Sugar and High Blood Pressure

The connection between
Sugar and High Blood Pressure

Sugar and High Blood Pressure Awareness

I have a very sweet tooth which I too readily appease by regular indulgence of chocolates and the like. As you can imagine, I am always battling to keep my weight down so it’s a problem I am currently working on.

This page will highlight the dangers and heighten the awareness of eating too much sugar, helping me and you also to curb our sugar intake.

Trends Supporting the Sugar and High Blood Pressure Link

Did you know for instance that in the United States the average American has increased their consumption of sugar from 26 lbs to more than 142 lbs a year in the last 3 decades? That’s amazing and an eye-opener to just how much of a problem it really is. No doubt an increase in the sugar content of foods we consider healthy would contribute to this trend.

The Daily Mail on the 8th of May, reported that foods with a traditionally healthy appeal now contain twice as much sugar as 30 years ago.

Preceding 1887 cardiovascular disease was almost unheard of, and as a point of interest, only 5lbs of sugar was being consumed by the average person every year. Instead of a luxury it has now become a necessity.

Now consider the Eskimos. They have a diet abundant in saturated fat but cardiovascular disease was unheard of until they were introduced to a Westernized diet of coke and sugar. Their increase in sugar and high blood pressure are surely linked and not due to their fat consumption. That is something for us to consider when we are being told to cut down on our saturated fats.

How Sugar and High Blood Pressure are connected

Have you heard of the glycemic index? It is an index of foods and how they affect blood-glucose levels.The higher the number given to any food shows the increased rate of glucose levels. This increase of glucose stimulates the pancreas to secrete more insulin to lower blood-sugar levels. When insulin is increased it will cause the storing of more fat, hence you will see a quick rise in weight and an increased triglyceride level, both known to help cause cardiovascular disease.

I have listed two examples of foods from the glycermic index that have a high count and a lower count, which will alert you to avoid these foods if possible.

As you probably know people suffering from diabetes are usually suffering from high blood pressure also.

If you go to the Glycemic Index, click on the database, and you can find out which foods are low in glucose.

The problem your body has in dealing with excess sugar will eventually result in the cells becoming insulin resistant because too much insulin is toxic. If that happens, it leads to other systems in the body malfunctioning.

Insulin helps store magnesium which is needed to relax muscles. When your cells become insulin resistant, the magnesium can’t be stored, muscles constrict, high blood pressure results.

Insulin has also apart to play in sodium and water retention so when too much is in the blood it leads to high blood pressure.

Another reasons linking sugar and high blood pressure to consider is how your body absorbs carbohydrates (sugars). Complex carbohydrates are slower to be absorbed than refined carbohydrates so the blood-sugar levels do not rise so quickly. Refined carbohydrates however, need minerals and vitamins to metabolize them into the system so they will leach them from your bones and other organs where vital micro-nutrients are stored leaving you mineral deficient. High blood pressure is common in vitamin and mineral deficiency symptoms.

Along with drugs said to lower blood sugar and high blood pressure comes problems

A worrying example of this is when high blood pressure patients are prescribed with drugs to lower blood sugar. These drugs can present many problems such as hampering the ability of the liver to produce co enzyme Q10, an important enzyme that the body needs to help convert food into energy. A CoQ10 deficiency has been discovered in 39% of people with high blood pressure. This also is the case with cholesterol lowering drugs like Statins. So take note all readers who are taking such drugs! It would be a good idea to discuss this with your doctor.

If you have a sweet tooth, start training it to be satisfied with less sugar. The craving for sugar is not permanent and will diminish as you eat less. It surely is the answer to sugar and high blood pressure problems. If you do eat lots of sugar and sugary foods in your diet then eliminating it from your diet will perhaps be the end of your high blood pressure.

Gem.

Just as you learned how sugar and high blood pressure are connected, see what other factors affect our blood pressure at my What Causes High Blood Pressure page.

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