Hypertension, High Blood Pressure

With a Discussion on High Cholesterol

High blood pressure can be an adaptive response to a situation where there is not enough blood flow in the body. Blood flow is how we get oxygen and nutrients through the body to different areas that need them, and when we don’t have enough blood flow the body has to rectify this situation. When we increase blood pressure through stress systems this can lead to high blood pressure or hypertension, and over time this can cause many problems.

The main hormones involved in the stress system related to hypertension are part of the RAAS system, the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. Adrenaline and other catecholamines are also very involved in high blood pressure. Blood pressure can be abnormally high for many other reasons as well, such as calcified arteries or arteries filled with plaque.

Interestingly enough, it is often recommended to cut salt intake if you want to lower your blood pressure. The problem with this is, when you eat too little salt you have an increase in aldosterone and related hormones as compensation for this lower sodium intake. These hormones lead to hypertension over time, which makes keeping sodium low in the diet poor advice. Keeping aldosterone from being too high is crucial to keeping blood pressure normal. Salt is an important thing to consume, but so are all the other electrolytes, especially potassium. So just make sure you consume a good balance of electrolytes, sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium.

Potassium is very high in potatoes, zucchini, coconut water, aloe vera juice (inner leaf fillet), cocoa powder, and many different (well prepared) legumes.

However, I do want to stress the importance of eating enough potassium when it comes to preventing pathological high blood pressure. Having said that it still doesn’t make sense to avoid sodium, what does make sense is to eat a diet with all the electrolytes. Eating potatoes liberally salted to taste would be a good idea, as potatoes are filled with nutrients like potassium, and the salt will help to keep aldosterone down, among other things. One medication that can be used for hypertension (in women as it’s feminizing), spironolactone, is an aldosterone antagonist. I should quickly note that progesterone can also be an aldosterone antagonist, but consuming enough electrolytes may be sufficient to keep aldosterone from being inappropriately high with diet alone.

“About 25 years ago, David McCarron noticed that the government’s data on diet and hypertension showed that the people who ate the most salt had the lowest blood pressure, and those who ate the least salt had the highest pressure. He showed that a calcium deficiency, rather than a sodium excess, was the most likely nutritional explanation for hypertension.”

-Ray Peat

Calcium is another demonized nutrient when it comes to high blood pressure. If you do not consume calcium in your diet (via dairy and other foods) then your body will increase hormones like parathyroid hormone (PTH) and prolactin which will “shred the bone” to release your own stored calcium. This can end up being an overcompensation where you have too much circulating calcium, and your bones are getting weaker during this process as well. So, consuming enough calcium in the diet is essential to prevent having too much calcium in places it shouldn’t be.

Vitamin K2 is extremely helpful when it comes to hypertension, and part of this is likely because vitamin K2 is very involved in the correct utilization of calcium. Vitamin K2 is high in certain foods like goose liver, but if someone has hypertension it would make sense to supplement some vitamin K2. Having said all this, it is still important to consume enough magnesium in the diet. You can also supplement magnesium, which is likely a good idea for those dealing with hypertension anyway. Vitamin D is also important to keep PTH from getting too high. In addition to that, vitamin D is very beneficial for lowering high blood pressure in general. Keep in mind, a common type of medication for hypertension is a “calcium channel blocker”, magnesium and taurine are natural calcium channel blockers.

“Magnesium deficiency and calcium deficiency have some similar symptoms (such as cramping), but magnesium is antagonistic to calcium in many systems. It is the basic protective calcium blocker.” -Ray Peat

One thing that is clear is that hypothyroidism is very common in people with hypertension. When the thyroid function isn’t optimal and there isn’t enough active thyroid hormone (T3) being produced and utilized in the body it’s clear that hypertension and heart disease can slowly develop. Dr. Broda Barnes wrote in his book “Hypothyroidism, the unsuspected illness” that when he treated his hypothyroid patients by improving their thyroid function he found that their high blood pressure and heart disease practically disappeared.

“Low thyroid is known to be a cause of both heart attacks and of elevated blood cholesterol.”

-Ray Peat, Ph.D.

