Posted by Egwu Kalu

In Reply to: Hypertension In Nigeria and in African American posted by Nccny

The salt theory as proferred by Nowa does not seem to me a satisfactory
explanation of the hypertension issue among
the black race. It must be recognized that most of the early black slaves from
Africa arrived to the Caribbean (sp?) prior to being moved into the
mainland USA. Thus, on the account of dehydration there shouldn't be much
difference between the two groups. Secondly, the salt retaining population
that were able to make the ardous journey to the new world were just a part of
a larger African population of salt retainers. Thus, we should expect to
observe similar trends (if the salt issue is the main factor of hypertension)
among the offsprings of African "salt retainers".

It was good that Nowa pointed out that hypertension is a multifactorial problem
and thus no one factor can account for the problem.
I am not a medical doctor. I am however inclined to the idea that probable
factors that affect hypertension and the other related problems
include diet and life style (exercise, stress & frustration, etc), hereditary
(under which salt retention may fall), etc.
Under diet and life style, obvious differences exist between blacks in Africa,
Americas and the caribbean (sp?). Thus, the issue about hereditary
becomes less important when one compares Africans (where salt retainers are
probably in the minority) and American and Caribbean blacks.
Life styles and diets vary between the black people of West Indies and those in
the mainland USA. Extrapolation of the findings on American blacks cannot
be made with respect to Africans or West Indies people. We need to study the
different groups separately. We may be one genetically, but we are three
different people now with respect to life style and diet. Those two factors are
important factors of hypertension.

Egwu Kalu

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• there are many factors that can affect the blood pressure of this human system Chuk Igwe

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