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The DASH Diet and Hypertension
Before you read on about what the DASH Diet is, it’s important to understand
what hypertension is, and why it’s so important to keep it down. Hypertension
is the medical term for “high blood pressure.”
Blood flows through the body via vessels called arteries, elastic tubes that
carry blood from the heart to all other parts of the body. As the heart beats,
it causes the flowing blood to put force, or pressure, upon the artery walls.
This force is called blood pressure.
When this force remains elevated over time, high blood pressure, or hypertension,
results. High blood pressure makes the heart work harder than usual. This excess
workload for the heart becomes dangerous over time, increasing the risk of:
- Heart disease
- Kidney disease
- Stroke
- Damage to the eye retina
Hypertension is, unfortunately, a common problem. Thanks to careless eating
habits and little exercise, hypertension affects one out of four people in the
United States alone.
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