OBESITY CAUSES HYPERTENSION

A relationship between obesity and high blood pressure is in fact, obese people have a higher blood pressure rather than people with a normal blood pressure. The cardiovascular risk is increased with obesity.

Why is there is a relation between obesity and high blood pressure?

Obesity presented an increase in the cardiac out put and the blood volume, and in the arterial resistance. In fact, obesity induces a high secretion of insulin in trying to decrease the excessive sugar concentration in the blood. This insulin secretion is higher as compared to a non-obese subject.

Moreover, the insulin, secreted by the pancreas, is responsible for many alterations in the body:

• It induces a thickening of the vessels which is responsible for an increase in their toughness, thus             increasing the blood pressure;
• It increases the cardiac output because the secretion of adrenalin is increased;
• Process of reabsorption is induced of water and salt by the kidney, which increases the blood volume and thus increases the blood pressure;
• Moreover, obesity is responsible for an over-sensitiveness to sodium, which is known to increase the rigidity of the peripheral arteries.

After some time, the obese subject will develop a natural resistance to the insulin which will guide his body to more insulin, thus generating a rise in the blood pressure by the way of the mechanisms relocate.