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(14 reviews)
Editorial Review:
• Proves that the majority of cases of stroke, heart attack, and hypertension can easily be prevented by maintaining the proper ratio of potassium to sodium in the diet.
• Updated with scientific evidence from a recent Finnish study showing a 60 percent decline in deaths attributed to strokes and heart attacks.
• Provides a comprehensive program for balancing body chemistry at the cellular level.
High blood pressure is entirely preventable, without reliance on synthetic drugs. Dr. Moore's approach is simple: by maintaining the proper ratio of potassium to sodium in the diet, blood pressure can be regulated at the cellular level, preventing the development of hypertension and the high incidence of strokes and heart attacks associated with it. Dr. Moore updates this edition with a new preface reporting on the latest scientific research in support of his program. The most striking results come from Finland, where for seve...
Customer Reviews:
0 of 0 found this review helpful:
A workable solution, 2008-04-15
I am a kidney donor who became increasingly concerned about my remaining kidney when my blood pressure became elevated and my physician put me on medication. After I read this book, I decided to simply increase my potassium and reduce my sodium to comply with the author's low sodum/high potassium ratio. In real terms, this meant adding orange juice, bananas, potatoes, fruits, fresh vegetables and eliminating canned and processed foods and table salt. I monitored my blood pressure and the change was dramatic within days. My blood pressure is averaging 104/72. My goal is to come off of medication altogether. I highly recommend this book. It has made the difference for me.
13 of 13 found this review helpful:
A Splendid, Eye-Opening Book!, 2007-07-04
Richard Moore's book, "The High Blood Pressure Solution," is by no means perfect. The text is repetitive at times, for example. And the dietary program he recommends is sound, but sketchy; you'll probably find yourself hunting for additional materials -- low salt cook books, for example -- to round it out.
Despite that, I give this book 5 stars because it may just be one of the most important books of its kind ever written, a book that could conceivably save millions of lives if recognized and adopted worldwide. And there's every good reason why it should be: the science behind it is absolutely solid. Moore is not only a medical doctor, but ALSO a biophysicist, and this book well reflects that dual background.
A little of my own history may be instructive here. I first developed Stage I / II hypertension in the late 1990s, and did little about it. In April of 2002, I was sent to the ER with hypokalemia (low potassium). From that time until now (July, 2007), I obtained effectively NO help from any of the six doctors I consulted. My current provider is terrific in most ways, but even her help on this has been marginal. My complaint with all these people: though they proudly display their medical degrees, NONE had the slightest clue why I had developed high blood pressure. Not one could explain the hypokalemia, or how it related to my hypertension. Only one ever so much as mentioned diet, saying "You've cut back on salt, right? Good." None had any better idea on treatment but to ply me with expensive drugs that inflicted unending and often brutal side effects. Only my current -- and very caring -- provider took the time to discuss exercise and the critical role it can play.
I finally concluded that the word "essential" in the term "essential hypertension" really means, "We don't have a stinkin' clue."
And as Dr. Moore has now shown me, they were all wrong. A few medical researchers figured out long ago what causes most hypertension; an even larger number of researchers have known, for DECADES, the best course of treatment. Hint: it isn't drugs, and it doesn't require a super-human change in diet or lifestyle for most people. It does make demands, but as I've found they are not nearly so onerous as one might imagine.
Moore, who as a biophysicist spent his career investigating cellular level functions, explains in simple terms the role of sodium and potassium -- the two critical electrolytes -- in the life of every cell in your body. This is really just high school level science. Most people can grasp it, but it is technical. If that's not your thing, Dr. Moore provides chapter summaries and an invitation to skip the hard science parts. I ate it up, however, because for the first time I could see what has been going wrong with my body.
And knowledge is power. In just one week, adopting only a rough outline of his recommendations, I pulled my average BP down into a very safe zone ... something I'd not seen once in the previous 7 years despite all those medications. Those gains have continued, and I anticipate that in coming months I will bring it down further. The key to this is what Moore calls the K-Factor: the ratio of sodium to potassium that you consume. Americans frequently take in less potassium than sodium. Moore builds a case for aiming to reach a K-Factor of 4 (four times as much potassium as sodium each day). He also touches on other critical health issues, such as Type II diabetes ... conditions that may also benefit by adopting a high K-Factor diet.
Note that the author does not claim to have discovered any much of this. The work he and his colleagues did helped elucidate fine points in the knowledge of cell biology (he worked on the pH levels inside cells, for example). But what he HAS done is masterfully synthesize diverse findings drawn from the thousands upon thousands of scientific journal articles published over the decades. He weaves this into a coherent narrative, something no one else that I know of ever accomplished prior to Moore's work.
