Pooling 29 trials, researchers found a median 500 mg a day of vitamin C for about eight weeks lowered systolic pressure by 3.84 mm Hg and diastolic by 1.48 mm Hg, with slightly larger drops in people with hypertension. The authors call for long-term trials.
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Hypertension
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Drug
Dangerous high blood pressure drug still given to vulnerable elderly patients
German researchers report that doctors prescribed immediate-release nifedipine to about 1 percent of elderly patients in a 260,672-person insurance dataset in 2009, though earlier studies tied the drug to higher heart attack and death risk than other blood pressure medicines.
Environment
Does Air Pollution Increase Risk of Hypertension and Type 2 Diabetes?
Among black women in Los Angeles followed from 1995 to 2005, Boston University researchers found a 10-ug/m3 rise in fine particulate matter was associated with 48 percent higher hypertension risk and 63 percent higher diabetes risk, with smaller rises tied to nitrogen oxides.
Chemical
Arsenic exposure linked to hypertension
A meta-analysis of 11 studies found people with the highest arsenic exposure had a 27% higher risk of hypertension than the least exposed. EPA caps arsenic in drinking water at 10 ppb; an FDA study reported 50 ppb in chicken meat in 2011.
Disease
Hypertension Among Children On the Rise and Should Be Monitored
A review of about 1,000 charts from an urban Florida pediatric emergency department in 2007-2008 found more than 500 patients with blood pressure at the 90th percentile or higher, and over 20% at the 95th or higher. Records rarely noted the high readings.
Minerals
Population-wide salt reduction may do more harm than good
A meta-analysis of 167 studies found a low-salt diet lowered blood pressure by 3.5 mmHg in people with hypertension and under 1 mmHg in others, while raising renin, aldosterone, adrenaline, noradrenaline, cholesterol and triglycerides.
Heart & Blood
This sugar boosts risk of hypertension and a myriad of other conditions
A Current Hypertension Reports review argues fructose can raise blood pressure through several mechanisms, including uric acid produced by its metabolism, and that the risk climbs alongside a high-salt diet because fructose promotes salt and water reabsorption.
Heart & Blood
Animal protein linked to high blood pressure in elderly people
Among 2,241 people in the Rotterdam Study, protein intake overall showed no link to new hypertension over six years. But among 559 participants aged 70 and older, high animal protein intake was tied to 37 percent higher risk, which the authors say warrants further investigation.
Disease
May is High Blood Pressure Education Month
Nearly 68 million Americans have high blood pressure and 28% of adults have prehypertension, which often progresses to hypertension. The piece sets out the thresholds: normal under 120/80, prehypertension 120-139 or 80-89, and high blood pressure 140/90 or above.
Disease
Lowering blood pressure is heart healthy
A Hypertension study followed 9,357 adults in 11 countries for over 11 years and estimated that almost 36 percent of heart disease in women and 24 percent in men is preventable. Dr. Staessen says cutting systolic pressure by 15 mm Hg helps roughly twice as many women as men.
Food
Blueberries, leafy veggies, olive oil lower heart risk
The highest intakes of anthocyanins, found mainly in blueberries and strawberries, tracked with an 8 percent lower risk of hypertension, and weekly blueberry eaters were 10 percent less likely to develop it. A separate Italian study tied leafy vegetables and olive oil to less heart disease.
Disease
What Will Hyperinflation in the U.S. Look Like?
Mercola relays strategist John Embry's view that US hyperinflation is certain, plus blogger Gonzalo Lira's scenario drawn from Allende-era Chile: worthless currency, rationing, a black market taking only foreign money. Lira now points to rising oil and grain prices instead.
Heart & Blood
Hypertension news: Phosphorus may help cut high blood pressure risk
A study in Hypertension found participants in the highest fifth of phosphorus intake had lower baseline systolic blood pressure than those in the lowest fifth, with no significant effect on diastolic pressure. CDC data showed hypertension prevalence barely changed from 1999-2000 to 2007-2008.
Disease
Hypertension rate in the U.S. remains the same for 8 years
NHANES data show high blood pressure held near 30 percent of U.S. adults from 1999-2000 through 2007-2008, with no significant change by sex, age or racial group, while awareness rose from 69.6 to 80.6 percent and both treatment and control improved.
Nutrition
Binge drinking lethal for men with hypertension
Following 6,100 Korean residents aged 55 and older for nearly 21 years, researchers found men with Grade 3 hypertension who also binge drank were 12 times as likely to die of heart attack or stroke as non-drinkers with normal blood pressure.
Nutrition
High blood pressure: What you can eat to prevent it (I)
A Lancet study of 8,000 people with a prior heart attack found those whose blood pressure fluctuated were six times as likely to have a stroke as those with stable hypertension. The piece then summarizes dietary approaches, starting with the DASH diet and garlic.
Heart & Blood
Heart failure linked to gene variant affecting vitamin D activation
Among 617 patients from the Marshfield Clinic Personalized Medicine Project, those with high blood pressure who carried a variant in CYP27B1, a gene needed to activate vitamin D, were twice as likely to have congestive heart failure. Co-author Robert Simpson says larger studies must confirm it.
Chemical
Fructose linked to high risk of high blood pressure
Richard Johnson and colleagues gave 74 men 200 grams of fructose a day for two weeks; systolic pressure rose about six millimeters and diastolic about three. Men who also took the gout drug allopurinol saw no rise, and most readings returned to normal within two months.
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