Does bad fat around small arteries cause high blood pressure?

The role of perivascular adipose tissue in the regulation of vascular tone in health and human obesity

High blood pressure (hypertension) and obesity are important causes of cardiovascular death. Furthermore, there is a relationship between these factors: as body weight increases, blood pressure rises. Until recently there has been no explanation for this link. Dr Greenstein believes that to understand the link between obesity and blood pressure, we must study the small arteries of the body, each approximately half a millimetre in diameter. These arteries contract and relax, and are a major factor in determining a person’s blood pressure. If these arteries are contracted, blood pressure is higher whereas if they are relaxed then blood pressure is lower. In the body, most small arteries are surrounded by fat. In health this fat releases factors which relax the arteries. But in obesity the fat does not do this because it becomes inflamed due to weight gain. This is possibly how obesity causes high blood pressure and is the focus of the study.