<International Circulation>: The incidence of hypertension globally is high and national health systems energetically seek to prevent and treat hypertension. What are the more appropriate therapies for preventing hypertension based on current epidemiological studies?

    Dr Klag: We know there are several risk factors for high blood pressure. One is weight gain and obesity. Another is high salt intake and low potassium intake. Lack of exercise is another important risk factor. There are things that we can focus on as communities to reduce the incidence of high blood pressure and to help people lower their blood pressure. When you consider problems and diseases that are very common in a society， it means the causes are common. The phenomena that have occurred in China， as have happened in the US before， are that: people exercise less， using cars rather than bicycles and consequently gaining weight; they tend to eat more processed food and unfortunately are importing dietary habits from the West. So to intervene in the epidemic of hypertension， we need to work across many disciplines. We need to work with the food industry to ensure healthier food is available and to reduce the amount of salt in processed food. We need to adapt the built environment， the buildings that we work and live in， to allow as to exercise as part of our daily routine such as easier stairway access rather than using the lifts. Lifestyle changes implies choice but unless the options are made available to choose a healthier lifestyle then it can’t happen easily， so we need to be moving to facilitate healthy lifestyle choices.