spices have beneficial effects in controlling hypertension. Incorporate these into your raw food lifestyle.

Celery (Apium graveolens). Oriental Medicine practitioners have long used celery for lowering high blood pressure. There is some experimental evidence that shows that celery is useful for this. In one animal study, laboratory animals injected with celery extract showed lowered blood pressure. Eating as few as four celery stalks was found to be beneficial in lowering blood pressure in human beings.

Garlic (Allium sativum). Garlic is a wonder drug for heart. It has beneficial effects in all cardiovascular system including blood pressure. In a study, when people with high blood pressure were given one clove of garlic a day for 12 weeks, their diastolic blood pressure and cholesterol levels were significantly reduced. Eating quantities as small as one clove of garlic a day was found to have beneficial effects on managing hypertension. Use garlic in your salad, soup, pickles, etc. It is very versatile.

Onion (Allium cepa). Onions are useful in hypertension. What is best is the onion essential oil. Two to three tablespoons of onion essential oil a day was found to lower the systolic levels by an average of 25 points and the diastolic levels by 15 points in hypertension subjects. This should not be surprising because onion is a cousin of garlic.

Tomato (Lycopersicon lycopersicum). Tomatoes are high in gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), a compound that can help bring down blood pressure.

Broccoli (Brassica oleracea). This vegetable contains several active ingredients that reduce blood pressure.

Carrot (Daucus carota). Carrots also contain several compounds that lower blood pressure.

Saffron (Crocus sativus). Saffron contains a chemical called crocetin that lowers the blood pressure. You can use saffron in your salads and pickles. (It is a very popular spice in Arabic cooking.) You can also make a tea with it. Many Indians add a pinch of saffron in the brewed tea to give a heavenly flavor. Unfortunately, it is very expensive.

Assorted spices. Spices such as fennel, oregano, black pepper, basil and tarragon have active ingredients that are beneficial in hypertension.

There is no cure as such for essential hypertension, but following a healthy lifestyle can be enough to bring blood pressure down to a normal level. This is one reason why drug treatment may not be offered for healthy individuals with only mild hypertension (above 140/90 mmHg but below 160/100 mmHg).

Medication is used if lifestyle changes alone fail to lower blood pressure sufficiently.

It is generally recommend that drug treatment is offered to:

• those with a blood pressure above 160/100 mmHg
• those with isolated systolic hypertension of more than 160 mmHg
• those with a blood pressure of more than 140/90 mmHg (i.e., mild hypertension) but who also have cardiovascular disease or significant risk of developing cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or damage to the heart, kidney or eyes as a result of high blood pressure.

Current world medical guidelines also recommend that blood pressure levels need to be even lower for certain people and say treatment should aim to lower blood pressure to below 130/80 if a person has a complication of diabetes, especially kidney problems, had a serious cardiovascular event such as a heart attack, TIA or stroke, or has certain chronic kidney diseases.

All medicines can have side effects and sometimes it is necessary to try different drugs if initial treatments cause problems. But a well balanced raw food diet or even just a raw food lifestyle should be enough to keep your Hypertension issues at bay.

By TTS Cofounder Omid Jaffari