Middle Passage descriptions included meager diets with little sodium and hot filthy quarters, which would result in sweat and diarrhea. These conditions would mean that these populations experienced a continuous sodium loss. This hypothesis states that these conditions selected for those with the “most vigorous anti-natriuretic responses”(Weder, 2007a). This selection would have reduced the genetic diversity creating a genetic bottleneck. Thus, those who survived and had offspring would pass on the sodium conserving genes, giving future generations a predisposition to hypertension. This hypothesis is highly controversial, but it is testable [yet to be tested] by looking at ancestral allele frequencies in modern populations—which due to bottlenecking of the population would be expected to be higher in African Americans than native Africans— which is why it still enters …show more content…
If we can organize the pathways of the mechanisms that regulate blood pressure, then we should eventually be able to predict who will get the disease before it presents. Additionally, with an understanding of how natural selection has preserved systems and pathways that currently have adverse effects, we will understand how better to prevent the development and progression of risk factors. Lastly, the understanding of the genetic underpinnings of hypertension may lead to better pharmaceutical therapies. As we begin to understand how multiple genetic variants affect systems, we may be able to construct rational drug combinations that block multiple points of blood pressure regulatory