Effect Of Cholin

Because high blood pressure has been repeatedly produced in animals on diets deficient in cholin, 158 patients with dangerous hypertension were studied while being given cholin daily. Of this group, 133 had essential hypertension of unknown origin; and had had hemorrhages in the brain or eyes, three had diabetes, three heart disease, and 19 nephritis. Since each person had been on various medications for a year or longer without improvement, all medication was discontinued before cholin was given.

Such symptoms as headaches, dizziness, ear noises, palpitation, and constipation improved or disappeared completely five to ten days after the vitamin was started. The blood pressure, which began to fall within three weeks, decreased in every case, the average drop being 31 millimeters systolic and 20 diastolic; in more than a third of these patients, the blood pressure dropped to normal, but none fell below normal. Insomnia, trembling, dropsy when present, and visual disturbances were gradually relieved, and improvement was noticed in speech and mobility.

Before cholin was given, the capillary walls were extremely weak in 97 per cent of the cases; a marked increase in strength occurred almost immediately and "vast improvement" took place over a period of five months. Simultaneously, the blood vessels dilated, blood flow was accelerated and the work of the heart was markedly decreased. In some individuals, the blood flow in the eyes showed steady improvement over a two-year period. When cholin was withdrawn, however, the capillary walls again became weak, and, the blood pressure sometimes increased.

Giving a diet high in complete proteins sometimes decreases hypertension, possibly because cholin can be made from the amino acid methionine; and any nutrient that increases lecithin production may be equally valuable. Animals deficient in magnesium, for example, often develop high blood pressure accompanied by the deposition of calcium in the arterial walls, but whether this deficiency is a major cause of hardening of the arteries is not known.

Sodium And Potassium

High blood pressure has been produced in animals merely by keeping them on a potassium-deficient diet or by feeding them excessive amounts of salt which causes so much potassium to be lost in the urine that a deficiency results. In either case, so much water is retained that the volume of blood increases and the blood pressure is elevated.

Human potassium deficiencies as a cause of high blood pressure have been little studied. The incidence of hypertension throughout the world, however, is greatest and develops at the earliest age in populations having an excessive salt intake; and high blood pressure is virtually unknown where little salt is used. In Japan, for instance, heart disease is rare, yet brain hemorrhage brought on by high blood pressure is the leading cause of death. In northern Japan, where salt fish is a principal food, the salt intake averages 7 grams daily, and deaths from brain hemorrhages are much higher than in the south, where the daily intake averages 17 grams. In America also the incidence of high blood pressure parallels the salt intake of 1 to 5 teaspoons (4 to 20 grams) daily, especially among overweight persons; and the tissues of American stroke victims have a much higher salt content than those of individuals dying from other causes.

Decreasing the salt (sodium) intake has long been used successfully to lower blood pressure, but because severe salt restriction can be dangerous, this approach may not be the wisest one. Adequate calcium and vitamin D help to increase the loss of salt in the urine; and in rats, high blood pressure caused by salt toxicity can be decreased or prevented by giving generous amounts of cholin, pantothenic acid, vitamins B2 and C, and particularly potassium. The quantities of sodium and potassium in the blood constantly teeter-totter, and an excess of one causes the other to be lost in the urine. Thus persons eating salt as they wished excreted nine times more potassium than when their salt intake was limited; and human volunteers kept on diets deficient in potassium retained so much salt that they developed high blood pressure. Conversely, potassium obtained from leaves and grass caused such high sodium losses that wild animals used to walk hundreds of miles to salt licks.

Healthy kidneys, which conserve sodium far more efficiently than potassium, readily lose potassium in the urine; and when kidneys are damaged, this nutrient is lost even more quickly. If foods rich in potassium are eaten or a potassium salt is taken, a high blood pressure drops to normal provided its only cause is an excessive salt intake. Similarly, when sodium is restricted, potassium is conserved, excessive amounts of water and salt are no longer retained, and the blood pressure, if high, decreases.

Under normal circumstances potassium remains largely in the cells and sodium in the surrounding fluids; thus placed, both play vital roles in controlling the passage of dozens of substances into and out of each cell. When the potassium content of the cells decreases because of a potassium deficiency, sodium passes into the depleted cells and attracts so much fluid that tissues become waterlogged. For this reason, high blood pressure is often accompanied by dropsy.

Physicians have given patients with hypertension 5 to 20 grams of potassium chloride (or other potassium salts) daily and have found this approach equally as effective in reducing blood pressure as restricting salt (sodium). Furthermore, because many of these patients had both heart disease and high blood pressure, electrocardiograms were taken at 15-minute intervals after potassium was given; the changes toward normal were identical to those occurring when salt (sodium) was restricted.

Unfortunately, a diet consisting of rice, fruit, and sugar is frequently given to people with high blood pressure despite the fact that it is criminally deficient in cholin, pantothenic acid, all other B vitamins, iodine, vitamin E, complete proteins, and many other nutrients. Furthermore, carbohydrates cause salt and water to be retained in the body. Although the stress of this diet has induced ulcers, it does supply 20 times more potassium than sodium; and in persons able to endure it for two to five months, it has reduced blood pressure.

Quantities of potassium are discarded during the refining of foods, and the richest sources, cooked green leafy vegetables, are now rarely eaten. These factors, combined with excessive urinary losses induced by our high salt intake, have now caused potassium deficiencies to be commonplace. Both sodium and potassium should be adequate, yet neither excessive. If salt is used in moderation, refined foods avoided, and fruits and vegetables generously supplied in the diet, a potassium deficiency is improbable unless the kidneys are damaged. Because my husband enjoys salt but looks on salads and many vegetables with a jaundiced eye, I keep ordinary salt mixed with an equal amount of a potassium-chloride salt substitute in all our salt shakers. No one has ever discovered this subterfuge. Such salt substitutes, however, vary from horrible to excellent.

Persons whose blood pressure is already high should use a salt 'substitute entirely for a while; and, as a temporary measure, take 1 or 2 grams of potassium chloride at each meal unless they are being given digitalis. The diet should also be particularly adequate in every nutrient shown to reduce blood pressure.

About The Author
David Crawford is the CEO and owner of a Natural Male Enhancement company known as Male Enhancement Group which is dedicated to researching and comparing male enhancement products in order to determine which male enhancement product is safer and more effective than other products on the market. Copyright 2010 David Crawford of Natural Male Enhancement This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.