57-year-old Uncle Wang has suffered from high blood pressure for many years, and his blood pressure has been unstable.
Is there anything else I can do to lower my blood pressure besides taking medicine? So Uncle Wang looked around for home remedies, and he really found the "secret recipe for blood pressure reduction" of "onion soaking in water".
Despite the dissuasion of his family, Uncle Wang brought a glass of onion water every morning, and it lasted like this for three months. During this period, because he felt that his blood pressure was stable, Uncle Wang even stopped the medicine on his own and stopped the follow-up.
Just a few days ago, as soon as Uncle Wang got up after dinner, he fainted directly to the ground and made no sound.
The family was frightened and rushed him to the hospital, where his blood pressure had soared to 180/120mmHg, and his brain had suffered a cerebral infarction on a CT scan.
1. Can onions really lower blood pressure? Can it be used as an alternative to antihypertensive drugs?
Modern studies have found that onions do have some blood pressure-lowering effects.
First of all, onions are rich in quercetin, which is one of the most powerful antioxidant plant chemicals among flavonoids, and a high intake can help reduce cardiovascular risk. At the same time, onions are also the only known vegetable that contains prostaglandin A, which has the effect of softening, dilating blood vessels and regulating lipid metabolism.
So since onions can help lower blood pressure, can they replace antihypertensive drugs? The answer is definitely no.
Researchers have indeed studied onion-based antihypertensive diets. However, when processing onions at home, it is actually difficult to completely dissolve their effective blood pressure lowering ingredients.
In addition, the ingredients in the onion are destroyed when cooked at high temperatures, and it is difficult to achieve the desired effect even if you eat it. If you blindly replace blood pressure medication with onions, it will lead to unstable blood pressure, or bring complications such as blockage and rupture of blood vessels.
Many people with high blood pressure are more resistant to medication, so they always want to use diet instead of medication. But the so-called "blood pressure food" is indeed not a drug, and it does not have a direct blood pressure lowering effect. Although there are literature reports on the effect of "antihypertensive food", there is not enough evidence and research results to support it, and it cannot lower blood pressure in the real sense.
At present, there are many popular science articles on the Internet, which will also list the experimental conclusions. In this regard, we remind everyone to first dialectically verify the reliability of the experiment, and not blindly listen to the conclusion, so as to avoid irreversible consequences.
Second, the study found that blood pressure dropped to 120, and the life span was extended by another 3 years!
Relevant data point out that the number of deaths from hypertension and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases caused by hypertension in mainland China every year accounts for as much as 41% of the total deaths. At the same time, there is also a saying that if high blood pressure is left untreated for a long time, the average life expectancy will be shortened by 20 years compared with people with normal blood pressure.
Is this conclusion about the average life expectancy of people with high blood pressure reliable?
This study actually came from the 2016 "Chinese Medical Science Popularization". The study found that the age of death of hypertensive patients without treatment was 51 years, while the average life expectancy of non-hypertensive patients was 71 years, so it was concluded that patients with hypertension would live 20 years less without treatment.
Although the conclusions of this study are widely circulated, they lack original data and are not convincing. Still, maybe we can look at another study on how high blood pressure affects lifespan.
This is a 40-year follow-up study of 19,000 civil servants (aged 40-69) in London led by Professor Robert Clarke from the University of Oxford.
The study found that men over the age of 50 with smoking, high cholesterol and high blood pressure had an average life expectancy of 73 years, while men without these three factors lived an average of 83 years, a difference of 10 years.
Therefore, researchers believe that smoking, high cholesterol and high blood pressure are three risk factors that shorten the life expectancy of middle-aged and elderly people by 10 years.
So, do these studies on hypertension and age show that having high blood pressure means that you must have a short life? Definitely.
A study published in JAMA found that people without diabetes at cardiovascular risk were able to control their blood pressure below 120 mmHg after the age of 50 and have a 2.9-year longer life expectancy compared with those who kept their systolic blood pressure below 140 mmHg. However, if blood pressure is controlled after the age of 65 or 80, life expectancy can only be increased by 1.1 years and 0.8 years.
This shows that the sooner you control your blood pressure, the better!
As early as 2015, the SPRINT experiment concluded that compared with the conventional control of blood pressure below 140mmHg, in fact, if the blood pressure of high-risk groups can be strictly stabilized below 120mmHg, cardiovascular events and death can be reduced by 25% and 27%, respectively.
In addition, the researchers estimated that patients with intensive blood pressure control from the age of 50 would have a life expectancy of 37.3 years versus 34.4 years if they had received standardized treatment, a difference of 2.9 years. However, if blood pressure control is intensified after the age of 65 or 80, the life expectancy will be increased by 1.1 years and 0.8 years compared with standard treatment.
In other words, there are certain benefits to starting to strictly control blood pressure even after the age of 80. Again, as long as you want to strictly control your blood pressure, it's never too late!
3. If you don't want your blood pressure to soar, you should eat less of 4 kinds of vegetables
Patients with high blood pressure should continue to take medication and control their diet. In particular, there are four types of vegetables, and if you don't want your blood pressure to soar, it is recommended that people with high blood pressure take the initiative to stay away.
1. Serena
The apigenin in celery can affect blood pressure in both directions, that is, patients with low blood pressure may eat it may raise blood pressure, and patients with high blood pressure may eat it may lower blood pressure.
However, patients with high blood pressure are already taking antihypertensive drugs, and if they eat celery at this time, it is likely to cause low blood pressure. Therefore, it is best for patients with high blood pressure to observe their blood pressure before eating celery, and do not eat it if they feel unwell.
2、茼蒿
The sodium content in 100g of chrysanthemum is as high as 161mg, obviously chrysanthemum is a high-sodium vegetable with excessive sodium content, and it is not conducive to blood pressure stability for patients with high blood pressure to eat too much chrysanthemum.
3. Hamnai
Pickles contain a lot of salt, and foods high in salt are also a risk factor for high blood pressure.
4. Chili peppers
The capsaicin of chili pepper stimulates the sympathetic nerve, causing the heart to beat faster and increase blood pressure, so patients with high blood pressure should minimize the intake of chili pepper in their daily diet.
In recent years, factors such as unhealthy eating and resting habits have made hypertension more and more youthful. Hypertension is more like a chronic disease, and all patients have to do is to take medication and have regular check-ups on time, while the so-called "blood pressure home remedies" lack scientific basis and should not be blindly followed.
Resources:
[1] "Eating onions can really lower blood pressure!" But you've got to eat like this......". Health Daily Push.2021-08-12
[2] "High Blood Pressure Reduces Life Expectancy by 20 Years? It's too much of an exaggeration, but the patient's lifespan does suffer|True Medicine. Tencent News.2017-08-01
[3] "Vegetables that should never be touched by high blood pressure, be careful to let your blood pressure rise, and throw them off the table as soon as possible". Lao Han talks about health.2024-04-23
Reproduction without the author's permission is prohibited