High Blood Pressure Among Black Americans Linked To Junk Food Glutens and Insufficient Time In The Sunshine! Climate Change Lifestyle Changes Could lower Blood Pressure Mortality!
Exposure to sunshine is linked to lower blood pressure, says a new study that included hundreds of thousands of patients at dialysis clinics across the United States.
For the new study, appearing Friday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers examined blood pressure readings from more than 342,000 patients at nearly 2,200 clinics over three years, starting in January 2011. More than a third of the patients were African American. Blood pressure readings were averaged by month, then matched with reports on outdoor temperature and ultraviolet radiation, which also were averaged into monthly readings.
Researchers adjusted for variables such as the subjects' sex, age and body mass index. When the numbers from nearly 46 million blood pressure readings were crunched, the researchers found exposure to UV sunlight was associated with lower systolic blood pressure (the first number in a blood pressure reading) regardless of the temperature. So higher UV could benefit those segments of the population that are generally deficient in getting enough sunlight. The segment of the population most affected are black or dark skinned people! "half the seasonal variation in blood pressure is independent of temperature. It's due to the UV alone. And that is really exciting." said the lead author, Dr. Richard Weller.
Another issue they found was that many blood pressure medicines reduce key essential nutrients your body needs to regulate your blood pressure. Diuretics were shown to cause an increased risk of heart attack. Also many high blood pressure medications over time lower the levels of coenzyme Q10 in the body these include statins for cholesterol , including atorvastatin (Lipitor), lovastatin (Mevacor), pravastatin (Pravachol, and simvastatin (Zocor), fibric acid derivatives for cholesterol, including gemfibrozil (Lopid), beta-blockers for high blood and Metformin for Diabetes. CoQ10 has the potential to lower systolic blood pressure by up to 17 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure by 10 mm Hg, without significant side effects.
Sun exposure is the best way to get more vitamin D , though expert recommendations for how long people with little melanin should sit in the sun without sunscreen do vary. Doctors suggests at least 20 minutes of sunlight without sunscreen for light skinned populations, and up to 30 or 45 minutes for Black and brown people. "Melanomas are bad news," Weller said. "And that's something all dermatologists worry about. But that's not caused by simple sunlight. It's caused by sunburn and intermittent sunlight."
Until 150 years ago, humans lived almost entirely outdoors, Weller said. Previous research has found that around 90 percent of people spend close to 22 hours inside every day. "Being outdoors all day long in the sun is normal for us. What is abnormal is the two weeks in Cancun, or the sunbed," which blasts people with lots of UV quickly and is a known risk factor for melanoma.
Weller said dermatologists "need to stop fixating on the harm UV can do and stand back and acknowledge the fact that there is a growing body of evidence showing that it also has benefits on health." This is especially beneficial for Black and brown people. In the case of black women spending time in the sun at beaches or rooftop gardens wherever they are, helps to even out skin tone and camouflages scars and blemishes, which is something that many people of brown complexion deal with.” You could consider tanning to be a form of makeup for your body. If we think about it that way then the idea of Black women tanning shouldn't be so novel.
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