More than 40 percent of African Americans suffer from high blood pressure, according to a study just released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Many theories exist about why black Americans experience higher levels of hypertension disease than other groups. One major study suggested a connection between high levels of uric acid and hypertension among blacks as a possible explanation. Researchers and medical professionals already know that excessive levels of uric acid are a major cause of kidney disease. African Americans also experience higher levels of kidney disease.
Other theories include a failure by bodily systems to eliminate excessive salt in the urine and the presence of higher levels of the hormone aldosterone. Let’s look briefly at each of these.
Do High Uric Acid Levels Cause Hypertension?
Study results, published in the American Heart Association’s Hypertension Journal in 2006, revealed a stronger connection between high uric acid levels and high blood pressure (HBP) among African Americans than for other groups. The level of uric acid in the body is influenced by diet. For example, eating large amounts of protein can increase uric acid levels.
Usually, uric acid is eliminated through urine. But, when the body produces excessive amounts of uric acid and the kidneys fail to remove enough of it, then it can build up in the blood.
None of the 9,104 participants in the study, conducted by Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, had HBP when the study began. Participants represented multiple races and ethnic groups and ranged in age from 45 to 64. This was the first time that African Americans had been included in this type of study in numbers that were statistically significant. All participants’ blood pressure and uric acid levels were examined every three years.
Participants whose uric acid levels registered in the highest quartile had an increased risk for high blood pressure of about 15 percent. The strongest link between uric acid and hypertension was found among black men. The interracial findings were particularly telling. African American women whose results registered in the highest quartile were at a 30 percent higher risk for hypertension than African American women who ranked in the lowest quartile. African American men in the highest percentile had double the risk of African American men in the lowest percentile.
The implications from the study suggest that if doctors can lower uric acid levels in patients, they might be able to prevent or control high blood pressure in black Americans and other groups with higher than normal levels. A blood test for uric acid levels could predict whether an individual was at risk.
Does Excessive Salt in the Urine Cause HBP?
In a healthy body, stress is relieved by the release of sodium into the bloodstream. That salt is then later removed from the body through urine. However, in a recent study, researchers found that this fail-safe system breaks down in about one-third of African American youths. The result is that excessive salt levels remain in the body, putting them at risk for high blood pressure now and as they grow older.
The study of 168 black and white youths by researchers at the Medical College of Georgia found significant differences between the functioning of this natural blood pressure regulator system in the two groups. The system, known as renin-angiotensin-aldosterone (RAAS), works by instructing the kidneys to retain salt when blood pressure is too low and excrete it as urine when it is too high.
Researchers are doing further studies to determine whether a genetic mutation may interfere with the proper release of salts from the kidneys in African Americans.
Is Too Much Aldosterone the Cause?
Another possible cause may be aldosterone, according to a study conducted at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Aldosterone is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands that causes kidneys to retain salt.
The study, whose findings appeared in the September 17, 2009, edition of the American Journal of Hypertension, compared African Africans with HBP to those without it. The 224 blacks with HBP had statistically significant higher levels of aldosterone than the 217 blacks who did not have it.
The research, funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for more than a decade, suggests that aldosterone not only contributes to high blood pressure but to heart, kidney, and blood vessel diseases among African Americans as well.
Researchers continue to study these and other theories that may one day reveal the key to preventing high blood pressure among all groups.
Copyright 2010 by High Blood Pressure Natural Remedies.
Sher Harrison researches and reports on health-related issues. Visit www.highbloodpressurenaturalremedies.org to learn much more about ways to prevent and control high blood pressure naturally. Also, find reviews of the best blood pressure monitors for use at home.
