Dietary(Nutritional) recommendations for Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) - Essay Example

Dietary (Nutritional) recommendations for Hypertension: General consensus is that a healthy diet based on controlled proportions of low-fat food is important to lower blood pressure. The use of medications can also be lessened if food portions are carefully watched. Research suggests that less than 2300mg of sodium should be taken every day (Gunnars 2013). Great importance should be attached to daily value of sodium when buying commercialized products. All foods whose daily value of sodium exceeds 20% should be avoided and target should be set at getting foods which have a less than 5% daily value of sodium (Cassoobhoy 2014).

When anti-hypertensive drugs are taken with high-salt foods, negative food-drug interactions result. In order to avoid the resulting hypertensive crisis, diet changes are required from “high carbohydrates/low protein to low carbohydrate/high protein” (Bushra, Aslam & Khan 2011). Propranolol is an anti-hypertensive drug and its serum level can be increased by taking foods rich in protein like fish. For those who cannot eat fish, omega-3 fish oil supplements are available too. But, more than 3mg of fish oil supplements daily is disadvantageous (Smith 2013).

Also, orange juice should be avoided when taking medication because Hesperidin in the juice prevents drug absorption causing most of the drug to be excreted. It is recommended, therefore, to taken anti-hypertensive medicines on an empty stomach. It is suggested regarding supplements that calcium can increase the risk of hypertension and even precipitate heart attacks when taken without vitamin D (Brody 2013). The most beneficial thing for health is good diet and not supplements.References: Brody, JE 2013, ‘Thinking Twice About Calcium Supplements’, The New York Times, viewed 11 May 2014, Bushra, R, Aslam, N & Khan, AY 2011, ‘Food-Drug Interactions’, Oman Med J., vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 77–83, viewed 11 May 2014, Cassoobhoy, A 2014, ‘Hypertension/High Blood Pressure Health Center’, viewed 11 May 2014, Gunnars, K 2013, ‘The Salt Myth – How Much Sodium Should You Eat Per Day?

’, viewed 11 May 2014, Smith, MW 2013, ‘Omega-3 Fish Oil Supplements for High Blood Pressure’, viewed 11 May 2014,