powered by:
breast cancer canada
the link between obesity and high blood pressure: ‘if you have one, you may have the other’
5 minute read
we apologize, but this video has failed to load.
try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
stay up to date on this topic
hypertension, or high blood pressure, is often referred to as the “silent killer” because even when damage is occurring, people do not experience any symptoms. after a few years of living with high blood pressure and no symptoms, people are at a much higher risk of developing cardiovascular issues such as stroke, heart disease and kidney failure. obesity also carries an increased risk of these life-threatening issues, so when someone has both, it can be severely detrimental to their overall health.
dr. kristin terenzi, a family physician with a passion for obesity medicine, notes that the two conditions often coexist.
“not all patients who have or who are living with obesity have high blood pressure, but there is a significant portion of them that do,” she said. “and we know that hypertension control rates in canada are getting worse and worse.”
so, how exactly are obesity and high blood pressure related?
obesity can drive high blood pressure
when a person lives with obesity for long periods of time without adequate treatment, it can bring on high blood pressure in a variety of ways. excess body mass, mainly fat tissue, can make the heart work harder to move blood through the body while affecting hormonal and nervous system health.
in the case of the nervous system, hormone imbalances caused by excess fat drive changes in the sympathetic nervous system, which controls the fight-or-flight response. when the body is in a prolonged fight-or-flight state, blood vessels constrict, making the heart work even harder to pump blood.
the level of inflammation found in someone living with obesity can also trigger the release of chemicals that stiffen arteries over time.
“obesity causes inflammation, we think, and when you do that, the inflammation turns on all sorts of other systems in our body that are not good for us,” said dr. terenzi. “so, from obesity can come hypertension.”
advertisement
weight loss as a remedy for high blood pressure
treating obesity is complex because the disease itself is multifactorial. when it comes to addressing high blood pressure, one of the best ways to treat it is to first look at the area of health that can be a root cause: the obesity itself. of course, weight loss can be accomplished in a variety of ways, albeit not always easily.
one outdated approach people have been told to use is diet and exercise. however, when people are simply told to lose weight, that’s not helpful, as the disease itself isn’t just a matter of energy in, energy out.
“we know that for years and years and years, and wrongly so, we told patients, ‘oh, you just have to eat less and exercise more. if you do that, it’s not rocket science; you’re going to lose weight,’” said dr. terenzi. “we know that’s just categorically false, and we know that the data has shown us that that’s not the case.”
because the disease itself is complex, a simple solution rarely works. even so, eating healthy and exercising matter for everyone, regardless of their health status, notes dr. terenzi.
“everybody should have a good diet filled with fruits and vegetables, high-quality proteins, less saturated fats,” she said. “everyone should be exercising and getting a good 75 to 150 minutes of exercise per week … but that’s not enough. and we know that for many patients, they do require medications to help them lose weight.”
newer medications like glp-1s have shown great promise in treating obesity, which in turn will “also decrease your hypertensive burden.”
“these medications have been shown to improve people’s ability to lose weight and a myriad of other wonderful things, including helping to lower blood pressure anywhere up to three to five millimetres of mercury, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but statistically is very significant,” said dr. terenzi.
sponsored by:
obesity matters
advertisement
other treatments outside of weight loss
while losing weight will definitely help with high blood pressure, it isn’t the only avenue people living with obesity can take. this approach can help them tackle two health issues at once, but it doesn’t mean it’s the only one that matters.
for example, people living with obesity can remove things from their lifestyle that also lead to high blood pressure and make matters worse, such as high levels of alcohol intake, salt intake and smoking. these three key factors can make a significant difference and are “really important” to address.
prevention and monitoring are also just as important as removing certain things that can speed up the onset of high blood pressure in people living with obesity.
“get your blood pressure checked,” said dr. terenzi.
you can see your family practitioner, go to a pharmacist, or even do it yourself at certain stores such as shoppers drug mart or walmart. take note of the numbers, and if they’re high, make an appointment to get it treated. medications are available outside of weight loss drugs, too, giving people with obesity the option to tackle it directly while they do other things to manage their obesity.
“the most important thing is knowledge. think about blood pressure. check it, and if it’s high, go and get it looked after, and medications work with very little side effects,” said dr. terenzi.
monitoring what your body will never tell you
thinking about your blood pressure and being cognizant of where it’s at on a regular basis is the first step in knowing how to tackle it if it becomes an issue. because for most, high blood pressure sneaks up and getting a diagnosis is almost always an accident.
“most of the hypertension that i found in my practice are people that have come in for other things and i just happened to check their blood pressure,” said dr. terenzi. “they felt nothing. they came in because they had a rash … so, i think it’s important for the public to be aware and be their own advocate.”
advertisement
getting a reading every two to three months is the best way to get a baseline, because once isn’t enough, and if you’re living with obesity, knowing that you have a higher risk of blood pressure is the first step in staying on top of it while you manage your chronic disease.
“it’s really important for patients to know that chronic diseases like obesity and hypertension are often linked. if you have one, you may have the other,” said dr. terenzi. “don’t be afraid to ask for help. we have such good treatments for these things right now.”
share story
