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Beta blockers may offer little against heart attack, stroke Commonly prescribed drugs called beta blockers fail to protect against heart attacks and strokes even while helping to control heart rate and blood pressure, researchers report in the Oct. 3 Journal of the American Medical Association. Beta blockers also didn’t lessen the odds of a heart-related death, in heart attack patients or others at risk, over a median follow-up of 44 months. The American Heart Association had previously discouraged the long-term use of beta blockers as a post–heart attack treatment beyond three years. The new findings further dim the prospects for...

AND NOW . . . amidst billowing clouds of fragrant, aromatic first- and second-hand premium cigar smoke. . . it is time for . . . that harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, the highly-trained broadcast specialist, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, from behind the golden EIB microphone, firmly ensconced in the prestigious Attila-the-Hun chair at the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies, serving humanity simply by showing up, and he’s not retiring until every American agrees with him, do NOT doubt him, with shrieks of joy at the mere mention of his name...

Aliskiren has been sold under the brand name Rasilez in Europe and Tekturna in the U.S. since 2007. EMA said it has ruled that aliskiren be "contraindicated," or not prescribed, to diabetic patients or to people with kidney problems who are also taking older hypertension drugs known as ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers. Data suggest a risk of adverse outcomes in such patients, including hypotension, stroke and changes in renal function, including acute renal failure, the EMA said. Novartis wrote to physicians world-wide then recommending that patients with Type 2 diabetes shouldn't be treated with aliskiren, or combination products...

Does anyone have a list of medications that have the side effect of causing a rise in blood pressure?

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have found a protein normally involved in blood pressure regulation in a surprising place: tucked within the little "power plants" of cells, the mitochondria. The quantity of this protein appears to decrease with age, but treating older mice with the blood pressure medication losartan can increase protein numbers to youthful levels, decreasing both blood pressure and cellular energy usage. The researchers say these findings, published online during the week of August 15, 2011, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may lead to new treatments for mitochondrial–specific, age-related diseases,...

A first-aid kit found on a 2,000-year-old shipwreck has provided a remarkable insight into the medicines concocted by ancient physicians to cure sailors of dysentery and other ailments. A wooden chest discovered on board the vessel contained pills made of ground-up vegetables, herbs and plants such as celery, onions, carrots, cabbage, alfalfa and chestnuts – all ingredients referred to in classical medical texts. The tablets, which were so well sealed that they miraculously survived being under water for more than two millennia, also contain extracts of parsley, nasturtium, radish, yarrow and hibiscus. They were found in 136 tin-lined wooden vials...

(Reuters Health) - Despite earlier concerns, downing lots of coffee doesn't seem to increase the risk of high blood pressure, according to a new report -- but the evidence isn't conclusive. High blood pressure has been linked to heart disease, stroke, and a shorter life expectancy, and some scientists have suggested that coffee might fuel the problem.

Low-cost protein gets big results in people with elevated blood pressurePULLMAN, Wash.—Beverages supplemented by whey-based protein can significantly reduce elevated blood pressure, reducing the risk of stroke and heart disease, a Washington State University study has found. Research led by nutritional biochemist Susan Fluegel and published in International Dairy Journal found that daily doses of commonly available whey brought a more than six-point reduction in the average blood pressure of men and women with elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressures. While the study was confined to 71 student subjects between the ages of 18 and 26, Fluegel says older people...

The best blood pressure range for patients with diabetes and heart disease appears to be slightly higher than what is recommended for healthy adults, according to a study in today's Journal of the American Medical Association. In fact, the blood pressure range considered normal - less than 120 systolic and less than 80 diastolic - may actually be risky for those with a combined diagnosis of diabetes and coronary artery disease, report University of Florida researchers from the International Verapamil SR-Trandolapril study, known as INVEST. Optimum systolic blood pressure levels should be between 130 and 140 for patients coping with...