The thyroid connection is likely in large part due to the fact that without optimal thyroid levels, the body does not have optimal energy production. Furthermore, when the thyroid is suboptimal the body must respond by overcompensating with high-stress hormones. For example, if you have had a low metabolic rate for years the amount of adrenaline and other adrenal hormones increases as a response, and this increase in adrenaline can lead to hypertension.

This article is on hypertension/high blood pressure and not high cholesterol but the two are often lumped in together in certain contexts. I will just briefly note that high cholesterol can often be simply a sign of hypothyroidism, low metabolic rate, or low thyroid hormone levels in general. The general reasoning for this is that cholesterol is needed to create the steroid hormones, such as progesterone, testosterone, pregnenolone etc. In order for cholesterol to turn into the hormones the body needs adequate T3 (active thyroid hormone), vitamin A (retinol), light, and some other nutrients like vitamin B5. However, the main reason why someone would have a hard time converting cholesterol to the things it needs to become is typically going to be active thyroid hormone. So, high cholesterol is often an indication that someone needs to improve their metabolic rate so that the cholesterol can be turned into what we want it to be turned into.

One of the major problems with just arbitrarily lowering cholesterol with a statin is that the issue that led to the high cholesterol is still there, but now you just have a lower cholesterol level number on a blood test. If you take a statin you did not increase your conversion of cholesterol to the beneficial hormones, instead, you just stopped the production of it to some degree. Statins also lead to hypertension and diabetes in many ways, such as by depleting important things such as Vitamin K2 and COQ10/Ubiquinone.

So, increasing the thyroid levels in the body is not just a way to fix hypertension, but also high cholesterol. Taurine is a nutrient that can help with hypertension (I will explain this in more detail shortly) but it can also lower high cholesterol, namely by helping convert cholesterol into bile, which is needed for many processes in the body. So, taurine is also something that can help with hypertension and high cholesterol. Vitamin B5 in the form pantethine can also help to lower high cholesterol.

Many other things can lead to high cholesterol, such as endotoxin. I discuss endotoxin and its affects on the human body in detail in many of my other articles, such as the one of Autoimmunity and the one on Acne.

Clonidine is a medication commonly used for hypertension and it works by lowering the overall sympathetic drive by lowering the production of certain stress hormones. What we can glean from this is that high levels of these stress hormones, such as adrenaline, aldosterone, and cortisol, can be very detrimental to vascular and heart health. Keeping thyroid hormone levels up will prevent overcompensation with stress hormones. For some severely hypothyroid people, this may require thyroid supplementation, such as an NDT (natural desiccated thyroid) which contains both T4 and T3 (inactive + active thyroid hormone). For others, this can simply include fixing up the diet to include nutritious meals that contain selenium, zinc, copper and other nutrients needed for healthy thyroid hormone production and conversion. That, along with keeping the diet free of poor anti-thyroid foods such as anything fried and most packaged food. It’s also a good idea to avoid eating lots of beans and uncooked greens such as broccoli, which can impair thyroid hormone production partly by interfering with iodine utilization.

“The hypothyroid blood vessels are unable to relax properly, contributing to hypertension.”

-Ray Peat Ph.D.

Studies have shown the cardioprotective and anti-hypertensive effects of many foods such as pomegranate, grapes, blueberries, berries in general, garlic and many fruits. Pomegranate, and pomegranate juice, (POM has a pomegranate + blueberry juice that tastes great) seem to be very protective against high blood pressure and thus may be a good thing to include in the diet of someone with this issue. Also, switching out snack foods (chips, crackers, cookies etc..) with fruits and berries like blueberries, grapes and cherries would be a great idea.

There are many types of medications used for the management of high blood pressure, some of the more common ones are ACE inhibitors (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors), ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers), Calcium Channel Blockers, Alpha Agonists (such as clonidine), Beta Blockers, and Diuretics. There are many over-the-counter compounds that people can supplement with that act in the same way as many of these medications.

The following is a list of compounds/nutrients with direct antihypertensive qualities, but the list is not exhaustive. For example, Pycnogenol and vitamin E are both phospholipase A2 (PLA2) inhibitors and lipoxygenase (LOX) inhibitors, which is part of what makes them helpful for hypertension, but the following paper did not mention that.

