It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Regarding our modern health care system, we are truly living in the best and worst times. On the one hand, we are living in an era of tremendous innovation. Medical devices have advanced at accelerated rates. Techniques like neurosurgery, and other specialized surgical disciplines have advanced by leaps and bounds. Drugs like antibiotics, insulin and anabolic steroids have saved lives and given us more choices. 

On the other hand, many aspects of our medical system have fallen behind. Certain disciplines seem to be stuck in the past, especially oncology and cardiology. Costs have increased way beyond the rate of inflation, especially in the United States, and show no sign of slowing down.

Oncology And Cardiology Have Failed Us

Unfortunately, much of medical science does not follow the scientific method anymore. In oncology it’s puzzling that we have not found any viable cancer treatments that don’t poison the patient. Considering the massive R&D resources at our disposal it baffles me that we haven’t found a solution yet. However, many alternative cancer treatments claim to do just that and can reportedly kill cancer cells without harming the host. Ironically, these treatments have never been FDA approved despite many documented cases of successfully treating patients.

Cardiology hasn’t fared much better. The science seems to be dated and many professionals still ascribe to the cholesterol theory of heart disease, even though there is zero correlation between cholesterol levels and cardiovascular health. High blood pressure is a condition associated with vascular disease and it’s critical that we understand its causes and the effects of not treating it. 

According to current research, there are essentially two main causes of high BP. Let’s examine them briefly.

Hypertension Cause #1: Obesity

Obesity is the most common cause of high BP, especially in younger people. The reason why is because visceral fat crowds the internal organs, primarily around the kidneys and renal arteries, which supply the kidneys. Studies have shown going way back to the 1930s that when renal arteries are restricted from the outside it causes blood pressure to skyrocket. If you’re overweight the only way to reduce your blood pressure without drugs is by shedding your excess adipose tissue (fat).

Strangely, the body positivity movement of the last several years deluded many people into thinking they could be healthy at any weight despite what their blood pressure readings were. Unfortunately for them, their false beliefs were challenged when they suffered severe health problems or died. Reality has a way of destroying bad ideas.

Hypertension Cause #2: Artery Calcification

The second and lesser known cause of high blood pressure is artery calcification. As visceral fat around the kidneys restricts blood flow via compression, renal artery calcification restricts blood flow from stenosis, or clogging. Whether this happens from outside or inside the arteries, the end result is the same. Hypertension.

When the renal arteries are compressed from the outside or blocked from the inside, it sends a false signal to the kidneys that the body’s blood pressure is too low. In response, the kidneys release a hormone called renin. This triggers the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), which releases another hormone called Angiotensin II. This narrows blood vessels even further and signals the adrenal glands to release aldosterone, which causes the body to retain salt and water. This causes the blood pressure of our entire vascular system to increase.

Understanding the mechanism of what causes high blood pressure is the first step in treating it. Proper diagnosis is half the cure. 

For more information on this topic and how the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) affects blood pressure check out the NIH article here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430718/