Hypertension, which is also known as high
blood pressure, is a silent killer. The disease, which often has no
symptom, has killed many people prematurely.
While the condition used to be associated
with elderly people in their 50s and 60s, experts nowadays have raised
the alarm that they are seeing more Nigerians in their 20s and 30s with
this condition. For instance, they note that more teenagers come down
with high blood pressure these days.
Continue reading after the cut......
A heart specialist, Dr. Jude Duru-Onweni,
identifies poor diet and increased intake of junk and processed foods,
especially among young people, as one of the factors increasing the
population of young persons with hypertension in the country.
According to him, many of the western
diets that young and upwardly mobile Nigerians prefer are laden with
high concentration of salt, a major substance that increases the risk
for hypertension.
Duru-Onweni notes that a major way in which salt creeps into the body system is through food.
He says, “Studies have found that most
Africans who have hypertension will always have sodium retention. Sodium
is what many of us know as salt. There is a proof that the black DNA
system cannot manage salt, as it predisposes us to high blood pressure,
also known as hypertension.
“The number of young Nigerians we see
with high blood pressure during screening is alarming and it is because
of the western diets. Young people eat more junk. They have adopted the
western diet that has high concentrations of salt and they forget that
Caucasians and other race can tolerate salt better than we can.
“Salt is not just the physical salt we
see. All packaged foods are preserved with a high concentration of salt.
Soft drinks are also preserved with salt. In reality, all those ‘slow’
(indicating how fast foods slow down metabolism) foods which people call
fast foods slowly lead to death because they are laden with salt.
“We are so scared about the coming
generation because they eat a lot of fast foods. We now find
hypertension in infants,” Duru-Onweni adds.
For the Executive Director, Nigerian
Heart Foundation, Dr. Kingsley Akinroye, uncontrolled and undetected
hypertension is increasing the incidence of heart diseases in young
people.
According to Akinroye, people can develop hypertension if they have the risk factors for high blood pressure.
He says, “The number one challenge we
have in Nigeria and Africa is heart disease. The major cause of heart
disease is hypertension or high blood pressure. It is a killer because
once you cross the age of five, you are susceptible to it if you have
poor dietary habit.”
The cardiologist notes that apart from
the high salt content in food, local studies have also shown that the
concentration of salt in many sources of water in the country is high.
“The salt content in many of the table
water we drink in Nigeria is high. That is why we advise Nigerians to
look out for NAFDAC and NHFcertified water to ensure that they are not
directly exposing themselves to high level of sodium when they drink
water.”
Corroborating this view, the Executive
Director, Fight The Good Fight Against Hypertension, Mr. Emmanuel
Ekunno, says the prevalence of hypertension among Nigerians has
increased.
He identifies poor awareness about the
dangers of the disease and poor health-seeking attitude of many
Nigerians as being responsible for the increasing prevalence of
hypertension in the country.
He declares, “Studies have shown that
one-third of the Nigerian population is suffering from hypertension. The
sad thing is that one third of the hypertensive group does not even
know. When we screen 100 people, 39 per cent of them have hypertension.
Curiously, they are young people.
“In our clinic at times, we see that six
out of 10 persons screened have high blood pressure. It is alarming both
in cities and rural areas,”
Experts warn that ignorance is not an
excuse, as undetected hypertension can lead to stroke, kidney failure,
and sudden death. In this regard, Duru-Onweni describes individuals who
do not know or manage high blood pressure as walking corpses. In his
thinking, these people can drop dead at any time.
He notes also that as deadly as the
disease is, with drugs and a change in diet and lifestyle, there is hope
in the horizon for its management.
“Hypertension has no cure; it can only be
managed. That is why you should screen to know if you have high blood
pressure. If you do, take your medication regularly because hypertension
does not sleep.
“Manage your salt intake, exercise regularly and control your alcohol intake,” Duru-Onweni counselled.- Punch
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