by Tonya L. Breaux-Shropshire, PhD, DNP, FNP, MPH
Can high blood sugar increase your blood pressure? Heck yeah, but how or why?
Your doctor already told you that you need to reduce your salt intake to help control your blood pressure. It seems that not many people know that they need to reduce their sugar intake as well.
Here is how sugar increase your blood pressure:
Sugar increases your uric acid level which blocks your body’s ability to make nitric oxide. Nitric oxide relaxes your blood vessels, which reduces your blood pressure.
Without enough nitric oxide, your blood vessels will stiffen causing an increase in your blood pressure.
Too much sugar causes you to store excess sugar as fat leading to excessive weight gain. Excessive weight gain leads to you being overweight or obese.
Research has shown that for every 2 pounds (4.5 kg) of weight gain you could increase your blood pressure by 4 mm Hg.
Insulin is a hormone that helps you remove sugar from the blood and send it to your body cells for energy. Some of the sugar is stored in the liver as glycogen to be used later for energy.
Excessive sugar is stored as fat anywhere on your body, especially your butt, hips, and thighs.
This extra weight causes your body to become resistant to insulin and not respond to insulin-like it should, which causes your body to make too much insulin.
This is called hyperinsulinemia and it’s your body’s attempt to get the excess sugar out of your blood and into your cells for energy.
About 50% of people with hypertension have too much insulin causing sugar intolerance.
Limit Sugar in Your Foods
Believe it or not, there is a considerable amount of sugar in most processed food these days. Don’t take my word for it, go to your local grocery and try to buy something without sugar.
You will quickly learn that most processed foods, even bread, have sugar in them.
Research has shown that the sugar in your foods might be the bulk of the sugar that you eat. Therefore, it’s important to eat fresh whole foods to reduce your blood sugar level to reduce your blood pressure levels.
Watch the videos below for a few suggestions of healthy whole food choices.
Mushrooms
Green Beans
Dr. Jun Wang, a professor at the University of Copenhagen, is studying diabetes.
Dr. Wang said that “30 years ago, there were only 2% of the adult population in China with diabetes. He said now there is 10% of the adult population in China with diabetes.
Dr. Wang says that it is hard to believe that genetics are responsible for the higher rate of diabetes in China. He said there must be environmental reasons for these changes.
Dr. Wang believes lifestyle changes will have a strong effect on your gut bacteria.
Perhaps a consideration of the type of medication to treat diabetes and a probiotic might help. Ask your doctor or healthcare provider if you would benefit from a probiotic.
This is not medical advice. Consult with your doctor or health care provider before starting any supplements or change in diet, etc. Patients have raved about the Now and Jarrow brand of probiotics.
People with moderate symptoms of gas, belching, etc, might benefit from Garden of Life products. 
Your body makes hormonal changes between 2 am and 8 am in the morning. These hormonal changes can increase your blood sugar to give you the energy to wake up and start your day.
If you are diabetic and take medication to regulate your sugar at night, you might have high blood sugars when you awaken to start your day.
This high morning blood sugar might be a sign that you are experiencing low blood sugars during the night while you are asleep. The low blood sugar is causing your body to release more hormones at 2 am and 8 am spiking your blood sugar high.
You might need your nighttime medication adjusted to prevent low blood sugars; therefore, preventing the spike in the hormones (cortisol, epinephrine, and growth hormone).
Sugar alternatives that Don’t Raise Your Blood Pressure
Wouldn’t it be nice to sweeten your coffee or bake your favorite cookies without worrying about eating too much sugar?
There are sugar alternatives that can help you sweeten your coffee without sugar and it is healthy. No, I’m not talking about the blue, pin, or yellow packets.
Let me tell you about the monkfruit. Monkfruit is sugar-free, carbohydrate-free, keto-friendly, has no calories, and is zero glycemic. Above all that, monkfruit tastes good and leaves no aftertaste in my opinion.
Use monkfruit instead of sugar. Monkfruit is a one-to-one sugar substitute; so, you use it just like you would sugar. In other words, if you use one teaspoon of sugar in your coffee, just use one teaspoon of monkfruit in your coffee.
In addition to reducing the amount of sugar in your foods, monkfruit will help you stabilize your blood sugar. Therefore, you will likely see a reduction in your blood pressure.
You can learn more about how to prepare healthy whole foods here at this link.
Go to the Hypertension Resistant to Treatment Podcast for everything you need to know about high blood pressure and trending health topics at this link.
I look forward to helping you get control of your blood pressure!