A new study said that a popular class of antihypertension drugs—including those made by Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Merck & Co. and Novartis AG—is associated with a modestly increased risk of cancer. The researchers cautioned that the limited data make it impossible to calculate the exact cancer risk for each individual drug in the class, but said the issue should be investigated further. The study was published online Sunday by the Lancet Oncology medical journal.

* A diet high in fructose can increase uric acid levels, but allopurinol may help lower the resulting high blood pressure, researchers say. Men who took the drug to mitigate the effects of a high-fructose diet did not experience the increase in blood pressure observed among men on the same diet who did not take the drug, Richard Johnson, MD, of the University of Colorado, and colleagues said at the American Heart Association's High Blood Pressure Research Conference in Chicago. "These results support the idea that fructose, such as present in table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, could have a...

Iloprost, a drug used regularly to treat high blood pressure in the lungs, significantly improves lung damage in former smokers. The researchers examined lung biopsies of 152 people who had smoked at least 20 pack-years—equivalent to 1-pack a day for 20 years—before & after 6 months of treatment w/either oral iloprost or placebo. None of the 82 current smokers in trial saw significant improvement in the signs of lung disease, but FORMER SMOKERS treated with iloprost showed SIGNIFCANT improvement. “These results are exciting because they show we can actually keep former smokers from developing lung cancer with a drug used...

Vitals Major Finding: Among diabetic patients at high cardiovascular risk, those treated to a mean systolic blood pressure of 119.3 mm Hg had a 1.87% per year rate of nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or cardiovascular death during an average follow-up of 4.7 years, compared with 2.09% per year in patients treated to a mean systolic blood pressure of 133.5 mm Hg. The difference in rates was not statistically significant. Data Source: ACCORD blood pressure trial, a randomized, controlled study of 4,733 patients with type 2 diabetes. And long-term follow-up observational data from patients with diabetes in the INVEST trial....

A revolutionary new operation which could effectively cure high blood pressure has been developed by scientists, offering hope to hundreds of thousands of sufferers. In what is being hailed as the most exciting development in the field for 50 years, doctors can treat the condition with a simple procedure in under an hour. It could allow some sufferers to come off medication completely and offer hope for those for whom existing treatments have no effect.

Elevated dietary fructose linked to high blood pressure A diet high in fructose increases the risk of developing high blood pressure (hypertension), according to a paper being presented at the American Society of Nephrology's 42nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in San Diego, California. The findings suggest that cutting back on processed foods and beverages that contain high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may help prevent hypertension. Over the last 200 years, the rate of fructose intake has directly paralleled the increasing rate of obesity, which has increased sharply in the last 20 years since the introduction of HFCS. Today, Americans...

High blood pressure usually has no symptoms. In fact, many people have high blood pressure for years without knowing it. That's why it's called the "silent killer." Hypertension is the medical term for high blood pressure. It doesn't refer to being tense, nervous or hyperactive. You can be a calm, relaxed person and still have high blood pressure...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Eating lots of whole grains could ward off high blood pressure, according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In the study, men with the highest whole-grain consumption were 19 percent less likely to develop high blood pressure than men who ate the least amount of whole grains. While refining grains removes their outer coating, whole grains retain their bran and germ, so they are richer in many nutrients, Dr. Alan J. Flint of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and his colleagues note in their report. The most recent...

Laughter is not only an effective stress-reliever, but can be heart-healthy, according to research presented at the American College of Sports Medicine's 56th Annual Meeting in Seattle. Two separate studies examined the role of a good laugh as it relates to health. One of the studies took an inverted approach to previous research on the harmful cardiovascular tolls of stress and negative mood. A small group of healthy adults were instructed to watch either a comedy or documentary film, and were monitored for carotid artery activity during the films. Subjects who watched the comedy benefited from improved "arterial compliance," the...

A common virus may be a major cause of high blood pressure, researchers said on Thursday in a finding that may bring new approach to treating a condition that affects an estimated 1 billion people worldwide. Based on a series of studies in mice, they said cytomegalovirus or CMV -- a herpes virus that affects some 60 to 99 percent of adults globally -- appears to increase inflammation in blood vessels, causing high blood pressure. And when combined with a fatty diet, CMV may also cause hardening of the arteries, a major risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, and kidney...

