Earlier Study Lends Support

Earlier research supports this positive outlook. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that 40 percent of people studied (who had been taking drugs for years to keep their numbers down) were able to control their blood pressure with dietary changes and moderate exercise alone. The author of that study, Rose Stamler, a professor of epidemiology at Chicago's Northwestern University Medical School, acknowledges the positive effects of exercise but stresses the benefits that good eating can convey on your blood pressure. "When blood pressure elevation is not too severe and there are no cardiovascular complications, an improved nutrition program may help maintain normal pressure without drugs or at least allow people to reduce their dosage," she says. Such a drug free approach, she points out, allows people with pressure problems "to avoid some of the unwanted side effects of those drugs, such as a rise in blood glucose or increased lipid levels." Some blood pressure drugs have also been shown to cause sexual problems, including impotence.

But What about the High Guys

Putting aside the pills in favor of working out and eating right is great news. But all the experts interviewed kept pointing out that they were talking only about "mildly hypertensive people," which basically refers to men with a diastolic reading of 90 to 105 or so. So what about men with more severe high blood pressure? Won't they get any benefits from working out and eating better? "We don't have the data to say with any certainty that people with more severe hypertension will be able to achieve total control of their condition with a diet and exercise program alone," explains epidemiologist Stamler. But she feels that the data do indicate that such people may get considerable benefit in terms of lowering their drug dosages and, in the long run, possibly even becoming drug free if they adopt the right diet and exercise program. Exercising and eating right will never make anyone's pressure worse, she says. And it's your best bet at controlling your blood pressure without the side effects that drugs can cause