I’ve given you many alternatives through the years that I’ve found to be very helpful treatments for high blood pressure. I’ve recommended such treatments as fasting, taking certain nutrients, completely changing your diet, and many others. And I’ve heard wonderful stories from many of you.
Unfortunately, high blood pressure sometimes is a very difficult problem to solve. And you might have a stubborn case that does not respond to natural treatments. Its rare, but I do see it happen. And some people have trouble sticking to a lengthy fast or strict diet.
If you fall into one of those groups, there is a group of prescription drugs that will actually reduce your risk of heart attack with minimal side effects. The drugs are called ACE inhibitors (Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors).
ACE inhibitors, long my favorite conventional treatment for blood pressure, sharply decrease the rate of endothelial cell death. Endothelia are the cells that line the inside of your vessels. They are critical to healthy circulation. All cells die after a certain amount of time (apoptosis). If the death rate is too high, you lose function. If more of these fragile endothelial cells die than should, you get holes in your vessels. This causes cholesterol and toxic compounds to build up in your vessels, which is called atherosclerosis.
At the beginning of a recent study, the researchers found that the healthy participants had 1.3% of their endothelial cells die and get replaced every 30 minutes. In heart-diseased patients, the rate was 7.8% per 30 minutes.
Those with heart disease were given an ACE inhibitor or a placebo. In the group that took the placebo, the death rate remained at the 7.8% rate.
However, in the patients given the drug, the cell death rate fell from 7.8% in the beginning to 4.7% by the end of the study. Still higher than normal, but a huge improvement. It offers a reason why the risk of heart attack falls with ACE inhibitor use, whether the user has hypertension or not. Simple use of ACE inhibitors slows down the stripping of your arterial lining.
I believe this rate would be reduced even more if the natural means I discuss in these pages were used at the same time as the drug.
Action to take: Now I do not recommend you stop what you are doing and rush to start on these drugs. I think endothelial cell death can be reduced with chelation therapy, which rids these cells of poisons such as lead. Eating the Living Foods Diet will provide them with nutrients to remain healthy.
Combine these two with proper exercise and herbs and supplements individualized for you by your integrative physician, and you can likely reduce your blood pressure and apoptosis rate without chemicals.
However, if you are one with serious and stubborn hypertension, an ACE inhibitor may be your best bet.
Ref: Study Shows How Blood Pressure Pill Improves Health of Blood Vessels, Associated Press, August 31, 2004.