BAGUIO CITY – Some thirty-five percent of Filipino adults are hypertensive primarily due to their current lifestyle and high-salt diet.
Dr. Mylene Genuino, a medical specialist of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center’s Department of Internal Medicine, said that the figure is based on the original standards of blood pressure wherein the systolic was initially pegged at 140 while the diastolic was at 90.
However, she explained that the figure is expected to change because of the revised range of a person’s blood pressure where the systolic has been adjusted to 130 while the diastolic lowered to 80.
The BGHMC official underscored there had been an increasing number of Filipinos who are becoming hypertensive because of their high-salt, fatty and high-sugar diet which affects blood pressure.
Ideally, she disclosed that the salt content of a person’s diets is between 4 to 6 grams per day but Filipinos place some 6 to 8 grams of salt per day in their diet, becoming a major cause of hypertension that could further complicate body conditions once the person’s blood pressure is not lowered to a manageable level.
“We urge the public to reduce their intake of salt and fats in their diet to help lower their blood pressure and exposure to the risks of hypertension, ergo, their health, if not corrected the earliest possible time,” Genuino stressed.
She advised the people to ensure they have in their homes blood pressure monitoring devices to monitor their blood pressure and allow health authorities to decipher whether or not they are already in the hypertensive threshold for which they can be provided with the appropriate medication for them to reduce the risks of hypertension and its complications.
According to her, hypertension could lead to cardiac arrest or cardio-vascular illnesses which are life-threatening illnesses that could result to untimely death once their condition is not addressed on time.
Genuino added health facilities are open to provide the needed interventions to people who are diagnosed to have problems related to high blood pressure and advice them to practice a healthy lifestyle for them to have a better health condition and reduce their exposure to dreaded illnesses and complications in the future.
She called on people suffering from unpredictable blood pressure to immediately seek medical attention from health authorities in the different health facilities in the city so that their health condition will be given the appropriate medication.
Genuino claimed that the diet of the people is one of the major culprits in the significant increase in the blood pressure for certain individuals that is why everyone must be careful in the food intake. By Dexter A. See
