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THE first time I questioned the conventional wisdom on the nature of a healthy diet, I was in my salad days, almost 40 years ago, and the subject was salt. Researchers were claiming that salt supplementation was unnecessary after strenuous exercise, and this advice was being passed on by health reporters. When I spent the better part of a year researching the state of the salt science back in 1998 — already a quarter century into the eat-less-salt recommendations — journal editors and public health administrators were still remarkably candid in their assessment of how flimsy the evidence was implicating...

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...

I consume a politically incorrect amount of table salt. It's not often that the taste of my food cannot be enhanced by a supplemental sprinkling of this much-maligned condiment. Occasionally, my thoughts turn salty, especially when confronted by one of those elfin, formal dining table shakers. You know, the ones with the bullet-like cap and one tiny hole that defies passage except by one grain at  a time, and not without athletic effort. I much prefer something on the order of perhaps a small mason jar, maybe with a side handle. I avoid low-sodium food products like the plague. They...

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 mathematical model suggests that aggressively pursuing low blood pressure and cholesterol levels may not benefit, and could even harm, some patients with diabetes, according to a report in the June 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Almost all treatment guidelines for patients with diabetes suggest aggressively treating high low-density lipoprotein (LDL or "bad" cholesterol) and blood pressure levels to reduce patients' risk of developing heart disease, according to background information in the article. "These recommendations, which are based on the average results of trials evaluating the relative benefits of intensive risk factor control,...

* 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....

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — For patients with diabetes and heart disease, less isn't always more — at least when it comes to blood pressure. New data show an increased risk of heart attack, stroke or death for patients having blood pressure deemed too high — or too low, according to Rhonda Cooper-DeHoff, Pharm.D., an associate professor of pharmacy and medicine at UF. She reported her findings today (Sunday, March 14) at the American College of Cardiology's 59th annual scientific session in Atlanta. She recommends raising the systolic bar above 120 for blood pressure in patients with diabetes and coronary artery disease,...

People conceived through IVF treatment should be monitored for the early onset of high blood pressure, diabetes and certain cancers before the age of 50, according to a fertility specialist.While IVF is generally considered to produce healthy babies, doctors have identified subtle genetic changes that may raise the risk of particular medical conditions in later life.Since the birth of the first test tube baby, Louise Brown, on 25 July 1978, more than three million babies have been born through fertility treatment around the world. The vast majority are still under the age of 30.The extent to which IVF babies develop...

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. The technique, which is relatively straightforward and cheap for the NHS, could reduce the risk of a major heart attack or stroke in such patients...

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...

Vitamin D Tied to Hypertension, Hyperglycemia: Teens with the lowest vitamin D levels had low HDL, metabolic syndrome, and high triglicerides. Low serum levels of vitamin D were linked to increased blood pressure, hyperglycemia, and obesity in an analysis of more than 3,500 American teenagers, a link previously seen in adults. “Vitamin D plays a useful role in general human health. We are just now beginning to understand the role that vitamin D may play in cardiovascular health,” said Dr. Jared P. Reis, who presented a poster on the associations of vitamin D levels and cardiovascular risk factors at a...

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...

NEW ORLEANS — Reduced serum selenium is an independent predictor of hypertension, according to an analysis of data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. The findings from this and other studies, that serum selenium concentrations are reduced in African Americans, compared with those in with whites, may in part explain the increased incidence of hypertension in African Americans, Dr. Chizobam Ani said in a poster at a meeting sponsored by the International Society on Hypertension in Blacks. Serum selenium is an essential component in substances shown to mediate the incidence of cardiovascular disease, such as glutathione peroxidase...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A police lieutenant in Daytona Beach was fired over accusations that he threatened slower emergency response times if he was not given complimentary specialty Starbucks coffee drinks. An internal police investigation found that Daytona Lt. Major Garvin received free coffee for about two years from a city Starbucks coffee store. However, when recently denied free coffee from new management, Garvin allegedly told managers that he could change the police department's response time if they refuse to give him complimentary drinks. Garvin is accused of saying, "If something happens, either we can respond really fast or we...

