Reducing excess weight to control blood pressure

High blood pressure is a well-known cardiovascular risk factor. It is sometimes difficult to prevent because of the absence of symptoms, and is often associated with excess weight. Often, if weight increases, so does blood pressure.

Excess weight and hypertension: a dangerous link

Your heart is an amazing organ, pumping five quarts of blood every minute and up to 2,000 gallons of blood per day. You may know that cardiovascular diseases are the number-one cause of death globally, killing an estimated 17.9 million people each year.

You may have heard that lifestyle changes can have a huge impact on your cardiovascular disease risk. But let’s take a closer look at heart health and weight, specifically, and see how losing extra pounds may help to lower blood pressure.

“The Nurses Health Study compared women with BMIs of less than 22 with those above 29 and found a 2- to 6-fold greater prevalence of hypertension among the obese."

Source: "Weight Loss and Blood Pressure Control," AHA Journals, 2008

As early as 1923, in "The blood pressure of healthy men and women", Dr. Brandreth Symonds established an association between weight and high blood pressure.

Today, weight and blood pressure are a major public health concern, given that they can have a major impact on the cardiovascular and renal systems of those who are overweight.

Learn more about the pathophysiological mechanisms that promote elevated blood pressure in people who are overweight.