Welcome to London & Essex Kidney Clinic
Dr Ibrahim Fahal is both a clinician and a teacher. He did his undergraduate training at Khartoum University Medical School, where he learned not only how to be a doctor but also a compassionate physician. Since his consultant appointment in 1997, he has been continuously involved in patient care and teaching. He serves as an instructor for medical students from Queen Mary University of London and the American University of the Caribbean. He has published numerous scientific articles, contributed chapters to medical textbooks, and given hundreds of lectures at both national and international meetings. He offers private consultations in London and Brentwood.
|
About Dr FahalClick Here to Learn More |
ConditionsClick Here to Learn More |
Testimonials |
|
Dr Fahal Practices in the Following Hospitals |
|
|
London Independent Hospital
Spire Hartswood Hospital
Nuffield Health Brentwood Hospital
Spire Roding Hospital |
|
Are Potatoes Linked to High Blood Pressure?
- Details
- Created: 20 May 2016
Whether you like your potatoes boiled, baked, mashed or as chips, new US research has linked them to an increased risk of developing high blood pressure.
However, other experts argue that no direct cause-and-effect has yet been proven and studying dietary patterns is more useful than concentrating on individual foods.
Researchers based at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School decided to look at whether higher long-term intake of potatoes could be associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure (hypertension). To their knowledge, no one has previously examined a link between potatoes and high blood pressure. Their study is published in The BMJ.
The researchers combined the results of three large US studies that followed over 187,000 men and women for more than 20 years. A questionnaire was used to look at people's diets intake, including how often the participants ate potatoes and in which form. They included baked, boiled and mashed potatoes as one category, as well as potato chips and potato crisps as two separate categories. Reports of high blood pressure were based on diagnoses made by healthcare professionals.
After considering other risk factors in their analysis, the researchers found:
· When compared with less than one serving a month, consuming four or more servings a week of baked, boiled or mashed potatoes could be linked to an increased risk of high blood pressure in women, but not in men.
· Higher consumption of potato chips could be linked to an increase risk of high blood pressure in both men and women.
· Potato crisps could not be linked to an increased risk of high blood pressure in either men or women.
Because potatoes have a high glycaemic index when compared to other vegetables, the researchers have suggested that the raised blood sugar following eating them might trigger mechanisms that are associated with hypertension, and also mention that a diet high in carbohydrates such as potatoes may result in obesity, another risk factor for raised blood pressure. They recommend replacing a serving a day of boiled, baked or mashed potatoes with a serving of a non-starch vegetable - such as peas, butter beans, sweetcorn or sweet potatoes - to decrease the risk of high blood pressure.