Health Tips: Four Myths About Blood Pressure Options

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Greetings…

I use to drink quite a bit of regular soda, and then switched
over to diet thinking I was doing something really great for
my body. After reading an article the other day I may have to
totally eliminate the diet soda as well.

New research has found that adults who drink regular OR diet
soda have a greater risk (50%) of metabolic syndrome. Metabolic
syndrome is a condition marked by high blood sugar, high blood
pressure, high triglycerides, and obesity. Which all of these
double ones risk for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

The article stressed to stick to drinking water. They say you
should drink ATLEAST 64 ounces of water a day to maintain a
healthy metabolism.

Enjoy today’s issue…

Be Well,
Kris

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HEALTH TIP: 4 Myths About Blood Pressure
By Arthur Agatston, MD

The other day, I measured a new patient’s blood pressure,
which was 120/80, and told her I wanted to get those
numbers down more. “But Doctor,” she protested, “why
should they be lower? They’re perfectly normal!”

I explained to her that, yes, national guidelines set
“normal” blood pressure at 120/80, but I consider that
standard to be arbitrary. I believe your target blood
pressure level can be determined only within the context
of your other cardiovascular risk factors. For instance,
my patient has diabetes and high cholesterol and is
overweight, so I’d like to see her blood pressure at
110/70 or even lower.

The concept of “normal” blood pressure is one of the
major misconceptions many people have about hypertension.
If you’re among the 73 million Americans who have high
blood pressure, here are a few others you should know
about:

Myth: Cholesterol matters more than blood pressure.
The reverse more often is true. If you have high
cholesterol but your ratio of HDL (”good) to LDL (”bad”)
is healthy, or if your cholesterol particles tend to be
large, your risk of heart attack is not great. High blood
pressure, however, is always putting stress on your blood
vessels, including those supplying your heart with blood.
This stress makes it easier for the bad LDL cholesterol
particles to penetrate the inner lining of your vessel
walls, where they accumulate and form plaque that event-
ually leads to heart attack and stroke.

Myth: If you have hypertension, you should measure your
blood pressure every day. Once a week is often enough.
Although home measuring devices help patients manage
their blood pressure, they can also encourage overuse.
Damage occurs over years, not days or weeks. Keep track
of your average blood pressure over many months, and
give this information to your doctor whenever you go for
a visit.

Myth: If you’re hypertensive and feeling poorly, it’s
probably because your blood pressure is elevated. This is
almost never the case. Whatever is causing your symptoms
is elevating your blood pressure, not the other way round.
When you don’t feel well or have pain, whether from a virus
or a minor sprain, your body releases adrenaline, which
causes your blood pressure to rise. If you don’t feel well,
don’t take your blood pressure. You’ll worry needlessly.

Myth: A bad headache could mean your high blood pressure
is about to cause a stroke. This widely held misconception
dates to the time of President Franklin Roosevelt, who
died in office in 1945 from a massive cerebral hemorrhage
after reporting, “I have a terrific headache.” Roosevelt,
who was in poor health, had stratospheric blood pressure,
in the range of 260/150. Among the many factors that
contributed to his condition was the fact that none of
today’s safe, effective medications were available to him.
Today, patients virtually never develop the changes in
their hearts and blood vessels that ultimately killed
Roosevelt. In 30 years of medical practice, I’ve never
seen a patient receiving proper treatment suffer a hyper-
tensive emergency like his.

In dispelling these myths, I don’t mean to minimize the
importance of being vigilant about monitoring your blood
pressure. Just know that, as part of a regimen that
includes a healthy lifestyle and medications when
necessary, worry should play no part.
Study examines Brazilian diet pills

BOSTON, — The illicit allure of Brazilian diet pills, with
a mix of amphetamines and tranquilizers, remains strong in
the United States, researchers reported Tuesday.
A report by Pieter Cohen, a Boston physician and Harvard
faculty member, reviewed two case studies in Massachusetts
that illustrate the major problems with the pills and their
unreported components, The Boston Herald reported. Use of
the diet pills was first reported to be widespread in South
Florida in 2005. In an interview with the Herald, Cohen said
the pills are being used “by a very large number of people
in our community and I suspect in your community.” He said
the pills, which in South Florida often list ”all-natural
ingredients,” are used by Brazilian immigrants in
Massachusetts. His research revealed that the diet pills are
“extremely common” in Brazil, with doctors there writing
“maybe hundreds of thousands of prescriptions a year.” The
pills are brought into the United States by either Brazilian
immigrants or by illegal importers who peddle the pills by
word of mouth, Cohen said. The pills are not approved for
sale in the United States. In 2006, the Food and Drug
Administration warned that some types of the pills contain
controlled substances and “could lead to serious side
effects or injury.”

Alarm hazards top hospital tech problems

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., — A patient-safety research group
says alarm hazards, needle sticks and surgical fires are
among the top five technology hazards in hospitals. The
ECRI Institute’s list is updated annually based on problems
reported to, and investigated by, the group. “Our list is
based on serious technology safety concerns that can be
prevented with appropriate attention and planning,” James P.-
Keller Jr., vice president of health technology evaluation
and safety at the institute, said in a statement last week.
“We hope that the list can help raise awareness about these
problems, which should be on every hospital’s quality
improvement agenda.” Other items on the list included air
embolisms from contrast media injectors, and surgical devices
or fragments left in patients.

