Jessica was 49 years old when she signed up for Quantify, after getting diagnosed with hypertension a year prior during a routine checkup.
The diagnosis came as a surprise, given that she had practiced yoga regularly since her thirties, and had always thought of herself as healthy.
Her primary care doctor had speculated that the condition was genetic—Jessica’s mom had also been diagnosed with hypertension—but Jessica was understandably reluctant to accept the hypothesis, without any test results to back it up.
What’s more, her medication was only slightly effective at lowering her blood pressure, suggesting there was something else going on.
Frustrated by her doctor’s lack of interest in exploring other possible causes, Jessica decided to pursue a more data-driven approach.
In her first appointment at Quantify, Jessica’s health coach recommended a metabolic panel, cardiovascular panel, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) stress profile, to evaluate her metabolic health, blood sugar regulation, insulin resistance, cardiovascular health, inflammation, and the health of her HPA axis, the system that regulates the body’s response to acute and chronic stress.
Test results
Her first time conducting a comprehensive evaluation of her health, Jessica’s metabolic panel showed elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), indicating compromised liver function, which was likely attributed to her daily glass (or two) of red wine as part of her “wind down routine.”
Providing an additional clue as to what was going on, Jessica’s cardiovascular panel showed elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), indicating systemic inflammation, which commonly contributes to hypertension, and which was also likely caused by her end-of-day overindulgence.
Completing the puzzle, Jessica’s HPA stress profile showed an abnormally shallow diurnal cortisol pattern, indicating HPA axis dysregulation, or the condition of having an exhausted stress response, which commonly underlies self-medication with addictive, dopamine-boosting substances, such as alcohol, tobacco, or sugar.
Recovery
Jessica was shocked to learn that her daily wine habit was causing her hypertension, having read seemingly credible articles on the internet about how red wine is “heart-healthy,” due to the high amount of resveratrol (an antioxidant) in grapes.
What she didn’t realize, however, is that ethanol—the mood-altering compound in all alcoholic beverages—is far more harmful to the body than resveratrol is beneficial, and that a significant percentage of the research suggesting that wine is good for you was actually funded by the alcohol industry, making for an obvious, though underreported, conflict of interest.
Toxic to the liver, heart, and brain, ethanol’s effect on the body is often deemphasized in favor of other compounds, such as resveratrol, to make the case, for example, that wine has “anti-aging” properties, or other hyperbolic claims found in clickbait headlines.
Thrilled to finally get answers, Jessica started following her health plan closely, checking in with her health coach regularly to help her stay on track.
She eliminated processed foods, sugar, and grains from her diet, stopped drinking alcohol (swapping wine for chamomile tea), started drinking at least 64 ounces of water per day, and took certain supplements, such as magnesium malate, L-theanine, and milk thistle.
Within a month, not only did her blood pressure start to improve, but she also reported better energy and focus at work, an encouraging indication that her cognitive function was also improving.
Within six months, her blood pressure had lowered to a normal level, her doctor allowed her to taper and ultimately stop taking her medication (citing that it was no longer warranted), and a follow-up metabolic panel, cardiovascular panel, and HPA stress profile showed no abnormalities, further validating the work she had done to recover her health.