Abstract: | The relationship between insulin and hypertension. The statistical association between hypertension and hyperinsulinemia has been observed repeatedly. There is also considerable evidence of a causal relationship either via effects on the sympathetic nervous system or via reabsorption of sodium or both (for recent reviews see 1–3). Regarded in this way hypertension becomes one of the abnormalities in a cluster of metabolic derangements which are frequently associated, including hyperinsulinemia, glucose intolerance, elevated plasma lipids and hypertension.It is clear from previous and recent studies that abdominal obesity is closely associated to this cluster of abnormalities. This has been found repeatedly in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies in both sexes with or without obesity (for review, see 4). |