From Hypertension: Is It Time to Replace Drugs With Nutrition and Nutraceuticals?

Taurine is a diuretic, calcium channel blocker, alpha agonist, and an ARB, while also being a direct vasodilator.

Vitamin B6 is a diuretic, calcium channel blocker, alpha agonist and an ARB.

COQ10 (Ubiquinone) is a diuretic, an alpha agonist, an ARB and a direct vasodiolator.

Vitamin E is a diuretic, calcium channel blocker, and a direct vasodilator.

Vitamin C is a diuretic, calcium channel blocker, alpha agonist, an ARB, and a direct vasodilator.

Magnesium is a diuretic, calcium channel blocker, and a direct vasodilator.

Garlic is a calcium channel blocker, an ACE inhibitor, an alpha agonist, an ARB, and a direct vasodilator.

Zinc is an ACE inhibitor and an alpha agonist.

Pycnogenol (Pine Bark Extract) is an ACE inhibitor.

Pomegranate is an ACE inhibitor.

Many other things can naturally inhibit ACE, such as ginger and olive leaf extract.

Nutrients that are very important for good vascular and heart health are taurine, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K2, vitamin D, COQ10 (ubiquinone), magnesium and B vitamins such as vitamin B6 and Niacinamide. Getting these from food is a good idea, taurine being high in shellfish and molluscs such as scallops, COQ10 being high in heart (beef or chicken heart etc.), B vitamins are in a wide variety of foods but liver is generally high in most of them, vitamin C is high in bell peppers and many fruits and vitamin K2 is high in goose liver, some cheeses and grass-fed butter.

When it comes to Taurine dose, the review article titled “Treatment of hypertension with oral taurine: experimental and clinical studies” shows that 3-6g of taurine a day, for at least 10 days, seems to be helpful for lowering high blood pressure.

“Mild hypertensive and borderline hypertensive men were given 3 g of taurine per day for 2 months. Both systolic and diastolic BP decreased significantly in 11 out of 17 men who took taurine regularly. No effect was observed with less than 10 days of taurine treatment. The report suggested that taurine is not only a positive factor in the treatment of hypertension but in cardiovascular disease treatment in general."

“After 6 weeks of taurine treatment (6 g/day), significant reductions in systolic BP, diastolic BP and mean BP were observed (N = 8). The authors later went on to suggest that taurine acts through the enhancement of the kallikrein-kinin and prostaglandin system in the kidney.”

In, Taurine Supplementation Lowers Blood Pressure and Improves Vascular Function in Prehypertension: Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study the dose used was 1.6g of taurine a day for 12 weeks.

LifeBlud has very high-quality taurine, magnesium, vitamin K2 and vitamin E. I personally use all these products from them. Discount Code: DEAN

Supplementing with some of these nutrients would also likely be a good idea for individuals that struggle with high blood pressure, especially taurine, magnesium, vitamin K2 and vitamin E (just don’t take K2 and E at the same time, maybe 6 hours apart), vitamin D and COQ10, as these nutrients are harder to get in the diet, as opposed to vitamin C and B vitamins. However, you can certainly supplement B vitamins and vitamin C as well. Most people recommend Ubiquinol for COQ10 but I suggest using Ubiquinone, as Ubiquinone is also able to improve the NAD/NADH ratio which should help with hypertension and many other things such as glucose utilization. Find out more about how to use glucose well here.

In addition to supplementing nutrients, there are many other substances that can be used to help manage high blood pressure while you are trying to get into a situation where your blood pressure is normal without intervention. Garlic and pycnogenol (pine bark extract) are two such supplements that can be taken in combination with some of the other things mentioned above.

“I have never seen [vitamin E] fail to lower high blood pressure.”

“Other vitamins that can improve circulation by opening the small blood vessels are folic acid and niacin.”

“Vitamin C can help to eliminate toxins that could contribute to high blood pressure. Trace minerals (such as those found in kelp and bran) and magnesium should also be considered in circulatory problems. Magnesium acts against calcium (and estrogen) in the clotting system, can prevent spasms of blood vessels, and can spare oxygen.”

“According to Barnes, nearly all hypertension can be helped with thyroid. “

-Nutrition for Women, Ray Peat Ph.D.

