Longitudinal intervention study demonstrates sustained blood pressure reduction and cholesterol lowering in men, indicating that lifestyle modification controls mild hypertension without medication.
In the Chicago Coronary Prevention Evaluation Program (CPEP), 115 men had definite mild hypertension at entry; another 101 men had high-normal diastolic blood pressure (BP). The nutritional-hygienic nonpharmacologic CPEP regimen achieved years-long moderate weight loss, slowing of pulse rate, and reduction in serum cholesterol levels. Sustained falls in BP were recorded—about 10/13 mm Hg for hypertensive men, resulting in long-term normalization of BP, and about 7/4 mm Hg for men with high-normal BP at entry. Change in weight and change in BP were significantly correlated. Long-term improvements in eating and exercise habits yielding moderate sustained weight loss are apparently useful in preventing high BP in hypertension-prone persons and in controlling established "mild" hypertension. (JAMA243:1819-1823, 1980)
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Jeremiah Stamler (1980) studied this question.
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