Beware! Pain killers could spike your BP

Beware of painkillers - they could be spiking your blood pressure (BP) levels even without doctors suspecting the actual cause, a study reveals.

Many common over-the-counter medications are underlying causes of hypertension, a major risk factor for stroke, heart attack, and aneurisms, said Ehud Grossman, professor of medicine at the Tel Aviv University`s Sackler Faculty of Medicine.

Such drugs include contraceptive pills, various anti-depressants, anti-inflammatory pills to control pain and bacterial antibiotics, added Grossman, the American Journal of Medicine reported.

Though high BP is a known side-effect of many of these drugs, doctors do not always account for them in their treatment plans, and they don`t inform patients of their potential risks, according to a university statement.

While many medications can cause hypertension (high BP), both patients and doctors remain dangerously uninformed, "In diagnosing the causes of hypertension, over-the-counter drugs like ibuprofen are often overlooked," said Grossman.

Patients often assume that because a medication can be obtained without a prescription, it`s relatively harmless. But that`s not always the case, concluded Grossman.

Suffering from hypertension? Get screened for kidney diseases

Delhi government has asked public to get themselves screened for diabetes and hypertension in order to control the epidemic of kidney diseases in the city.

A community kidney health screening was initiated today by the department of nephrology at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences as part of the initiative for timely
interventions to prevent kidney diseases here.

Over 200 people were screened here for diabetes and hypertension. Along with this, public lectures about kidney disease prevention and organ donation were delivered by
eminent nephrologists and renal transplant surgeons.

"We are committed to spread awareness about the impact of chronic non-infective diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, the two leading causes of chronic kidney diseases in India now. So those who have high blood pressure, suffer from diabetes, are overweight and smoke and have a family history of kidney diseases should get themselves screened for chronic kidney diseases," said Dr Suman Lata, assistant professor of nephrology at ILBS.

She said, "Today we screened over 200 people free of cost but next time, they have to pay a minimal amount and get themselves screened for kidney problem."

To spread awareness about it, 25,000 flyers were distributed to the local community, urging anyone who has risk of developing kidney disease to get screened. Additional
publicity was carried out by word of mouth and banners.

Drinking black tea may cut blood pressure

People who enjoy drinking black tea throughout the day may get the added benefit of a slight reduction in their blood pressure, suggests a new Australian study.

Although the study cannot identify specific components of the tea that might lead to a drop in blood pressure, the researchers said past studies have shown flavonoids, compounds found in many plants such as tea, are good for heart health.

"The message really isn`t for an individual to go out and drink a lot of tea," said Jonathan Hodgson, the study`s lead author and a researcher from the University of Western Australia. He said, instead, the drop is like a bonus.

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, randomly assigned 95 Australians with normal blood pressure to two groups. One group drank black tea and another drank a beverage similar in taste and caffeine content.

Before the study started, the participants` blood pressure throughout the day was about 121/72 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg).

Blood pressure readings less than 120/80 mm Hg are considered normal. High blood pressure is defined as a reading of 140/90 or above. People with a reading between the two are said to have "pre-hypertension."

Each group drank their assigned beverages three times per day for six months.

After the six months the tea drinkers` systolic blood pressure -- the top number -- fell 2 mm Hg, and their diastolic blood pressure also fell about 2 mm Hg.

While a drop in blood pressure is generally good, a 2 mm Hg drop is not significant enough to bring a person with high blood pressure out of the danger zone.

"Those are small changes and are nothing like what you would see if you took a blood pressure lowering medication," said Dr. Joseph Vita, who has studied flavonoids at the Boston University School of Medicine and was not involved with the study.

However, the placebo group`s systolic blood pressure went up about 1 mm Hg and their diastolic blood pressure also increased about 0.5 mm Hg.

To account for potential influences from other foods, researchers had the people in both groups cut back on flavonoid-rich foods such as apples, grapes, dark chocolate and wine four weeks before and all throughout the study.

Hodgson said making the placebo group go from a flavonoid-rich diet before the study to a lower one could have caused blood pressure to go up.

The research was funded through government grants and by Unilever Research and Development, which is an arm of the company that owns the Lipton brand.

According to the researchers, the findings might provide a bigger benefit if they are applied to a large group.

"You`ve got -- in the population -- large numbers of people with blood pressure around the hypertension range. So just shifting that population down can make a big difference," said Hodgson.

Drinking black tea may cut blood pressure

People who enjoy drinking black tea throughout the day may get the added benefit of a slight reduction in their blood pressure, suggests a new Australian study.

Although the study cannot identify specific components of the tea that might lead to a drop in blood pressure, the researchers said past studies have shown flavonoids, compounds found in many plants such as tea, are good for heart health.

