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Blood Pressure shows how your body pump or pushes blood in the walls of your arteries in order to supply blood round the body.
Whether you have high blood pressure or low blood pressure, keeping track of your blood pressure is a great approach of Blood pressure management.
This allows you know the range of your blood pressure, when it is above or below normal level, so as to maintain ideal blood pressure.
However, high or low blood pressure is believed to cause various diseases including stroke, heart failure and kidney disease (1) .
Normal blood pressure
120/80mmHg
Low blood pressure
90/60mmHg
Several studies conducted revealed that certain foods can negatively affect your blood pressure performance.
This article will explore 11Ghanaian Food that worsen blood pressure.
1. Fried Yam chips and fish
Extensive frying of food has been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease such as hypertension.
Research has indicated that fried foods may systematically cause hardening of arteries in the walls of blood vessels – major causes of atherosclerosis.
Therefore, to optimize your blood pressure, minimise intake of fried foods.
2. Angwam(oil rice)
High Blood Pressure may result due to narrowing of the arterial walls which lead to blockage of proper blood circulation.
Angwamu or oil rice contains fried egg, rice, oil and fish. The presence of fried egg contributes greatly at increasing cholesterol levels, especially when trans fat is involved.
3. Plantain chips
You may also need to avoid intake of fried Plantain as much salt and oil are added to them.
High salt intake is considered as one of the primary causes of blood pressure fluctuation.
If you have hypertension, avoid regular consumption of plantain chips and talk to your dieticians for expert purposes.
4. Doughnut
Another fried foods you should avoid is Doughnut since it has high oil content.
Most of them are prepared with trans fat which can worsen blood pressure.
According to findings, trans fat is attributed to heart failure.
5. Bean cake
Bean cake is a process food, with numerous ingredients such as salt, oil, sugar among others. These ingredients are scientifically observed to increase your blood pressure, typically when eaten in excess.
6. Agbeli kaklo
When you fry food, the fiber content of that food has be drastically reduced and cannot play its pivotal role in human body. Plus the increase caloric value that can increase your cholesterol level. Oxidation of cholesterol promotes heart disease.
7. Kola nut
This is commonly eaten during traditional events in most waste African countries. It possesses a stimulants property.
Apart from keeping you a wake at night, Kola nut elevates your blood pressure and heart beat.
8. Carbonated drinks
Your doctor may restrict you from taking carbonated drinks due to their role in cardiovascular diseases.
Besides the caloric content, it has reasonable amounts of salt in it.
9. Smoking
Ciggeratte smoking is believed to raise blood pressure and heart beat. It contains nicotine which is among the factors that triggers cardiovascular disease as it cause narrowing of arterial walls, a marked risk factor of hypertension.
10. Excessive Alcohol consumption
Too much alcohol consumption has be proven to enhance blood pressure. Thus to keep your blood pressure at normal range, reduce intake of alcoholic drinks. Generally, excessive of alcohol intake affects some organs of the body.
11. High salted foods
Evidently, High salt intake is associated with High risk of cardiovascular diseases, whereas low salt intake helps keep you healthy.
If you’re experiencing High Blood or low blood pressure talk to your dietitians, avoid self medication.
Conclusion
High Blood or low blood pressure abnormal fluctuation can trigger heart failure, if not properly managed.
However, dietary management has been shown to offer promising effect in blood pressure optimization.
11Ghanaian Food that worsen blood pressure includes alcohol, high salted foods, angwamu, smoking, plantain chips among others.
