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8 sets to be given away each week!

Answers:

1. High blood pressure can lead to __________________.

Blood pressure is the force of blood against the arterial walls. When blood pressure stays elevated over time, it’s called high blood pressure. Hypertension puts extra stress on your heart and increases the “wear and tear” on your blood vessels.

When the heart is under constant strain, over time, the heart will enlarge which may lead to heart failure.

Depending on where the damaged blood vessels are, different diseases occur as a result. Narrowing of blood vessels in the kidney may lead to kidney failure., whereas bursting or bleeding of blood vessels in the eyes may cause vision changes and result in blindness. High blood pressure also causes arteries throughout the body to “harden” faster, especially those in the heart, brain and kidneys, leading to a heart attack, stroke. and kidney failure (U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute).

A less well-known effect of hypertension is mental decline.. Studies done in various countries like Europe, Finland and Japan revealed that hypertension was associated with impaired cognitive function in the elderly. There was also evidence that cultures with a low salt-intake and little or no hypertension have startlingly low rates of mental decline in old age (The Salt Solution by H. Boynton, M.F. McCarty, & R.D. Moore).

2. High blood pressure is called a “silent killer” as it usually has no symptoms. However, a possible sign is _________.

High blood pressure usually has no symptoms, but people often think that headaches, dizziness or nosebleeds are common warning signs and symptoms of high blood pressure. It's true that a few people with early-stage high blood pressure have a dull ache in the back of their heads when they wake in the morning or perhaps have a few more nosebleeds than normal.

Headaches, dizziness or nosebleeds are thus possible signs of hypertension but typically don't occur until high blood pressure has reached a more advanced stage — one that's possibly life-threatening. Even so, most people with the highest blood pressure readings don't experience any of these symptoms (MayoClinic.com).

For most people, the first warning sign of high blood pressure is an angina attack or a deadly heart attack or stroke – which occurs as a result of hypertension. Hence, it is critical that we have a high awareness of the risk factors and risks of hypertension and take the necessary precautions to reduce our risks.

3. Your risk of high blood pressure increases as you grow older. By the time you hit 60, your risk would be _____..

Results of the National Health Survey 2004 indicated that 56% of Singapore residents 60 years old and above have hypertension. This means that you have a 1 in 2 chance of getting hypertension when you are 60 years old, an alarming high risk.

4. Latest research shows that by replacing common salt with a salt alternative which is low-sodium, high-magnesium and high-________ in your cooking, you can lower high blood pressure.

A recent study reported at the American College of Cardiology’s 55th Annual Scientific Session in Atlantic by The George Institute for International Health in March 2006 found that a low-sodium, high-potassium and high-magnesium salt alternative significantly reduces hypertension to about the same extent as single drug therapy among high-risk residents of rural China who were followed for 1 year. Conclusions of this study support other research findings which stated similarly that such a salt substitute has beneficial antihypertensive effects. This is further corroborated by medical research which reveals that sodium and potassium must be in balance, or at least in a ratio that is not too high on the sodium side, and magnesium must be adequate for blood pressure to be normal. All three minerals work together to maintain acceptable blood pressure (The Magnesium Factor by M.S. Seelig, & A. Rosanoff). Most of us have a low-potassium, low-magnesium, high-sodium diet. Therefore, by using a low-sodium, high-potassium and high-magnesium salt alternative like Pansalt, which is a newer version of the salt substitute used in the study mentioned above, in our cooking, we can lower high blood pressure.