Question: What are the heart health risk for people who have high blood pressure?
Dr. Kawa: High blood pressure puts stress on the heart as well as the blood vessel, that stress can lead to a heart attack, a stroke, and thickening of the heart muscles leading to heart failure and cardiomyopathy.
Question: What is one thing people can do right now to improve their blood pressure?
Dr. Kawa: Right now the patient can look at what they are eating, consuming and immediately take as much salt as you can out of your diet, don’t add salt, look for foods that have low sodium content, don’t eat fast food, have a variety of fruits, vegetables, colorful fruits, and vegetables in your diet. The goal is to have at least five servings a day of those. Try to stay away from carbohydrate foods like corn and potatoes and have a variety of vegetables in your diet.
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