Claim: A Facebook user claims that exercising and reducing salt and Maggi cannot reduce hypertension.
Verdict: FALSE. According to medical experts, adopting healthy lifestyles can help reduce the risk of hypertension.
Full Text
Hypertension is when a person’s blood pressure is higher than normal. According to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), your blood pressure changes throughout the day based on your activities.
It is estimated that about 1.28 billion adults between the ages of 30 and 79 worldwide have hypertension; almost two-thirds of this number live in low- and middle-income countries.
Recently, a Facebook Page, My Health Expert, shared a post on their page that reducing the intake of salt, Maggi, and engaging in exercises does not reduce hypertension.
The post was shared with a link and a one-minute 14 seconds video explaining how she stopped taking salt, Maggi and other ingredients because of hypertension, which still wasn’t normalised.
The narrator explained how she had taken herbal concoctions, and there was still no improvement until she came across a cleanser that helped cure her ailment.
The Facebook post, as of March 5, 2023, had garnered 285 likes, 165,000 views and 31 comments.
The engagement the post was getting, and the possibility of it endangering the lives of others prompted us to work on this claim.
Verification
We first followed the link attached to the Facebook post, which led to the live testimony of a man named “Bishop” who took the drug, and after six days, his blood pressure had dropped.
The researcher observed that the picture of the person used for the live testimony is of a famous Prophet, Hezekiah Oladeji, the general evangelist of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), not Engineer Ade Smith, as stated in the post.
The researcher then reached out to the son of the prophet, who did not want his name mentioned to identify the picture and story. He confirmed the picture was his father’s, but the name and story were wrong. He then warned the public not to fall for this scam, urging them to report the website.
Experts Opinion
We contacted a Medical Doctor of Rufina Catholic Center, Ogun State, Opeyemi Amosu, who explained that there is no cure for hypertension.
He says, “Research is ongoing as to finding a cure.”
He further explained that there is some modifiable hypertension which means you can adjust or influence them, like genetics. The non-modifiable ones, however, can only be managed. Examples of people who could have it are smokers and people with high cholesterol.
“Hypertension can be managed with blood pressure-lowering drug usage, reducing salt intake, and exercising more. Do not let anyone deceive you on a cure. It can only be managed,” he added.
Another medical expert at the Federal Medical Center Jabi, Tessy Ahmadu, stated that hypertension comes with age, can be hereditary and sometimes comes with pregnancy. She noted, “As we get older, the vessels become weaker. Hypertension is not cured but can be managed through healthy living and exercising. If the hypertension is caused by pregnancy, it goes away after delivery.”
Conclusion
Our findings show that while there is no permanent cure for hypertension, it can be managed through lifestyle changes, such as reducing salt and other seasonings and regular physical exercise.