It is important to be producing an adequate amount of energy to prevent hypertension. Part of the reason is if we are creating adequate energy/ATP via the correct oxidation of glucose the by-product of that oxidation, CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) will be produced and this helps keep blood pressure low by being a systemic vasodilator. CO2 is also necessary for the oxygenation of the cells, without enough CO2 we cannot use Oxygen (O2). I talk about CO2 production extensively in my article on How to Utilize Glucose Well and in my article on Anxiety and Panic Attacks. But I will quickly recap here.

If we are oxidizing glucose effectively, we will create ATP (energy), water, heat, CO2 and some other things as well. If we are not oxidizing glucose well then this can result in less CO2 being produced, and this alone can cause an increase in blood pressure and a lack of oxygenation of our cells. Some things that are important for the oxidation of glucose are consuming enough vitamin B1 (thiamine) and magnesium, as they are both required for the enzyme pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) which helps with the utilization of glucose immensely. It is also important to avoid the consumption of too many polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) which will impair our ability to oxidize glucose well. Further, increased stress hormones such as adrenaline will drastically impair our ability to utilize glucose well. Again, there is much more to “using glucose well” so please refer to the article linked earlier to learn more about that topic.

“Since CO2 relaxes smooth muscle, cells that are working and consuming oxygen and glucose (producing CO2 in proportion to their activity) cause nearby blood vessels to relax and expand, delivering more oxygen and glucose in proportion to the increased need. When CO2 is decreased, blood vessels constrict, limiting the supply of glucose and oxygen. With restricted blood supply, cells have to resort to locally stored glycogen for glucose, and to the breakdown of internal proteins for glutamine. “

-Ray Peat, Ph.D.

Serotonin is a vasoconstrictor, and estrogen can lead to many vascular issues. I won’t discuss the serotonin aspect much, but I will say that it is certainly possible to have an excess of serotonin and that this is a categorically bad thing. There is a common myth out there that everyone “needs more serotonin” and I reject this notion wholeheartedly. If someone has high blood pressure, they likely should not want to try and force an increase in serotonin and should think about avoiding serotonin “boosters” like 5-HTP, St. John’s Wart, SSRIs and so on. The vast majority of serotonin is produced in the gut, especially when there is bacterial overgrowth. Correcting bacterial overgrowth can be very helpful in this situation, and there are many ways to go about doing this. I have talked about methods to lower bacterial overgrowth in many of my articles, so refer to those for the discussion on this topic. My articles on Migraines, Acne, Anxiety and Autoimmunity should all contain information on this.

Excess estrogen leads to high blood pressure and can increase the risk of heart-related problems and strokes. In fact, estrogen-containing birth control has the side effect of increasing the risk of stroke. Increasing the hormones that protect against estrogen excess such as progesterone can thus be very beneficial for the vascular system. Some may specifically benefit from supplementing with progesterone, either orally or topically as a cream or oil. Vitamin E can also help protect against excess estrogen. Progesterone, in general, is very useful for lowering high blood pressure, especially for women. Natural progesterone and antihypertensive action.

“Progesterone, which helps to maintain blood volume (partly by preventing vascular leakiness, preventing excessive sodium loss and by supporting albumin synthesis) antagonizes aldosterone. Aldosterone antagonists are now being recognized as effective treatments for hypertension, water retention, congestive heart failure, arrhythmia, diabetes, kidney disease, and a great variety of inflammatory problems. (Synthetic drugs to antagonize aldosterone are most effective when they are most like natural progesterone.) Since aldosterone contributes to fibrosis of the heart and kidneys (nephrosclerosis), progesterone, the "antifibromatogenic steroid," should be helpful for those problems that have been considered irreversible.” -Ray Peat, Ph.D.

