Millions of patients are being OVERDOSED with blood pressure medication, study reveals

Often touted as a “silent killer,” hypertension or high blood pressure affects some 1.13 billion people worldwide — that’s around one in three adults in the United States. If you are on blood pressure medication, then chances are you are being overdosed. A new first-of-its-kind study showed that smaller doses are just as effective as a standard dose, but with fewer side effects.

Hypertension is not to be taken lightly. If left untreated it can lead to serious problems such as heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, and vascular dementia, reported the Daily Mail Online. Hypertension is characterized by blood pressure levels that are consistently at or above 140 mmHg for systolic pressure and/or 90 mmHg for diastolic pressure.

Treating high blood pressure, however, is not always as easy or straightforward as one may think. Professor Anthony Rodgers, the study author from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, explained that 88 percent of those aware of their health issue are treated with medication. Yet only one in three is able to gain control of the condition.

According to the study authors, millions of people may be suffering unnecessary adverse effects from hypertension medication. Since taking one kind of hypertension medication is usually not enough to keep high blood pressure under control, doctors often prescribe a second drug that comes with additional side effects.

Minimizing the side effects plays a crucial role in a patient’s treatment plan. Common side-effects include weakness, dizziness, insomnia, headache, and muscle cramps. Since high blood pressure is notoriously difficult to control, Professor Anthony Rodgers noted that finding new, better ways to treat hypertension is a positive move.

“Because high blood pressure is so common and serious, even small improvements in management can have a large impact on public health,” he said.

Quarter-dose therapies found to be as effective

For the study, published in the journal Hypertension earlier this month, researchers analyzed data from 42 trials involving more than 20,000 patients with hypertension. Each of them was randomly assigned to taking either a placebo or blood-pressure-lowering medication in varying combinations and dosages.

The five main classes of drugs to treat hypertension —  angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, beta blockers, calcium channel blocker, and thiazides — were included in the review.

When the researchers compared the effectiveness of quarter-dose therapy to both a standard dose or placebo, they found that taking a quarter-dose of one medication did not lower blood pressure as much as a full dose did. However, the team discovered that the combination of two medications in a quarter dose was just as effective as a standard dose. This treatment plan also produced fewer side-effects than a standard dose of one single blood pressure lowering drug.

Furthermore, a cocktail of four hypertension drugs, each at a quarter dose, was found to be nearly twice as effective as taking a single blood pressure lowering medication at the standard dose. Since this finding was based on one trial there was too little information about the possible side effects, the team noted.

In conclusion, the team reported that though further research is needed, quarter-dose combinations could provide improvements in efficacy and tolerability of blood pressure-lowering therapies.

Though their results look very promising, Professor Anthony Rodgers played it safe by noting that people should not reduce the doses of their current medications without further research to confirm their results. Since they have not yet been replicated in larger long-term trials, more research is needed to warrant a change in how doctors currently prescribe blood pressure lowering therapies to their patients, the researchers noted.

Find more news about modern and alternative medicine to treat your illnesses at Medicine.news.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

Hyper.AHAJournals.org

Energy drinks found to produce harmful changes in blood pressure and heart function, reveals new study

The harmful effects of energy drinks go beyond their caffeine content, a recent study revealed. According to the authors, a large number of research have long established that energy drinks may adversely affect cardiac health, but none has actually examined the safety of the other ingredients. There are more than 500 energy drink products available in the market today. While both manufacturers and fans claim that these drinks are just as safe as caffeine, an increasing number of associated emergency department visits and deaths say otherwise. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers caffeine doses of up to 400 mg as generally safe. Aside from caffeine, energy drinks were found to contain four ounces of sugar, several B vitamins and an energy blend of taurine and other ingredients.

As part of the study, a team of researchers at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California enrolled 18 healthy participants who were instructed to drink a commercially-available energy drink and a formula with the same caffeine content but none of the other ingredients. The research team also measured the participants’ blood pressure levels and electrocardiogram readings.

The experts found that the participants’ blood pressure levels rose by nearly five points, and remained high for up to six hours. In contrast, drinking the formula resulted in less than one point increase in blood pressure levels. While the changes did not appear worrisome for healthy individuals, the research team warned that people with heart condition should exercise caution in consuming these beverages.

“The energy drink industry claims that their products are safe because they have no more caffeine than a premium coffee house coffee. However, energy drinks also contain a proprietary ‘energy blend,’ which typically consists of stimulants and other additives. Some of these ingredients (including taurine and guarana) have not been FDA-approved as safe in the food supply, and few studies have tested the effects of caffeine consumption together with these ‘novelty’ ingredients. On top of that, energy drinks are highly marketed to adolescent boys in ways that encourage risky behavior, including rapid and excessive consumption. As a result, emergency room visits by young people in connection with energy drinks are rising,” said outside expert Dr. Jennifer L. Harris from the University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity in a cautionary report in Reuters.com.