Plavix Blood Thinner Effectiveness
Influenced By Gene Variants

Two studies of heart patients showed that the blood thinner
clopidogrel (brand name Plavix) was less effective in
carriers of certain variants of a gene known to affect how
the drug prevents blood clots than non-carriers.

Both studies appear in the 22 December online issue of the
New England Journal of Medicine, NEJM.

In both studies, the researchers examined a gene that
controls blood enzymes that metabolize Plavix to an active
form that in turn breaks down blood platelets to stop them
clumping into dangerous arterial clots. Several of the many
versions (alleles) of the gene are thought to reduce its
effect on Plavix metabolism, but detailed research on links
with particular adverse outcomes is missing.

In the first study, Dr Jessica L Mega from Brigham and
Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and
colleagues from other research centres in the US, found that
the antiplatelet effect of Plavix was reduced, resulting in
less clinical benefit in patients with acute coronary
syndrome, if patients had a reduced function variant of the
CYP2C19 gene.

For the study, Mega and colleagues gave 162 healthy
patients Plavix and then tested them for variants of CYP
genes, blood levels of the active drug metabolite, and
platelet inhibition, and looked for links among these
variables.

Go ahead, sleep in — it’s good for the heart

CHICAGO - Just one extra hour of sleep a day appears to
lower the risk of developing calcium deposits in the
arteries, a precursor to heart disease, U.S. researchers
said on Tuesday.

The finding adds to a growing list of health consequences
— including weight gain, diabetes, high blood pressure —
linked to getting too little sleep.

“We found that people who on average slept longer were at
reduced risk of developing new coronary artery calcifications
over five years,” said Diane Lauderdale of the University of
Chicago Medical Center, whose study appears in the Journal
of the American Medical Association.

Will Americans put on ‘recession pounds’?
Experts worry cash-poor consumers will cut back on healthy foods

DALLAS - Americans may reduce the amount they spend on food in
response to a sour economy but some experts fear they may pick
up weight in the process.

The specter of “recession pounds” is a concern weighing on
health professionals, who point to numerous studies linking
obesity and unhealthy eating habits to low incomes.

They fear that as people cut food spending they will cut back
on healthy but relatively expensive items such as fresh fish,
fruit, vegetables and whole grains, in favor of cheaper
options high in sugar and saturated fats.

“People … are going to economize and as they save money on
food they will be eating more empty calories or foods high in
sugar, saturated fats and refined grains, which are cheaper,”
said Adam Drewnowski, the director of the Nutrition Sciences
Program at the University of Washington in Seattle.

“Things are going to get worse,” he told Reuters in a tele-
phone interview. “Obesity is a toxic result of a failing
economic environment.”

Drewnowski’s own research has highlighted the link between
income and obesity.

“In Seattle we have found that there are fivefold differences
in obesity rates depending on the zip code — the low-income
zip codes have a much higher proportion of obese people,” he
said.

He added that studies in California suggested that a 10
percent rise in poverty translates into about a 6 percent
increase in obesity among adults.

The rate of new cases of diabetes soared by about 90 percent
in the United States in the past decade, fueled by growing
obesity and sedentary lifestyles, U.S. health officials said
in October.

Nine of the 10 states with the highest rates of new cases of
diabetes were in the South, a region with huge pockets of
poverty and glaring income disparities.

America already tops the global obesity scales. According to
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over one third
of U.S. adults — more than 72 million people — and 16 percent
of U.S. children are obese.

The unfolding recession could inflate U.S. waistlines further
as more and more people fall onto hard times and seek cheaper
food.

“The reality is that when you are income constrained the first
area you try to address is having enough calories in your diet.
And cheap sources of calories tend to be high in total fats and
sugars,” said Eileen Kennedy, the dean of the Friedman School
of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University outside
Boston.

Recession-proof Big Macs

There is anecdotal evidence to support such concerns including
the success of U.S. fast-food giant McDonald’s, which has a
low-priced menu that is high in fat and calories.

Chief Executive Jim Skinner said in October that the world’s
largest hamburger chain “continues to be recession resistant”
after it posted a better-than-expected third-quarter profit,
helped by a 7 percent jump in global sales.

It has successfully used its Dollar Menu to maintain its hold
on cash-strapped customers.

One such customer is Dianthe Clements, 36, a mother of two
in Washington, D.C., who struggles to make ends meet stocking
shelves in a shop where she makes $11.27 an hour.

“Some nights we go to McDonald’s, they have those value meals.
Sometimes we will have just cereal,” she told Reuters.

By contrast, other chains associated with healthier eating
such as Austin-based grocery retailer Whole Foods has seen
its fortunes sag with the economy.

Whole Foods, which thrived prior to the economic crisis by
selling organic, natural and gourmet food at premium prices,
has been hit as cost-conscious consumers trade down to lower-
priced stores.

In November it said that sales at established stores were
up 0.4 percent in the September quarter, compared with an
8.2 percent rise in the year-earlier period.

“We associate poverty with obesity because energy dense foods
are less expensive. More poverty does not have to translate
into more obesity but it certainly could,” said Dr. Robert
Eckel, the former president of the Dallas-based American
Heart Association.

Drewnowski said it was possible to eat in an affordable and
healthy way, partly by relying on the basic foods which saw
America through the Depression of the 1930s.

“The answer lies in affordable but nutrient-rich foods such
as ground beef, beans, milk, nuts, cheese, carrots, potatoes,
canned tomatoes, soups, and rice,” he said, calling it “a
diet for a new Depression.”

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