"The message really isn`t for an individual to go out and drink a lot of tea," said Jonathan Hodgson, the study`s lead author and a researcher from the University of Western Australia. He said, instead, the drop is like a bonus.

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, randomly assigned 95 Australians with normal blood pressure to two groups. One group drank black tea and another drank a beverage similar in taste and caffeine content.

Before the study started, the participants` blood pressure throughout the day was about 121/72 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg).

Blood pressure readings less than 120/80 mm Hg are considered normal. High blood pressure is defined as a reading of 140/90 or above. People with a reading between the two are said to have "pre-hypertension."

Each group drank their assigned beverages three times per day for six months.

After the six months the tea drinkers` systolic blood pressure -- the top number -- fell 2 mm Hg, and their diastolic blood pressure also fell about 2 mm Hg.

While a drop in blood pressure is generally good, a 2 mm Hg drop is not significant enough to bring a person with high blood pressure out of the danger zone.

"Those are small changes and are nothing like what you would see if you took a blood pressure lowering medication," said Dr. Joseph Vita, who has studied flavonoids at the Boston University School of Medicine and was not involved with the study.

However, the placebo group`s systolic blood pressure went up about 1 mm Hg and their diastolic blood pressure also increased about 0.5 mm Hg.

To account for potential influences from other foods, researchers had the people in both groups cut back on flavonoid-rich foods such as apples, grapes, dark chocolate and wine four weeks before and all throughout the study.

Hodgson said making the placebo group go from a flavonoid-rich diet before the study to a lower one could have caused blood pressure to go up.

The research was funded through government grants and by Unilever Research and Development, which is an arm of the company that owns the Lipton brand.

According to the researchers, the findings might provide a bigger benefit if they are applied to a large group.

"You`ve got -- in the population -- large numbers of people with blood pressure around the hypertension range. So just shifting that population down can make a big difference," said Hodgson.

Salt’s real role in high blood pressure revealed

Researchers have debunked the widely-believed concept that hypertension, or high blood pressure, is the result of excess salt causing an increased blood volume, exerting extra pressure on the arteries.Their research found that excess salt stimulates the sympathetic nervous system to produce adrenalin, causing artery constriction and hypertension.

The research was led by Irene Gavras, MD, and Haralambos Gavras, MD, both professors of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine.

“The purpose of this paper is to correct an erroneous concept that has prevailed for many years, even though scientific evidence has mounted against it,” said Irene Gavras, who is also a physician in Boston Medical Center`s Hypertension practice.

The term “volume-expanded hypertension” implies that excess salt leads to the retention of extra fluid within the arterial circulatory system, causing an increase in blood volume and added pressure on the arterial walls.

However, research has shown that conditions characterized by the expansion of blood volume from other causes, such as the secretion of antidiuretic hormone or the excessive elevation of blood sugar, do not cause a rise in blood pressure because the extra fluid is accommodated by the distention of capillaries and veins.
“The body’s circulatory system is a highly flexible vascular system with the capacity to open up new capillaries and distend veins in order to accommodate increased fluid volume,” said Irene Gavras, MD, professor of medicine at BUSM.
Through a review of numerous studies, the researchers demonstrated that the mechanism of hypertension resulting from the excessive consumption and retention of salt stimulates the sympathetic nervous system in the brain to increase adrenaline production.
The increased adrenalin being circulated throughout the body causes the arteries to constrict, which results in resistance to blood flow and a decrease in circulatory volume.

The over-activation of the sympathetic nervous system – part of the autonomic nervous system that helps maintain the body``s homeostasis – has been recognized clinically as a characteristic of hypertension that accompanies renal failure, which is the most typical example of elevated blood pressure from excessive salt retention.Diuretics, which remove excess salt, are widely used to treat this type of hypertension.
However, this study provides convincing evidence that the sympathetic nervous system should be the focus of further investigations into treatments for hypertension.
The implication of our findings shows that the optimal treatment for hypertension, for cases associated with renal failure, should not only include diuretics but also the use of drugs that block the central sympathetic nervous system,” concluded Irene Gavras.

The study was published online in the Journal of Hypertension.

It’s official: Reduced Salt intake lowers BP

Using less amount of salt in diet can lead to slight reduction in blood pressure in the medium term, a new study has claimed.

However, whether in the long term this can also reduce the risk of late complications in people with sustained high blood pressure, otherwise known as essential hypertension, and whether in the long term their anti-hypertensive medication can be reduced remains unresolved, the study by the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) concluded.

The study has been published in the form of a rapid report on 20 July 2009. This rapid report is part of a package commissioned by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), in which the benefit of various non-drug treatment strategies for high blood pressure are to be assessed. Stress management and more physical activity are also included, as well as giving up smoking and cutting down alcohol consumption.