Treating lung diseases is a high priority--chronic lung diseases are the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. Now a Canadian team has successfully treated a rare, progressive lung disease, pulmonary hypertension, using the patient's own genetically-modified adult stem cells.   The company Osiris has also started a Phase II clinical trial using its adult stem cell product, Prochymal, for moderate to severe chronic obstructive lung disease. Researchers at Vermont College of Medicine have also shown that cord blood stem cells has the potential to regenerate lung tissue.

Two Canadians have been injected with a genetically modified version of their own adult stem cells in an attempt to cure pulmonary hypertension, a rare, debilitating lung disease. The procedure, which has successfully cured rats with pulmonary hypertension, has halted the progress of the disease in the patients. The first patient, who has had the disease for 13 years, is reporting no ill effects from the treatment and has seen her condition improve. Researchers are hopeful that the treatment eventually will reverse or even cure the disease. "The use of ethical stem cells to treat disease is a positive and...

AP Medical Writer Everyone with high blood pressure - some 72 million Americans - should own a home monitor and do regular pressure checks, the American Heart Association and other groups urged Thursday in an unprecedented endorsement of a medical device for consumers. High blood pressure is a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes and death. Having it checked a few times a year in a doctor's office or at the drugstore is not enough to keep tabs on it, and regular home monitoring is more accurate, the new advice says. Closer checks would let doctors fine-tune the many medicines...

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 new vaccine lowers blood pressure in hypertensive people, a study shows. The finding breaks ground in a field dominated by drug therapy. Surges in blood pressure make physical exertion possible, but chronically elevated pressure spells trouble. Scientists have entertained the idea of immunizing people against high blood pressure for decades, but it hasn't been easy. The only other vaccine to reach the testing stage in people failed to reduce blood pressure. A vaccine may augment or offer an alternative to blood pressure medications, known to cause side effects. Several compounds orchestrate blood pressure changes, including a small protein called...

Previous observational studies have reported that heavy alcohol intake is a risk factor for hypertension but such studies may be confounded by factors such as diet, smoking, exercise levels and socio-economic position. Clinical trials exploring the link are difficult to implement and have limited follow-up time. The Bristol study, led by Dr Sarah Lewis of the University's Department of Social Medicine, took a different approach focused on people who have a mutation on a gene which affects their body's ability to eliminate alcohol. Alcohol is initially metabolised to an intermediate compound, acetaldehyde, which is further metabolised and then eliminated from...

AP Medical Writer CHICAGO --More than 1 million U.S. youngsters have undiagnosed high blood pressure, leaving them at risk for developing organ damage down the road, a study suggests. Calculating elevated blood pressure in children is trickier than in adults, and many doctors may not bother evaluating kids' numbers because they assume hypertension is an adult problem. But the study highlights that many children are affected, too, said lead author Dr. David Kaelber of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and Harvard Medical School. Roughly 2 million U.S. youngsters have been estimated to have high blood pressure; the study suggests...

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...

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Chiropractic Adjustment Lowers Blood Pressure Among Hypertensive Patients The decrease was equal to taking two blood-pressure drugs at once. The results are published in the online March 2 issue of the Journal of Human Hypertension. According to lead author George Bakris, MD, director of the hypertension center at the University of Chicago Medical Center, unlike other vertebrae, which interlock one to the next, the Atlas (also known as C-1) relies solely upon soft tissue (muscles and ligaments) to maintain alignment; therefore is uniquely vulnerable to displacement. Displacement of C-1 can occur without pain and thus, often goes undetected and untreated....

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,...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Treatment with Viagra (sildenafil) can improve exercise capacity and functional ability in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a serious disease involving high pressure in the blood vessels that enter the lungs, new research suggests. The findings, which appear in The New England Journal of Medicine, are based on a study of 278 patients who were randomly selected to receive Viagra, at one of three doses, or inactive "placebo" three times daily for 12 weeks. The main endpoint was the distance walked in 6 minutes. According to the report, the study did not have enough patients...

