The bass-baritone voice of Barry White can raise your blood pressure (he's pretty provocative), but his heart and kidneys paid a price. He tipped the scale at 375 pounds and died in 2002 from kidney failure related to high blood pressure.
A new lab study on mice, published in the journal JCI Insight, reveals that there's a connection between the long-term use of ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers to control high blood pressure and hardened kidney vessels — which can cause permanent kidney damage.
And even though it's an animal study, it makes you think about the benefits of using nondrug interventions to lower elevated blood pressure.
A major paper published in 2017 in the journal Hypertension laid out the most science-based lifestyle approaches to managing high blood pressure, "especially for prevention of hypertension, including in adults with elevated BP, and for management of high BP in adults with milder forms of hypertension."
These approaches include:
• Losing weight
• Following the DASH diet and reducing sodium intake
• Taking potassium supplements (ask your doctor first)
• Exercising weekly in the form of 90-150 minutes of aerobics at 65%-75% of your maximum heart rate and 90-150 minutes of low-impact, high-intensity muscle training along with isometric resistance exercises (using a hand grip)
• Limiting alcohol intake to two servings a day for men and one for women.
If lifestyle intervention doesn't do the trick and your doctor recommends medication to lower your blood pressure and protect your heart and brain, take it.
And make sure you monitor your kidney function and heart carefully so you can protect both organ systems.