This rapid report was prepared on the basis of secondary literature. In principle, this can be done if current, high quality systematic reviews are already available on a given topic. This was the case with reducing salt intake in hypertension, as IQWiG''s preliminary search revealed.

To reach the conclusion, IQWiG searched for systematic reviews that compared the following patients with hypertension: an intervention group, which was to follow a low-salt diet over a long period, versus a control group, which either did not have this target or whose salt reduction was not so great as in the intervention group.

The minimum duration of the studies had to be 4 weeks. In order not to overlook any current and potentially relevant studies, IQWiG also conducted an update search of recently published primary studies.

IQWiG was able to include in its assessment 7 reviews, in which the results of between 520 and 3391 participants from a total of 62 randomized controlled trials were analysed together.

IQWiG found that no conclusions on late complications could be drawn from the available data. The reason for this is that none of the studies had the primary goal of investigating the effects of a low-salt diet on cardiovascular disease or all-cause mortality.

However, the investigations consistently show that a reduction in salt intake can assist in lowering blood pressure: over a period of up to one year, there was a mean drop of 3.6 to 8 mmHg in systolic values and a mean drop of approximately 2 to 3 mmHg in diastolic values. This applied primarily to patients who did not take any additional anti-hypertensive drugs.

The sustainability of this effect, however, remains unclear.

Sex can stop a cold & Diabetes

A healthy sex drive will leave you peaking in more ways than one. People who have a lot of nookie experience health benefits which can leave them in much better physical form than those who don't. Sex can help fight flab, ward off colds and make you live longer, as reported in The Sun.

According to Jennifer Bass, of sex research centre The Kinsey Institute, "There is definitely a correlation between health and sex. If you are healthier, you are going to have more sex. "Making love provides a cardiovascular workout and floods the body with feel-good chemicals."

Longer life

Sex is associated with good health and a longer life, a survey by the American Association of Retired Persons reveals.

Almost half of over-50s - 44 per cent - who described their health as excellent or very good had intercourse at least once a week.

But just 20 per cent of those with only fair or poor health made love this often.

It could be due to dehydroepiandrosterone - DHEA - which floods the body during sex and surges on orgasm.

Bloodstream levels of this hormone are five times higher than normal when sexual pleasure peaks. DHEA has been shown to be beneficial in fighting reduced insulin response and middle-age spread.

Blood pressure

In the heat of the hump, sex increases blood pressure but in the long run it reduces it - cutting the risk of stroke, says The Sun.

A study in Biological Psychology says regular sex lowers diastolic blood pressure - the lower number that shows the reading when your heart is resting.

Satisfying sex also increases output of the chemical transmitter dopamine, which improves relaxation and counteracts stress hormones associated with hypertension.

Low libido can also be an early warning of blood pressure problems. Doctors know that men who have hypertension are likely to have erectile dysfunction.

And Greek researchers recently discovered it has an even greater impact on women.

Four out of ten with high blood pressure go off sex, compared to three in ten men.

Combats diabetes

The exercise and calorie burning benefits of sex help reduce Type 2 diabetes risk.

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that DHEA, released when we orgasm, improves insulin action. It also combats central obesity.

Carrying weight around the stomach is a known risk factor for diabetes because the flab releases hormones called adipokines that seem to impair the body's glucose tolerance. Animal studies show DHEA protects against this damage too.

Heart boost

Men who have sex less than once a month are twice as likely to have a fatal heart attack than men who make love at least twice a week.

Sun GP Dr Carol Cooper says: "Sex is great for the cardiovascular system but how much you get out depends on how much effort you put in.

Bonking three times a week could halve the risk of stroke

"If it's not getting your heart racing, you're doing it wrong.

"Patients with heart problems sometimes worry about dying on the job, but that's very rare. If you can manage two flights of stairs you are probably fit enough for sex."

Because it boosts circulation, sex increases the supply of oxygen to cells and stimulates the activity of various organs and systems within the body.

Erectile dysfunction can also indicate cardiovascular problems.

Weight control

Sun fitness expert Nicki Waterman says: "Just 30 minutes of sex will burn around 200 calories, so if you have sex five days a week, that's equivalent to two-and-a-half hours in the gym.

"For best results, women can hop on top because this will help firm their thighs and tone their belly."

An orgasm can burn 60-100 calories, 30 minutes of snogging will blitz 90 calories.

And orgasms release both enkephalins and dopamine. These feel-good body chemicals help to reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol which is associated with weight gain, particularly around the tummy.

They also flood the body with DHEA, which attacks belly fat, according to researchers at Washington Univeristy School of Medicine. Volunteers were given 50mg of DHEA and a second group took a dummy pill.

Women lost 10.2 per cent of their abdominal fat and men lost 7.4 per cent.

(As reported in The Sun)