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Nearly one in every two American adults—about 47%—have been diagnosed with high blood pressure (or hypertension), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirms. That statistic might make this malady seem so common that it's no big deal, but that's far from the truth.
High blood pressure increases a person's risk for heart disease, heart attack, stroke and cognitive decline. And, since high blood pressure often presents with no symptoms until a larger cardiac event occurs, it's sometimes called a "silent killer". In fact, a lot of people don't even know they have high blood pressure, especially if they're only getting it checked during annual visits to their primary care provider.
What's more, the CDC notes that just 24% of people with high blood pressure are considered to have their condition "under control." Another term for this is "resistant hypertension," and this means an individual maintains a blood pressure higher than 140/90 mmHg, despite being treated with multiple medications (to to three) to try and lower blood pressure. Doctors generally try one medication to start, then work their way through the list of all three if a patient's blood pressure doesn't respond.
Since high blood pressure is so common—and so commonly "out of control"—researchers are on a mission to discover more sneaky reasons why high blood pressure happens, the best diet to decrease blood pressure and more.
The latest discovery in the hypertension space displays how systemic the condition truly is: A new study from the University of Toledo, Ohio, soon to be published in the journal Experimental Biology, suggests that our gut bacteria may explain why treatment is ineffective for some people, including that 76% who have resistant hypertension.
Related: Healthy High-Blood Pressure Meal Plan for Beginners
It's not just mediation that is impacted by the microbiome, either. A September 2021 study in the Journal of Hypertension found that a large, diverse population of good gut bacteria can help prevent hypertension before it happens.
"Due to the intricacy of the gut microbiota, each individual is unique. Although this general remark about microbial composition may not apply to everyone, it never hurts to be aware," Dr. Yang concludes.
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