Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a chronic medical condition in which the blood pressure is elevated in the arteries. This means the heart has to work too hard to pump the blood through the system. Approximately 4 in 10 adults have raised blood pressure, which often goes undiagnosed. High blood pressure may give rise to many diseases such as kidney failure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, etc. The overwhelmingly more common type of elevated blood pressure (primary hypertension) is the kind that doesn’t have a clear cause. It’s often part of what’s called “metabolic syndrome”, also known as the disease of the Western world.

Metabolic syndrome is typically caused by eating more carbohydrates than the body can handle, especially high-glycaemic carbs that are quickly digested, such as white flour and pure sugar. Carbohydrates start getting broken down into simple sugars as soon as they arrive in your stomach, which raises your blood sugar the moment it’s taken up by the bloodstream. The body then produces more of the hormone insulin, to take care of this blood sugar. Raised insulin levels seem to lead to the accumulation of fluid and salt in the body. This increases blood pressure. In addition, high levels of insulin can thicken the tissue around blood vessels, which also may contribute to elevated blood pressure.