High blood pressure is a big health problem throughout the world, the number of deaths per year is up to 9.4 million worldwide due to complications of high blood pressure.
To put into our perspective more than two times the population of the
Gambia dying of this problem annually.
Diet is very important. In the Gambian culture ingesting spicy foods and very salty foods, different forms of salty spices in our foods that play a big role in the fact that high blood pressure is becoming a big problem.
Blood Pressure Measurements
Blood pressure is measured by two numbers, one of the numbers represents the pressure of the blood when the heart pumps and the other number represents the pressure in the blood when the heart is relaxing.
The number that is associated with the higher number when the heart is pumping is about 140, more than 140 then there is a problem.
The lower number when the heart is relaxing should not be more than 90, anytime it is more than 90 means that the blood pressure is high at the moment,
If it is more than 80 it may also represent pre-hypertension and that means that the person who is having those numbers may develop hypertension in the future.