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High blood pressure a huge killer: experts

In view of recent research which suggested that 40 percent of those above 45 suffer from high blood pressure, the Bureau of Health Promotion and the Taiwan Hypertension Association yesterday urged the public to take preventative measures.

Chairperson of the Taiwan Hypertension Association, Lee Yuan-te (李源得) said, "Avoiding high blood pressure is extremely important, since it can also result in patients developing heart disease, heart failure, kidney disease and other life threatening illnesses."

"High blood pressure isn't something to be taken lightly," he added.

Lee Yuan-te said high blood pressure and related diseases make up half of the top 10 killers in Taiwan, and according to WHO statistics, one in every three deaths worldwide is related to strokes or heart disease.

Lee Chi-ming (李啟明), a doctor from the Department of Internal Medicine at National Taiwan University Hospital, said two of the most important symptoms associated with high blood pressure were being overweight and excessive salt intake, with the former being related to high blood pressure during middle age, and the latter being related to high blood pressure in older people.

Consequently, good nutrition and exercise are seen as crucial factors in the prevention and control of high blood pressure.

A dietitian from Taiwan Adventist Hospital, Lin Tze-you (林子又) advised people to eat lots of fruit and vegetables, nuts and whole meal foods, but to avoid processed foods, strongly flavored foods, and fried or oily foods.

Lee Chi-ming said with the state of today's diet and the rise in incidences of teenage smoking, there would probably be a trend towards increasingly younger people suffering from high blood pressure.

"Compared to maybe 20 years ago when the average age of those getting high blood pressure were in their 50s and 60s, people nowadays are getting high blood pressure in their 40s. Soon, it will be people in their 30s. This will be a great burden on the national health insurance scheme and on society as a whole," he said.
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