NEW ORLEANS — Quaffing three cups of hibiscus tea daily for 6 weeks resulted in a mean 7.2-mm Hg reduction in systolic blood pressure in mildly hypertensive or prehypertensive adults in a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial. “This suggests that regularly incorporating hibiscus tea into the diet may help control blood pressure in people at risk of developing hypertension,” Diane L. McKay, Ph.D., said at the annual scientific sessions of the American Heart Association. The public health implications of a blood pressure reduction of this magnitude, if extended to a large population, could be profound. According to the National High Blood...

Adding another reason for people to watch their blood pressure, a new study from North Carolina State University shows that increased blood pressure in older adults is directly related to decreased cognitive functioning, particularly among seniors with already high blood pressure. This means that stressful situations may make it more difficult for some seniors to think clearly.

The Evidence Gap The surprising news made headlines in December 2002. Generic pills for high blood pressure, which had been in use since the 1950s and cost only pennies a day, worked better than newer drugs that were up to 20 times as expensive. The findings, from one of the biggest clinical trials ever organized by the federal government, promised to save the nation billions of dollars in treating the tens of millions of Americans with hypertension — even if the conclusions did seem to threaten pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer that were making big money on blockbuster hypertension drugs. Six...

The Stink in Farts Controls Blood Pressure Amelia Tomas livescience Staff livescience.com – Thu Oct 23, 3:21 pm ET A smelly rotten-egg gas in farts controls blood pressure in mice, a new study finds. The unpleasant aroma of the gas, called hydrogen sulfide (H2S), can be a little too familiar, as it is expelled by bacteria living in the human colon and eventually makes its way, well, out. The new research found that cells lining mice's blood vessels naturally make the gas and this action can help keep the rodents' blood pressure low by relaxing the blood vessels to prevent...

The blood pressure drug Micardis was as effective in preventing serious heart problems in high-risk patients as certain older drugs, but with fewer side effects, international researchers said on Monday. The Boehringer Ingelheim drug Micardis, or telmisartan, is typically used in patients with heart failure, but the study found it worked as well as the ACE inhibitor ramipril, marketed in the United States as Altace by King Pharmaceuticals Inc. "We have one more alternative to use," said Dr. Salim Yusuf of McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. "This is probably key for the 20 to 30 percent of people who don't...

What happened Two big studies offer good news to people with high blood pressure, finding that novel ways to use cheap drugs already on the market can lower their risk of heart attacks, stroke and death - even if they are very old. Both studies were stopped early so the surprising benefits could be made known. Doctors presented results Monday at an American College of Cardiology conference. The medicine Dr. Kenneth Jamerson of the University of Michigan led a study testing a single daily pill combining a diuretic and the ACE inhibitor benazepril versus a daily pill containing benazepril and...

A person's genetic make-up seems to influence how he or she reacts to certain hypertension medications. In the future, being able to match genes with medications may help save a patient's life, experts predict. "This is potentially a very, very important observation. It's a large study with hard clinical endpoints," said Dr. Joshua M. Hare, chief of cardiology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "This is a beautiful example of what we anticipate personalized medicine to be," said Hare, who was not involved in the research. Another expert agreed. Dr. Jeffery Vance, professor at the Miami Institute...

A healthy diet is key when it comes to lowering your blood pressureOptimal blood pressure is at or below 120/80 mm Hg. If you’ve been diagnosed with high blood pressure, your doctor has probably already told you the basics. You can control blood pressure by getting to and maintaining a healthy weight; reducing your “bad” cholesterol (LDL) if it’s high; limiting the salt in your diet; exercising; and adding calcium, vitamin D, magnesium and potassium to your diet. The following eight foods are among the best of the best when it comes to lowering your blood pressure. Skim milk: Skim...

