Hypertension
Hypertension is another name for high blood pressure. It’s a disease that can lead to severe complications and increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, and death. Blood pressure can be defined as the force exerted by the blood against the walls of the blood vessels and the pressure depends on the work being done by the heart and the resistance of the blood vessels. Medical guidelines define hypertension as a blood pressure higher than 130 over 80 millimetres of mercury (mmHg), according to guidelines issued by the American Heart Association (AHA) in November 2017. Around 85 million people in the United States are suffering from high blood pressure. Hypertension and heart disease are the leading global health concerns. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that the growth of the processed food industry has impacted the amount of salt in diets worldwide, and that plays a role in hypertension.