WND Exclusive CONTROLLING THE SUBSTANCES Big money in Mexican meth New laws cut down on U.S. labs, but drugs still flow Posted: August 19, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com While new state and federal laws are cutting down the number of U.S. meth labs, the deadly drugs continue to flow into the U.S. across the porous border with Mexico, say law enforcement authorities. The federal anti-meth law was recently amended to permit states to impose their own stiffer restrictions and penalties. In Oregon, for instance, legislators now require cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, a principal ingredient in methamphetamine, to...

Warning signs of an ischemic stroke may be evident as early as seven days before an attack and require urgent treatment to prevent serious damage to the brain, according to a study of stroke patients. Warning signs of an ischemic stroke may be evident as early as seven days before an attack and require urgent treatment to prevent serious damage to the brain, according to a study of stroke patients published in the March 8, 2005 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Eighty percent of strokes are ischemic, caused by the narrowing of the...

Diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking may damage brainCrossword puzzles and memory games aren't enough to ward off Alzheimer's disease when some middle-aged couch potatoes get older. A new study finds that people in their early 40s who smoke or have diabetes and high cholesterol or have hypertension are at greater risk to develop Alzheimer's in their late 60s. But those risk factors can be mitigated through treatment and exercise, the study suggests. Alzheimer's can spring from heart and artery trouble, not just from neurological damage, said neurologist Rachel Whitmer, who led the study of 8,500 Kaiser Permanente patients. "Blood pressure, hypertension,...

High blood pressure and other ills also improved by operation. Obesity surgery helps patients do more than shed weight — it often cures their diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, researchers say. The research — an analysis of 136 studies — found that such operations are more than cosmetic. They appear to alter the patient’s body chemistry itself and eliminate or relieve conditions that can lead to heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. The analysis was funded by a Johnson & Johnson Co. subsidiary that develops and markets surgical instruments, including staplers for obesity surgery. But the results echo...

In a letter of 1911 to his special lady friend, Mary Peck, Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) confessed that in his childhood he had “lived a dream life (almost too exclusively, perhaps).” Both his father and his mother had helped to enrich that life by regularly reading aloud to him from the works of Charles Dickens and Walter Scott, the collected essays of Charles Lamb, and James Fenimore Cooper’s Leather­stocking Tales. The boy adored those books, yet he was unable to identify all the letters of the alphabet until he was nine years old, and he was 12 before he learned to...

Efficacy of Blood Pressure Drug Questioned 05 Nov 2004 Source: Reuters By Patricia Reaney LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - A leading drug used by millions of people to lower blood pressure does not prevent deaths from heart attacks or other cardiovascular problems as well as other treatments, researchers said on Friday. Atenolol, which is sold under the brand name Tenormin by drugs giant AstraZeneca , was first introduced in 1976. It is one of the most widely prescribed drugs of its kind. But Swedish scientists have questioned its benefits after reviewing the results of nine previous studies of the drug....

DALLAS (AP) - As Americans get older and fatter, the number of adults with high blood pressure has climbed to almost one in three over the past decade, putting more people at risk of a stroke, heart attack or kidney failure, government researchers said Monday. A little more than a decade ago, the number was closer to one in four. And two decades ago, it was falling. But then came the obesity surge in the late '80s. "It's not surprising because we've seen that Americans are getting fatter, and we know that blood pressure goes up when people gain weight,"...

Researchers at the University of Geissen in Germany claim that the anti-impotency drug Viagra can be used to treat lung problems associated with high altitude. The finding which appear in the Annals of Internal Medicine reveal that Viagra can be effectively used to cure pulmonary hypertension, a condition in which the blood vessels in the lungs constrict, making the heart work harder, thereby leading to heart damage and eventual death. Experiments conducted on 14 mountaineers at both sea level and the Everest Base Camp in the Himalayas revealed that compared to a dummy pill, a Viagra (sildenafil) to a large...

Men with high blood pressure who drink moderate amounts of alcohol are less likely than nondrinkers to die of cardiovascular ailments like heart attacks and strokes, researchers reported yesterday. The study's findings suggest that moderate drinking not only has protective cardiovascular effects for the general population, as previous studies have shown, but that it is also protective for people who already have hypertension. The results are significant, the researchers said, because heavy drinking can contribute to high blood pressure, and some doctors warn hypertensive patients to avoid alcohol altogether. "There are plenty of people who seem to have the impression...

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...