AP Medical Writer CHICAGO --Here's some good and bad news for chocoholics: Dark chocolate seems to lower blood pressure, but it requires an amount less than two Hershey's Kisses to do it, a small study suggests. The new research from Germany adds to mounting evidence linking dark chocolate with health benefits, but it's the first to suggest that just a tiny amount may suffice. Volunteers for the study ate just over 6 grams of dark chocolate daily for almost five months - one square from a German chocolate bar called Ritter Sport, equal to about 1 1/2 Hershey's Kisses. People...

Dr. Diana Fite, a 53-year-old emergency medicine specialist in Houston, knew her blood pressure readings had been dangerously high for five years. But she convinced herself that those measurements, about 200 over 120, did not reflect her actual blood pressure. Anyway, she was too young to take medication. She would worry about her blood pressure when she got older. Then, at 9:30 the morning of June 7, Dr. Fite was driving, steering with her right hand, holding her cellphone in her left, when, for a split second, the right side of her body felt weak. “I said: ‘This is silly,...

WASHINGTON - The numbers are a shock: Almost 1 billion people worldwide have high blood pressure, and over half a billion more will harbor this silent killer by 2025. It's not just a problem for the ever-fattening Western world. Even in parts of Africa, high blood pressure is becoming common. That translates into millions of deaths from heart disease alone. Yet hypertension doesn't command the attention of, say, bird flu, which so far has killed fewer than 200 people. "Hypertension has gone a bit out of fashion," says Dr. Jan Ostergren of Sweden's Karolinska University Hospital, who co-authored a first-of-its-kind...

I am one who prefers to try an alternative form of treatment as opposed to a presecription. Has anyone had success taking COQ10 vs taking a prescribed blood pressure pill from your doctor?

BASEL, Switzerland: Swiss pharmaceutical maker Novartis AG said Tuesday it has received U.S. approval for the hypertension drug Tekturna — a potential blockbuster that has shown the ability to lower blood pressure more effectively than common treatments. Tekturna is the first new type of medicine in more than a decade for treating high blood pressure. Approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration makes the United States the first country to allow it to be sold."Many patients require two or more medicines to control their blood pressure," said Novartis development chief James Shannon. "As a new treatment approach, Tekturna has...

MONTREAL — A 65-year-old Quebec man who received a new long-term mechanical heart last month is being described as the only living Canadian without a pulse. Dr. Renzo Cecere implanted the “Heartmate II” mechanical heart into Gerard Langevin in an three-hour operation Nov. 23. Officials at the McGill University Health Centre say the device, which is about the size of a flashlight battery, could last up to 10 years. That is longer than other models which

Want lower blood pressure? Ask your doctor to let you sit quietly for five minutes before it's taken — on a regular chair, not on an examining table, with your feet on the floor. The result can be a systolic blood pressure reading about 14 points lower, potentially a big enough difference to avoid a diagnosis of hypertension, a new study reports. The study, by a team of nurses from the University of Virginia Health System, was presented at a conference of the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association. Guidelines from the American Heart Association and the federal government already recommend that...

WASHINGTON, April 9 — The use of shock waves to pulverize kidney stones into sand-like material significantly increases the risk for diabetes and high blood pressure later in life, according to the longest follow-up study of the popular therapy. In the study, which is to be published on Monday from the Mayo Clinic, patients who underwent the pulverizing procedure, known as lithotripsy, developed diabetes at almost four times the rate of those whose kidney stones were treated by other methods. The lithotripsy group also developed high blood pressure about 50 percent more often than a group treated by other methods,...

A "FIRST-line" anti-high blood pressure drug is leaving patients at far greater risk of suffering strokes than if they take other medication for the condition, according to a major study. People taking the commonly prescribed beta-blockers had a 16 per cent higher chance of stroke than if they took other drugs to treat high blood pressure, according to the findings by Swedish researchers. One particular beta-blocker, atenolol, was found to be associated with a 26 per cent higher stroke risk. Medical experts warned yesterday that patients should not stop taking beta-blockers, which are beneficial for a range of other conditions....

On the flight home this morning, I was unfortunate enough to have a bleeder sit next to me. By bleeder, I mean he was invading my space because he was large and his body was spilling over into my seat. I've seen worse cases than what I had today but let's hear your experiences.

