Cause no 1..Nutritional deficiency : Omega 3 fatty acids

In previous issue, I showed you how 30% of high blood pressure patients really don’t have true hypertension. Many people simply have situational hypertension, where your blood pressure goes up when you’re nervous. I also told you that if you do have true hypertension, you can treat it successfully without drugs.

That’s because one of the primary causes of high blood pressure is nutritional deficiency. And there are several deficiencies that can cause high blood pressure. All you have to do is treat the deficiency and your blood pressure will come down.

Unfortunately, nutritional deficiencies are tough to find. But let me give you the most common types and also show you how to know if you’re deficient.

The first deficiency I check for is omega-3 fatty acids. Most people are seriously deficient. Oh, we eat plenty of fatty acids. But most of them are omega-6. In fact, the typical ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids is 20 to 1. The optimal ratio is under 6 to 1. So you can see how deficient most of us are in omega-3s.

So how can you change the ratio? First, cut back on your omega-6 intake. These are good fats, but only in moderation. We eat way too many. Foods that contain lots of omega-6s include peanut oil, safflower oil, soybean oil, corn oil (and the processed foods that contain these oils), whole grains and flours (such as wheat and corn), grain-fed meat and poultry, and eggs from grain-fed chickens.

Second, you need to take two high-potency fish oil supplements. In one study, researchers gave 16 patients with hypertension and 16 patients with normal blood pressure either a four-gram dose of fish oil or a placebo for four months. The
fish oil group saw their systolic pressure lowered by an average of 6 mmHg, and the diastolic 5 mmHg.

The researchers noted that it took about two months to see these results. So don’t expect results overnight. In fact, I’ve found (and other studies confirm) that it takes a fairly high dose of fish oil for at least three to four months to really make a difference in blood pressure. If you’re not deficient in omega-3s, then fish oils probably will not lower your blood pressure. But they are still very helpful for your heart and brain. So they’re worth trying.

Fish oils are now available in a super concentrated, highly purified form, which is the only form you should use. Other forms often contain impurities, impart an unpleasant fish oil taste and smell, and require taking way too many capsules to get the proper dosage. A good starting dose is to take a fish oil capsule that contains 1,000 mg of combined EPA/DHA twice a day. Do this for 2-3 months, and then double the dose for an additional 2-3 months if your blood pressure hasn’t normalized. Diabetics, particularly those on insulin, should carefully monitor their blood sugars while on the higher doses. Occasionally these doses can interfere with optimal blood sugar control.