Dairy Consumption and High Blood Pressure page

[Primal Wayne]

Just a curiosity... Has anyone ever linked dairy consumption with an increase in blood pressure? The only dairy I consume is my half and half in my coffee and I like to eat cheese every now and then. I've been racking my brain as to what could be causing my HBP. I know I'm under a lot of stress but it couldn't be that huge of a factor, right?

The reason I'm singling out dairy is because I know I'm slightly lactose intolerant. My parents had me on a soy formula when I was a baby because I'd get sick on regular milk. Even now, I'd still get a stomach ache if I drank a lot of milk. However, I have no issues digesting cheese and the half and half. Could my body be reacting in other ways, like raising my BP?

[Derpamix]

Now I've lost it
I know I can kill

No, dairy is not causing your high blood pressure. You thinking dairy is causing your high blood pressure is causing your high blood pressure.

[Primal Wayne]

Now I've lost it
I know I can kill

No, dairy is not causing your high blood pressure. You thinking dairy is causing your high blood pressure is causing your high blood pressure.

LOL... gotta love it. I just worry too much.

[Colloid]

When I am exposed to something to which I have an intolerance, my blood pressure rises 10-15 points. My intolerance is to corn, so this may not be applicable to your situation.

Colloid

[ChocoTaco369]

This is going to sound odd but are you sure you have high blood pressure?

A little backstory on me: I have pretty low blood pressure - EXCEPT when I go to the doctor. I get pretty bad whitecoat syndrome. My BP shoots through the roof when the doc puts the cuff on AND my heart rate shoots up about 15 BPM. If you take my pressure at a doctor's office, I'll be around 150/90. If I take it at home with a cuff while relaxing, I'll be around 110/70.

A blood pressure reading at a doctor's office is a single snapshot in time. Maybe you had a rough day at work. Maybe you ate a meal that wasn't ideal. Maybe your body is stressed for some environmental reason. Maybe you are recovering from an injury. Or maybe you just get nervous around a doctor's office like me.

My recommendation is to get a GOOD blood pressure cuff and take it to a doctor's office. Measure your BP with the cuff while he manually takes your BP to ensure it's accurate. If you do so, you can take your BP hourly, daily, etc and create your own rolling average BP to really get an accurate snapshot of where you stand. From there, once you know what your BP truly is, you can use that cuff to determine what foods spike your BP upon consumption. If you suspect dairy, maybe it's the large amounts of sodium in cheeses, cottage cheese, cream cheese etc that's spiking your BP and not dairy the itself. Or maybe it's something else entirely.

It'll take some time and money, but IMO it's worth it and better than cutting out potentially benign foods you love or making a hasty decision and taking medication.

EDIT - this one is dirt cheap and rated extremely highly.

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-EW31...essure+monitor

Amazon has literally dozens of them ranging in ratings, prices and functionality. They have several in the $50 range rated at 4.5 stars, so I'm sure you could find something fantastic that you can prove accurate at a doctor's office for very little money to do your own self-experimentation.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...essure+monitor

[merryish]

I'm on a low dose of prednisone, and have to monitor my BP pretty closely.

I've also got a tough case of whitecoat syndrome. It's complicated by the fact that I'm almost always either late to my doctor's appointment, resulting in rushing and stress, or stuck waiting forever in my doctor's office, resulting in annoyance and stress. When I take my BP at home, it's always significantly lower.

Three things I find seriously affect my BP:

1) Emotional state. Stress really is a big factor for me.
2) Lack of sleep. If I don't hit 7-8 hours, my BP will be higher.
3) Binging on sugary stuff. This affects my pulse most strongly - my heart races. But it does also hit my BP.

I've never noticed any changes that seemed related to dairy. I don't use a lot of it - heavy cream in my coffee and sometimes cheese in an omelette, that's about it. But it doesn't seem to set anything off.

Edited to add: AND BUTTER.

[bob loblaw]

This is going to sound odd but are you sure you have high blood pressure?

A little backstory on me: I have pretty low blood pressure - EXCEPT when I go to the doctor. I get pretty bad whitecoat syndrome. My BP shoots through the roof when the doc puts the cuff on AND my heart rate shoots up about 15 BPM. If you take my pressure at a doctor's office, I'll be around 150/90. If I take it at home with a cuff while relaxing, I'll be around 110/70.