The History channel is regirgitating a slanted viewpoint of the 9-11 terrorist attack on America. A coverage that the DNC would be proud to endorse. I wrote them an email just before this posting: Your programming of the events of 9-11 is dispicably slanted to the extreme left. It's as if the Democratic National Committee made this footage in preparing for the upcoming national elections by denigrating the President of the United States, placing in your interviews known extreme leftest, liberal wackos on this disgusting program. I will let the whitehouse, and news stations of this dispicable anti-Bush slanted coverage...

WASHINGTON, July 18 (Reuters) - Dark chocolate can not only soothe your soul but can lower blood pressure too, researchers reported on Monday. The study, published by the American Heart Association, joins a growing body of research that show compounds found in chocolate called flavonoids can help the blood vessels work more smoothly, perhaps reducing the risk of heart disease. "Previous studies suggest flavonoid-rich foods, including fruits, vegetables, tea, red wine and chocolate, might offer cardiovascular benefits, but this is one of the first clinical trials to look specifically at dark chocolate's effect on lowering blood pressure among people with...

WELL diet effective for reducing blood pressure advertisement Jun 02 (Reuters Health) - A diet with specified targets for fruit, vegetable and dairy intake -- the so- called WELL diet -- is more effective than a typical low- fat diet in reducing blood pressure, Australian investigators report. Dr. Caryl A. Nowson and colleagues at Deakin University in Burwood enrolled 54 male volunteers who were either overweight or obese in a study comparing the two diets. The men's blood pressure was in the upper normal to elevated range. As reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 27 of the men...

A new study of heart disease patients finds that "normal" blood pressure may not be low enough. By reducing their pressure still more, patients were protected from heart attacks, cardiac arrest, angioplasty, hospitalization for chest pain, and death. In addition, lower blood pressure appeared to slow or stop the growth of the fatty deposits called plaque in the coronary arteries, as compared with patients taking a placebo, whose plaque growth continued over the two-year study period. The international study, by Dr. Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic and his colleagues, is being published in The Journal of the American Medical...

VITAL SIGNS A Taiwanese study released yesterday found that people who drank tea regularly had lower blood pressure than those who did not. The authors of the new study, in The Archives of Internal Medicine, noted that their study did not prove any cause and effect relationship. And they acknowledged that research into diet and disease risk is notoriously subject to what are called confounding effects: If all of the tea drinkers were also vegetarians who exercised strenuously, for instance, it would be difficult to say that their beverage was the factor that made a difference. While in some countries,...

New federal guidelines recommend checking children for possible heart and blood vessel damage if they have high blood pressure -- a hazard increasing among the very young as Americans put on more and more weight. The new guidelines, like those issued eight years ago, urge doctors to begin checking children for high blood pressure at age 3 during routine office visits, just as they do for adults. "I think there is still a large proportion of pediatricians and family practitioners who are not routinely measuring blood pressure," said Ronald Portman of the University of Texas at Houston, a member of...

Men should think twice about how tight they wear a necktie because it could increase their chances of developing glaucoma, a group of serious eye diseases. Research reported in the British Journal of Ophthalmology on Tuesday showed that a tight necktie raises blood pressure in the eye, which is a leading risk factor in the illness that can lead to damage to the optic nerve and loss of vision. "A tight necktie increases IOP (intraocular pressure) in both normal subjects and glaucoma patients and could affect the diagnosis and management of glaucoma," said Dr Robert Ritch of the New York...

A new report says blood pressure levels once considered normal or borderline actually signal "prehypertension," and those people must take care to stave off full-blown high blood pressure. WASHINGTON, May 14 — Millions of people who thought they had healthy blood pressure are about to get a surprise: The government says levels once considered normal or borderline actually signal “prehypertension,” and those people must take care to stave off full-blown high blood pressure. IT’S A major change, in new federal guidelines being released Wednesday, that affects people with blood pressure as low as 120 over 80 — once thought to...