Pregnenolone can be a very useful thing to supplement for those with hypertension, especially for those who have hypertension as a result of a lot of stress. Increasing pregnenolone naturally will also be a good idea, and this takes consuming enough vitamin A and having good thyroid function, as you need thyroid hormone and vitamin A to help convert cholesterol into pregnenolone. This is a great blog post from Georgi Dinkov: Pregnenolone (P5) blocks stress-induced anxiety, hypertension and cocaine cravings

Some other great blog posts from Georgi Dinkov (Haidut):

Vitamin K reduces vascular stiffness, blood pressure in humans

Natural progesterone (but not synthetic progestins) has potent anti-hypertensive effects

Vitamin K May Help Reduce Arterial Stiffness & Improve Blood Pressure

Niacinamide/NAD+ may prevent heart failure

Vitamin D may prevent atrial fibrillation (afib)

Vitamin D deficiency can cause heart failure

SSRI/serotonin cause heart damage/failure

Niacinamide may help treat/reverse heart disease

Conclusion

Overall the long-term approaches to preventing and reversing high blood pressure should be increasing thyroid function and improving your ability to use glucose well. Improving thyroid function will help in many ways. Part of how it helps is by increasing the conversion of cholesterol into the steroid hormones. This helps because it lowers high cholesterol, it will prevent you from going on a statin (which can lead to many issues), it will improve energy production which is essential for the vascular system, and it will increase the protective hormones such as pregnenolone and progesterone. Furthermore, increasing thyroid function will allow your body to stop "overcompensating" with elevated stress hormones, this is very important as high-stress hormones such as aldosterone and adrenaline contribute to hypertension.

Improving your ability to use glucose well will help in many ways, in part by increasing the production and retention of CO2 which is crucial for having normal blood pressure, and by improving energy/ATP production.

In addition to that, there are many things people can do to improve their blood pressure.

Some of these are:

1. Taurine

2. Magnesium

3. Pregnenolone and Progesterone

4. Increasing consumption of vitamin K2, or supplementing

5. Vitamin D, vitamin C, vitamin E, and B vitamins (such as B6 P5P form, B1, Niacinamide)

6. Consuming more potassium, and salting to taste

   1. Potatoes, coconut water, and aloe vera juice/gel are high in potassium.

7. Consuming more calcium (checking blood PTH and prolactin, making sure they are not high)

8. Eating and drinking pomegranates, grapes, blueberries and other berries.

9. Pycnogenol, Ginger, Olive Leaf extract

10. Garlic (eat more, or can supplement for higher doses if needed)

11. COQ10 (I’m a fan of the Ubiquinone version, and I am aware most people consider Ubiquinol to be the superior form)

12. Systemic enzymes such as nattokinase and serrapeptase. Bromelain should also be useful.

    1. These can help get rid of fibrotic/scar tissue and can improve blood flow and protect against hypertension. These are also great for varicose veins and such.

Having said all that, most of the blood pressure medications are not overly harmful in my opinion, especially when you compare them to other drugs such as metformin, statins and SSRIs. Compared to other common medications, hypertension drugs are not a big concern of mine. Be that as it may, the better ones seem to be ACE inhibitors, ARBs, Clonidine (which has such wide-range beneficial effects for many conditions including ADHD, Tics, OCD, Anxiety etc), and even beta-blockers have their place. Certain diuretics can be useful, but overall I don’t think diuretics are a good way to lower blood pressure. For women, spironolactone seems to be very helpful (not for men, as it is feminizing), and the drug acetazolamide can be very beneficial by helping increase CO2 levels, they both happen to be diuretics. However, all medications have side effects and many can cause nutrient deficiencies, such as zinc and potassium.

As a final thought, I would like to mention that taking walks in nature is a great way to lower high blood pressure, as is partaking in hobbies like painting or gardening. Also, working too hard and too long and not getting enough sleep is always a recipe for disaster.

*None of this is medical advice. I am not a medical professional, always talk to your doctor*

If you enjoyed this article, please consider checking out the other articles I’ve written. Also, please feel free to subscribe (it is free to do so) and share the articles with others. Thank you!

BTW: I am a frequent guest on the podcast “Stuff Your Doctor Should Know”.

Discount code DEAN works at:

1. Ona’s Naturals (progesterone oil, topical progesterone and pregnenolone creams)

2. LifeBlud (Magnesium products, Taurine, Theanine, B vitamins, Methylene Blue)

3. Health Natura (oral pregnenolone, Methylene Blue)

4. Saturee (skin care products, desiccated liver, aged Cascara Sagrada)