Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Hoai - Director of the National Cardiovascular Institute, Bach Mai Hospital - said that in addition to drug treatment, lifestyle changes are the golden key to effective prevention and control of high blood pressure.
Diet
Diet plays a particularly important role in overall health and cardiovascular health. A healthy, appropriate diet will help prevent and effectively support the treatment of hypertension.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Hoai stated that according to the recommendation of the Vietnam Cardiovascular Association in 2022, the DASH diet is considered the most effective in controlling blood pressure. This is a scientific, flexible diet that helps lose weight and control blood pressure well. The basic principles of DASH include:
Increase green vegetables, fruits and whole grains.
Prioritize low-fat dairy products that limit saturated fat.
Increase consumption of fish and poultry and limit red meat.
Reduce salt, limit carbonated drinks and sweets.
Supplement enough vitamins and minerals such as potassium, magnesium.
A healthy diet can help reduce cardiac blood pressure by up to 5mmHg in people with high blood pressure (equivalent to the effectiveness of low-dose blood pressure drugs) and reduce about 3mmHg in normal people.
Weight control
According to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Hoai, maintaining an ideal weight is very necessary. The ideal BMI ranges from 19 to 23. Being overweight or obese is a clear risk factor for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, especially high blood pressure.
The basic principle for weight loss is to create a calorie deficit, meaning that the amount of calories consumed must be lower than the amount of calories consumed by the body during the day. To lose weight effectively, it is necessary to combine increased physical activity and reduced calories from the diet. Each kg of weight lost in overweight people can help reduce 1mmHg of cardiopulmonary blood pressure, up to a maximum of 5-10mmHg.
Reduce table salt
Salt (sodium) is an important element for cell activity, but consuming too much salt is the leading cause of high blood pressure. The ideal daily sodium intake is below 1,500mg (equivalent to about 3g of table salt). According to the World Health Organization, the maximum recommended amount of salt per day for adults is 5g, equivalent to 2 tablespoons yogurt.
In fact, 5g of table salt is equivalent to about 8g of soup flour, 10g of seasoning flour (2 teaspoons), 25g of fish sauce (5 teaspoons) and 35g of shiitake oil. Reducing 1,000mg of sodium per day in your diet can help reduce 1-3mmHg of cardiopulmonary blood pressure; an effective sodium-restricted diet can help reduce 5-10mmHg.
Other measures
In addition, there are many other useful measures to help control blood pressure such as:
Exercise regularly with sports such as walking, jogging, cycling, swimming or cardio.
Maintain a diet rich in potassium but strictly control blood potassium content because potassium greatly affects cardiovascular health.
Minimize alcohol and alcoholic beverages.
"Strictly following lifestyle changes will help prevent, treat and support the treatment of high blood pressure safely, effectively and sustainably" - Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Hoai emphasized.
