Ray Peat on Blood Pressure

Short answer: Ray Peat argued that high blood pressure is usually a problem of too little blood volume, not too much salt. He connected it to low sodium, low calcium, high parathyroid hormone, low thyroid function and the loss of carbon dioxide.

What Ray Peat wrote about blood pressure

He cites the finding that plasma volume is usually lower in people with essential hypertension than in healthy people. The body is short of circulating fluid while the tissues hold edema. Source: Salt, energy, metabolic rate, and longevity, When energy fails: Edema, heart failure, hypertension, sarcopenia, etc

Sodium helps keep water and albumin inside the blood vessels, which maintains blood volume. Source: When energy fails: Edema, heart failure, hypertension, sarcopenia, etc

According to a review of about 100 studies that he cites, salt restriction lowers blood pressure by only a few points, while it raises adrenaline and aldosterone. Source: Salt, energy, metabolic rate, and longevity, When energy fails: Edema, heart failure, hypertension, sarcopenia, etc

He traced the low-salt doctrine to the marketing of thiazide diuretics in the late 1950s. Source: Water: swelling, tension, pain, fatigue, aging

He linked hypertension to the parathyroid glands. Parathyroid activity is raised in essential hypertension, and the hormone causes loss of fluid, which he ties to a leak of calcium in the urine. Source: Calcium and Disease: Hypertension, organ calcification, & shock, vs. respiratory energy

Added salt lowered blood pressure in women with toxemia of pregnancy. Source: Salt, energy, metabolic rate, and longevity

Caffeine's effect on blood pressure is slight and may not occur with normal use of coffee. Source: Caffeine: A vitamin-like nutrient, or adaptogen. Questions about tea and coffee, cancer and other degenerative diseases, and the hormones

Poor circulation, he wrote, is what damages the kidneys in hypertension, and that can lead on to heart failure. Source: Water: swelling, tension, pain, fatigue, aging

What he suggested in practice

• A high protein diet with a little extra salt, which he says usually helps edema, poor circulation and high blood pressure.
• Enough calcium and vitamin D to keep parathyroid hormone suppressed.
• Breathing into a paper bag for a minute or two to raise carbon dioxide, which he suggests for lowering blood pressure.
• Calcium carbonate with vitamins D and K, which he says can sometimes relieve hypertension quickly.
• High blood pressure is a medical condition. Work with your doctor.

Where he wrote about it

This topic comes up in 47 of the articles on his site. These are the most relevant ones:

• When energy fails: Edema, heart failure, hypertension, sarcopenia, etc · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Calcium and Disease: Hypertension, organ calcification, & shock, vs. respiratory energy · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Salt, energy, metabolic rate, and longevity · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Progesterone, not estrogen, is the coronary protection factor of women · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Milk in context: allergies, ecology, and some myths · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Water: swelling, tension, pain, fatigue, aging · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Diabetes, scleroderma, oils and hormones · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Tryptophan, serotonin, and aging · original on raypeat.com ↗

My take

I covered a study showing that people with high blood pressure have a lower blood volume than healthy people. I think raising calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium intake helps, and I wrote about blood volume in Blood volume and vasodilation factors.

Quick answers

What did Ray Peat say causes high blood pressure?

Low blood volume together with edema, driven by low sodium and calcium, high parathyroid hormone, low thyroid function and stress hormones, not by eating salt.

Did Ray Peat say salt raises blood pressure?

No. He wrote that salt restriction lowers blood pressure by only a few points while raising adrenaline and aldosterone, and that added salt lowered blood pressure in toxemia of pregnancy.