A blood pressure reading at a doctor's office is a single snapshot in time. Maybe you had a rough day at work. Maybe you ate a meal that wasn't ideal. Maybe your body is stressed for some environmental reason. Maybe you are recovering from an injury. Or maybe you just get nervous around a doctor's office like me.

My recommendation is to get a GOOD blood pressure cuff and take it to a doctor's office. Measure your BP with the cuff while he manually takes your BP to ensure it's accurate. If you do so, you can take your BP hourly, daily, etc and create your own rolling average BP to really get an accurate snapshot of where you stand. From there, once you know what your BP truly is, you can use that cuff to determine what foods spike your BP upon consumption. If you suspect dairy, maybe it's the large amounts of sodium in cheeses, cottage cheese, cream cheese etc that's spiking your BP and not dairy the itself. Or maybe it's something else entirely.

It'll take some time and money, but IMO it's worth it and better than cutting out potentially benign foods you love or making a hasty decision and taking medication.

EDIT - this one is dirt cheap and rated extremely highly.

Amazon.com: Panasonic EW3109W Portable Upper Arm Blood Pressure Monitor White/Grey: Health & Personal Care

Amazon has literally dozens of them ranging in ratings, prices and functionality. They have several in the $50 range rated at 4.5 stars, so I'm sure you could find something fantastic that you can prove accurate at a doctor's office for very little money to do your own self-experimentation.

Amazon.com: blood pressure monitor

I just want to second this idea.

My wife got diagnosed with high BP and put on medication. She started taking it (against my wishes, but she's a free woman), and then I got her an at home BP monitor. We started taking her blood pressure daily and then I convinced her to take some time off her meds. We continued monitoring, low and behold, months later still no high BP.

I'm convinced it was either a bad reading or "white coat" syndrome. Either way, she would have been on medication for the REST OF HER LIFE if we had just listened to her doctor.

[BestBetter]

I know I'm under a lot of stress but it couldn't be that huge of a factor, right?

stress = faster heartbeat + constricted blood vessels = higher blood pressure.

[frogdogs]

This is going to sound odd but are you sure you have high blood pressure?

A little backstory on me: I have pretty low blood pressure - EXCEPT when I go to the doctor. I get pretty bad whitecoat syndrome. My BP shoots through the roof when the doc puts the cuff on AND my heart rate shoots up about 15 BPM. If you take my pressure at a doctor's office, I'll be around 150/90. If I take it at home with a cuff while relaxing, I'll be around 110/70.

A blood pressure reading at a doctor's office is a single snapshot in time. Maybe you had a rough day at work. Maybe you ate a meal that wasn't ideal. Maybe your body is stressed for some environmental reason. Maybe you are recovering from an injury. Or maybe you just get nervous around a doctor's office like me.

My recommendation is to get a GOOD blood pressure cuff and take it to a doctor's office. Measure your BP with the cuff while he manually takes your BP to ensure it's accurate. If you do so, you can take your BP hourly, daily, etc and create your own rolling average BP to really get an accurate snapshot of where you stand. From there, once you know what your BP truly is, you can use that cuff to determine what foods spike your BP upon consumption. If you suspect dairy, maybe it's the large amounts of sodium in cheeses, cottage cheese, cream cheese etc that's spiking your BP and not dairy the itself. Or maybe it's something else entirely.

It'll take some time and money, but IMO it's worth it and better than cutting out potentially benign foods you love or making a hasty decision and taking medication.

EDIT - this one is dirt cheap and rated extremely highly.

Amazon.com: Panasonic EW3109W Portable Upper Arm Blood Pressure Monitor White/Grey: Health & Personal Care

Amazon has literally dozens of them ranging in ratings, prices and functionality. They have several in the $50 range rated at 4.5 stars, so I'm sure you could find something fantastic that you can prove accurate at a doctor's office for very little money to do your own self-experimentation.

Amazon.com: blood pressure monitor

I'm thirding this as well. Basing overall BP "health" on that one snapshot taken at the doctor's office is an overly hasty way to judge a measure of health that is greatly affected by a wide variety of factors: stress, injury, mood, food, exercise, etc.

I have monitored my own BP for years and the overall picture I average out over a day, week, month can be vastly different than what shows up a few measly times on a doctor's chart -- and that's assuming their equipment is working properly as ChocoTaco pointed out as well.

[homunculus]

Now I've lost it
I know I can kill

No, dairy is not causing your high blood pressure. You thinking dairy is causing your high blood pressure is causing your high blood pressure.

...Darker Than Black?