It’s Not All About Salt

Print Page

Resize

- Email to a friend

+ Bookmark in your browser

AL: Why is high blood pressure called a silent killer?

Dr. Takemoto-Gentile: Normally you don’t have any symptoms related to high blood pressure. You can walk around with a systolic pressure of 200 and feel fine, not like if you have a cold or a broken ankle and you go see a doctor. Somebody with undiagnosed high blood pressure can walk around like that for years until their condition produces a heart attack or stroke. That’s why it’s called the silent killer.

AL: Some people dispute the connection between high blood pressure and things like salt and shoyu. What’s your opinion?

Dr. Takemoto-Gentile: It’s how much we eat and what we’re eating that’s the big problem. It’s not only the salt. It’s also a lot of fast foods, refined foods like white flour, white sugar. These foods cause weight gain, which contributes to high blood pressure, diabetes, and other chronic conditions.

If you keep eating the wrong food, at some point you’ll have high blood pressure. It’s an accumulated process over time, and finally the body just breaks down.

Shoyu has not only salt but wheat and brewer’s yeast, which can be very allergenic for many people. So the teriyaki, kal bi, the SPAM musubi—all have shoyu and wheat and some people have a food reaction.

AL: You’re known for helping patients fight hypertension and other conditions by diagnosing food allergies. How does this work?

Dr. Takemoto-Gentile: To put it simply, eating foods that your system is allergic to causes inflammation in your body. When you have chronic inflammation, your body has to respond. Your immune system becomes overactive. In the process it causes arterial spasms, which raises blood pressure.

So the logical question is, what’s triggering the immune system to make it hyperactive?

It turns out that the most common trigger is food. For many people, the most common allergenic foods are wheat, dairy and eggs. When I get people to avoid the foods they’re allergic to for 90 days, it allows the body to detoxify, and in the process they almost invariably lose weight, and the blood pressure follows.

I’m looking at four patients’ charts. One patient’s blood pressure starts off at 165/98 and goes down to 146/80. Another is at 142/86 and after two months is at 126/88. This is fairly common with a lot of people, and I’ll often have to adjust their blood pressure medication.

And it’s not just blood pressure. Autoimmune dysfunctions like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and Crohn’s disease are related to inflammation, so when people stop eating foods that are toxic to their system, their pain goes away, the diarrhea stops, the bloating goes away.

AL: Are there any supplements that can help lower blood pressure?

Dr. Takemoto-Gentile: High blood pressure is a problem and it needs to be corrected and controlled. I do prescribe medications at times. And yes, there are some natural supplements that lower blood pressure. Many people come to me wanting that. I understand—some patients want something natural.

There’s a simple amino acid called arginine. The science behind it is exquisite: The muscles in the blood vessel that cause it to constrict have a nutritional deficiency involving arginine. If you give enough arginine, it feeds the muscle in such a way that it releases nitric oxide, a natural muscle relaxant. This causes the blood vessels to dilate and the blood pressure to drop.

So with people who have mild high blood pressure, in the 140 or 150 range, I’ll use the arginine, and it drops their blood pressure a good 20 to 30 points, and then they’re normal.

The other supplement that helps blood vessels dilate and relax is magnesium. Most people are low in this. I also give magnesium for migraine, restless leg syndrome, even asthma—all of these are muscle spasms.

I would not advise that people just start taking these supplements on their own. They can interact with some medications, including high blood pressure medication. Always check with your doctor before starting a new regimen. (Note: Also remember to ask if services recommended by your doctor are covered by your health plan.)
With my patients, we will also work on the diet, work on the salt, work on the weight. But then we try to go back to, Why are you having high blood pressure? “Well, I’m going through a divorce, or I’m overweight, or I have allergies”—we look for the cause and try to work on it.

AL: What’s your prescription for people who want to do more than take pills to control their blood pressure?

Dr. Takemoto-Gentile: Of course, the first thing we tell patients who come in with high blood pressure is to lower their salt intake and get more activity. But as people change their diet, then their weight, cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure all come down and they don’t have to take so many medicines. That’s the biggest incentive why people do this.

Diet, exercise, drinking plenty of good water, getting good rest -- that’s the physical side. Then there’s the mental-emotional side. You have to nurture yourself so you’re not stressed out all the time. For some people, it may be through yoga, meditation, tai chi or qigong. And then there’s a spiritual side. They’re all tied in.
You have to have mind-body-spirit. You have to balance all of that. That’s why I don’t work on Saturday or Sunday. I can nurture me and spend time with my family.

AL: Is it possible to control high blood pressure without medication?

Dr. Takemoto-Gentile: Baby boomers now are into prevention. They want to stay healthy, live long. They don’t want to take medications. They’re coming to me, asking how can I get off these medications.

It can be done. It’s about prevention: That’s why I focus a lot on food allergies. It’s like a car engine. Sometimes you have to overhaul the engine, change the spark plugs and battery, and put in what’s missing, and then the car works perfectly.