The findings were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Previous studies link energy drinks to high blood pressure

Energy drinks have been associated with elevated blood pressure in a number of studies. For instance, a  team of researchers from the Mayo Clinic found that consuming one 16-ounce energy drink may raise blood pressure levels and stress hormone responses. The research team examined 25 healthy participants and found that aside from increased blood pressure levels, the levels of the stress hormone norepinephrine simultaneously grew by nearly 74 percent after consuming energy drinks.

An analysis in 2013 also noted that energy drinks triggered prolonged electrical activation in cardiac ventricles. This prolonged activation was associated with the onset of life-threatening arrhythmia. The analysis also revealed that energy drinks elevated the consumers’ blood pressure levels by more than three points. The findings were presented at the American Heart Association‘s 2013 Scientific Sessions in New Orleans.

In addition, a small study in 2007 showed that drinking two cans of energy drink a day may raise blood pressure and heart rate in otherwise healthy adults. To carry out the study, researchers at the Wayne State University in Detroit enrolled 15 healthy adults and found that the participants’ maximum systolic blood pressure increased by as much as 9.6 percent, and diastolic blood pressure grew by as much as 7.8 percent within four hours of drinking the energy beverages. The participants’ heart rate also rose by as much as 11 percent. The findings were presented at the American Heart Association’s 2007 Scientific Sessions in Orlando, Florida.

Sources include: 

Reuters.com

NBCNews.com

CBSNews.com

HuffingtonPost.ca

FoxNews.com

Fruits and vegetables found to lower blood pressure, says new study

Touted as a “silent killer” by the American Heart Association, some 85 million Americans – or one out of every three adults – suffer from high blood pressure. Since there are usually no obvious symptoms, nearly 20 percent of these people don’t even know they have blood pressure issues.

If left untreated, high blood pressure (also called hypertension) can be dangerous and cause damage to your body in many ways, raising the risk for cardiovascular diseases such heart attack and stroke. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hypertension is the leading cause of an estimated 51 percent of deaths due to stroke and 45 percent of deaths caused by heart disease. But there is hope to improve these numbers, and it isn’t coming from the pharmaceutical world. Instead, the answer can be found in the produce section of your local grocery store. (RELATED: Find more info about how to protect your heart at Heart.news.)

High blood pressure is often a result of unhealthy dietary and lifestyle habits. While there is no magic cure to treat hypertension, making some simple dietary changes can help reduce, or even eliminate, your need for prescription drugs and help you live a long, healthy life.

Too much sodium in the diet has always been a blood pressure malefactor. While limiting the amount of salt used at meal times will have a tremendous effect on balancing blood pressure levels, new research has found that eating potassium-rich vegetables and fruits could be effective in lowering blood pressure naturally.

“Decreasing sodium intake is a well-established way to lower blood pressure,” said Alicia McDonough, Ph.D., professor of cell and neurobiology at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. “But evidence suggests that increasing dietary potassium may have an equally important effect on hypertension,” she added.

The importance of the sodium-potassium ratio

For the review study, McDonough delved into the literature to explore the possible effect of sodium and potassium on hypertension. The report, published in the April 2017 issue of the American Journal of Physiology – Endocrinology and Metabolism, looked at previous population, interventional studies and molecular mechanism studies.

McDonough found that, regardless of the level of sodium intake, a higher intake of potassium was generally associated with lower blood pressure. Furthermore, some studies showed that not only is potassium crucial, but the sodium-potassium ratio also plays a significant role.

As it seems, our body uses sodium to control potassium levels in the blood. Proper potassium levels in the blood are essential to a normal heart, nerve, and muscle function. McDonough explained that when dietary potassium is high, the kidneys excrete more sodium and water, adding that eating a high potassium diet is like taking a diuretic. In conclusion, McDonough said that potassium is vital for keeping blood pressure stable. Though sodium is still an important factor, reducing salt intake alone may not be enough to control hypertension.

Standard American Diet (SAD) wreaking havoc on your system

Over the centuries our diet has changed tremendously. Our early ancestors relied on a diet high in fruits, root vegetables, beans, and grains. These foods are all high in potassium and very low in sodium. As a result, humans evolved to craving salty foods, according to McDonough. Hence why processed food companies add so much salt to their products. While being high in sodium, these convenient foods are also very low in potassium, which increases your chances of hypertension.

When potassium levels are limited, your body will use sodium retention to hold on to potassium, which can be compared to eating a high sodium diet, McDonough explained. As recommended by a 2004 Institute of Medicine study, adults should consume at least 4.7 grams of potassium a day to keep blood pressure in check and prevent sodium retention, kidney stones, or bone loss.

Foods rich in potassium include bananas, sweet potatoes, avocados, spinach, beans, and coffee. Because potassium is so important to our body, McDonough recommends policy makers help increase global potassium levels through plant-based foods, and add potassium values to food labels to help the public make better decisions.

Sources include:

ScienceDaily.com

MedicalNewsToday.com

AJPEndo.Physiology.org

Heart.org