Before I read this book, I simply had no idea why I was suffering from hypertension. The vast majority of books, articles, and patient information pamphlets I'd read had simply said, "No one knows what causes most hypertension." Some books advance what I believe are half-baked arguments. Many are decent books, advocating fundamentally sound high-potassium, low-sodium diets, but usually based only on empirical observations ... a useful start, but not nearly as good as true science, which requires operative theories tested and ultimately winnowed down to one best theory that explains all observable data. THAT is what Moore's book is really about.
This is not just an academic distinction: by really understanding the mechanism, you can recognize that high blood pressure is merely one of a number of nasty symptoms of hypertension, and maybe not the most dangerous one. You can then set meaningful goals. So, for example, you won't end up just robotically eating a diet dictated to you; you can instead adopt one that aims to meet specific goals while giving you more options and flexibility ... keys to any kind of "lifestyle change" that you might actually hope to adopt for an entire lifetime.
Finally, I notice that several other reviewers had some unkind things to say about this book. Having plowed through MOST of the recent books on this topic that you'll find here at Amazon, I can tell you that Moore's book truly stands alone in the quality and exhaustiveness of his citations, and the fundamental logic he brings to the topic. One reviewer seemed almost enraged because his book is not the book she wanted to buy (rather like someone rating Harry Potter with one star only because it isn't about flying saucers). But her criticisms are largely unfair and inaccurate, in most cases suggesting she'd done no more than skim the actual book. Another reviewer claims Moore is flogging vegetarianism. But he most decidedly does NOT do that; he specifically notes that he lumps together vegans, vegetarians, and even folks who eat fish and lean meats sparingly. He makes it clear that ANY diet that gets you to a K-Factor of about 4 will mostly do the job, vegetarian or not.
Another reviewer praised this book, and marveled that it hadn't sold millions of copies. I concur. "The High Blood Pressure Solution" is a terrific and profoundly important book that can help you avoid hypertension, or defeat it if you already suffer from the malady.
8 of 15 found this review helpful:
Beware of this book's generalities..., 2006-12-12
Moore's assumption is of a "one size fits all". It simply is not true that hypertension is ALWAYS caused by too much sodium (or calcium), and/or too little potassium. As someone who tends to be calcium and sodium deficient, were I to be unaware of this fact and to follow his advice, I'd soon find myself, at the least, having episodes of seizures, and, at worse, not find myself at all, having died in the throes of a stroke. Imbalances do not only go in one direction. In consulting Moore's dietary list, I found it also interesting that the foods I cannot readily tolerate in my diet, causing ill-effects for me, are those listed as highest in potassium, which stands to reason.
I was also put off by Moore's dismissal of a genetic component in hypertension, which is certainly strongly indicated in my own family medical history. But my primary concern is that although he documents his own ideas/opinions, he fails to disclose the myriad of other studies which are at odds with those he cites.
It should be noted that although his book gives a website address, it does not exist, and a Google search offers no other.
5 of 5 found this review helpful:
HIGH SODIUM=High blood pressure=Stroke, 2006-09-18
Potassium+sodium=HEALTH
This book did an excellent job teaching me why excessive sodium in the diet and lack of potassium leads to high blood pressure. I knew high sodium consumption was "bad" but I had no idea why until I read this book. I also had no idea the ridiculous amount of sodium we consume daily in a normal American diet when you start counting all sodium from processed foods, drinks, diet foods, fast foods, etc. it is shocking. The author showed how replacing table salt with potassium salt and the sodium salt used in processed foods with potassium salt in Finland reduced strokes and heart attacks by 60%!!! This books shows that balancing sodium and potassium in your diet is the key to lowering blood pressure not drugs.Reading this book caused me to lower my sodium intake by 50%, and I was already eating what I thought was a "healthy diet" Read this book it could save your life or some one you love, who is suffering from high blood pressure.
7 of 7 found this review helpful:
Excellent, 2006-07-27
This book is amazing. It addresses more than just hypertension. It looks at the way blood pressure links up with diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, and even the selective information (and disinformation) we receive from the corporate and medical establishment about this condition. As someone who works with stroke patients every single day, I can tell you the tragedy is real. Not allowing this simple, common sense message to be more widely disseminated is flat out unethical. This book does disseminate it. It is a light shining in the wilderness!
And parenthetically, it has helped me lower my blood pressure too!
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