One in four U.S. adults has high blood pressure¹. The rate is highest for those over 65 – a whopping 59%. Ages 45 to 64 comes in at 34%. This problem, as a public health issue, is made worse by people who do nothing to improve themselves and ironically by taking medications to lower blood pressure. Good blood pressure because you are healthy is always good. Good blood pressure because you are drugged is an entirely different matter.

Obesity is a clear driver of the blood pressure problem, with 75% of those having hypertension in the overweight and obese categories. A lack of aerobic exercise is another big factor, as those who exercise vigorously for at least 30 minutes three times per week reduced their risk by 33%.

The poor diet that drives obesity is a major factor. Common nutritional deficiencies are involved, including a lack of fiber, magnesium, DHA, Q10, and polyphenols as found in grapes, blueberries, and many other fruits and vegetables.

The trend of blood pressure increasing with age is simply a sign of the loss of flexibility of the collagen and connective tissue that make up the circulatory system – along with fat accumulating around the outside of arteries and a lack of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients. Overweight people tend to have a lot of extra fat blobs (triglycerides) floating around their circulation causing traffic jams and making their hearts pump harder to move all the sludge. It is not a difficult problem to understand and is not very hard to fix assuming someone wants to make the effort.

Blood pressure medications turn down pressure in the system, which doesn’t fix a thing other than take acute stress off the problem. The longer they are used the more they cause other problems ranging from diabetes to high cholesterol to ironically, high blood pressure. While Big Pharma drools over this massive number of people in need of help, the people are best running in another direction – for at least 30 minutes three times per week.