Alcohol and Blood Pressure
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Alcohol and Blood Pressure
Is alcohol good or bad for your blood pressure?
People with high blood pressure need not be teetotal and may benefit from a regular tipple, a US study suggests. The research showed that men with high blood pressure reduced their risk of a heart attack by having a drink or two a day.
But experts warned too much alcohol can raise blood pressure and said the findings should not be used as a licence to drink. It's a no brainer really but you need to remember that alcohol can harm and should not be used as a medicine.
On or two glasses of beer or two small glasses of wine or a small glass of spirits reduced the risk of a heart attack, even if they had high blood pressure.
Light drinkers, who consumed less than one drink every two or three days, did not have a lower risk of heart attack than non-drinkers, however.
The study authors stressed that more than three drinks a day raises blood pressure and the risk of hypertension, adding, "so our findings are not a license for men with hypertension to overindulge".
However, lead author Joline Beulens, at the Harvard School of Public Health, added: "Because excess alcohol intake clearly increases blood pressure, many men with hypertension are counselled not to drink, but our results suggest that may not be necessary if men drink safely and responsibly."
Past research has shown that one way alcohol consumption decreases the risk of heart disease is by increasing the levels of "good" cholesterol and possibly thinning the blood.
Judy O'Sullivan of the British Heart Foundation said: "With alcohol consumption there is a fine line between benefit and risk.
"This study concluded that drinking alcohol in moderation is safe for men with high blood pressure. However, alcohol should not be used as a medicine and those who are teetotal do not need to start consuming alcohol to benefit their heart health.
"It should be remembered that drinking to excess carries serious health risks.
"If you want to improve your heart health our advice is to avoid smoking, eat a balanced diet low in salt and saturated fat and take regular physical activity," she advised.
Is alcohol good or bad for your blood pressure?
People with high blood pressure need not be teetotal and may benefit from a regular tipple, a US study suggests. The research showed that men with high blood pressure reduced their risk of a heart attack by having a drink or two a day.
But experts warned too much alcohol can raise blood pressure and said the findings should not be used as a licence to drink. It's a no brainer really but you need to remember that alcohol can harm and should not be used as a medicine.
On or two glasses of beer or two small glasses of wine or a small glass of spirits reduced the risk of a heart attack, even if they had high blood pressure.
Light drinkers, who consumed less than one drink every two or three days, did not have a lower risk of heart attack than non-drinkers, however.
The study authors stressed that more than three drinks a day raises blood pressure and the risk of hypertension, adding, "so our findings are not a license for men with hypertension to overindulge".
However, lead author Joline Beulens, at the Harvard School of Public Health, added: "Because excess alcohol intake clearly increases blood pressure, many men with hypertension are counselled not to drink, but our results suggest that may not be necessary if men drink safely and responsibly."
Past research has shown that one way alcohol consumption decreases the risk of heart disease is by increasing the levels of "good" cholesterol and possibly thinning the blood.
Judy O'Sullivan of the British Heart Foundation said: "With alcohol consumption there is a fine line between benefit and risk.
"This study concluded that drinking alcohol in moderation is safe for men with high blood pressure. However, alcohol should not be used as a medicine and those who are teetotal do not need to start consuming alcohol to benefit their heart health.
"It should be remembered that drinking to excess carries serious health risks.
"If you want to improve your heart health our advice is to avoid smoking, eat a balanced diet low in salt and saturated fat and take regular physical activity," she advised.
Labels: blood-pressure-medicines, blood-pressure-treatment, diet-and-blood-pressure, salt and blood pressure
Omega Fatty Acids Lower Blood Pressure
Omega 3 Fatty Acids and Blood Pressure
Alter your diet and lower your blood pressure
A diet rich in nutrients called omega-3 fatty acids can help lower a person's blood pressure. Foods rich in Omega 3 include fish and nuts.
A new large study looked at diet and its relation to blood pressure in 4,680 men and women, ages 40 to 59, who lived in Japan, China, Britain and the United States.
They all provided in-depth details about their diets and alcohol consumption, gave urine samples and had their blood pressure measured twice at each of four study visits.
The people who ate diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids had slightly lower blood pressure, on average, than people who ate diets with less of the nutrient, the researchers reported in the American Heart Association Journal Circulation.
"With blood pressure, every millimeter counts. The effect of each nutrient is apparently small but independent, so together they can add up to a substantial impact on blood pressure," said Dr. Hirotsugu Ueshima of Shiga University of Medical Science in Otsu, Japan.
"If you can reduce blood pressure a few millimeters from eating less salt, losing a few pounds, avoiding heavy drinking, eating more vegetables, whole grains and fruits (for their fiber, minerals, vegetable protein and other nutrients) and getting more omega-3 fatty acids, then you've made a big difference," Ueshima said in a statement.
When it comes to omega-3 fatty acids, not all fish or nuts are equal. Fatty fish such as trout, salmon and mackerel are rich in this crucial group of nutrients.
Walnuts, flaxseed and canola oil are also good sources of omega-3 fatty acids and people who got their omega-3s from these sources had just as much benefit as those who get them by eating fish, the study found.
Omega-3 fatty acid intake has also been linked to better brain development and a lower overall risk of cancer and heart disease.
Alter your diet and lower your blood pressure
A diet rich in nutrients called omega-3 fatty acids can help lower a person's blood pressure. Foods rich in Omega 3 include fish and nuts.
A new large study looked at diet and its relation to blood pressure in 4,680 men and women, ages 40 to 59, who lived in Japan, China, Britain and the United States.
They all provided in-depth details about their diets and alcohol consumption, gave urine samples and had their blood pressure measured twice at each of four study visits.
The people who ate diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids had slightly lower blood pressure, on average, than people who ate diets with less of the nutrient, the researchers reported in the American Heart Association Journal Circulation.
"With blood pressure, every millimeter counts. The effect of each nutrient is apparently small but independent, so together they can add up to a substantial impact on blood pressure," said Dr. Hirotsugu Ueshima of Shiga University of Medical Science in Otsu, Japan.
"If you can reduce blood pressure a few millimeters from eating less salt, losing a few pounds, avoiding heavy drinking, eating more vegetables, whole grains and fruits (for their fiber, minerals, vegetable protein and other nutrients) and getting more omega-3 fatty acids, then you've made a big difference," Ueshima said in a statement.
When it comes to omega-3 fatty acids, not all fish or nuts are equal. Fatty fish such as trout, salmon and mackerel are rich in this crucial group of nutrients.
Walnuts, flaxseed and canola oil are also good sources of omega-3 fatty acids and people who got their omega-3s from these sources had just as much benefit as those who get them by eating fish, the study found.
Omega-3 fatty acid intake has also been linked to better brain development and a lower overall risk of cancer and heart disease.
Labels: blood-pressure-treatment, diet-and-blood-pressure, high blood pressure, omega-3-blood-pressure, salt and blood pressure
Seven Weird Ways to Die Young !
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Seven Weird Ways to Die Young
What advice would you give to a non married, pessimistic pop star who has recently lost weight and lowered their cholesterol level by taking vitamin supplements?
Easy - stay in bed until after lunch of course !
We all know lots of tips about staying healthy and get advice from every TV chat show and billboard. But check out these weird facts if you want to (or want not to ) die young!
Here's how to make sure you die at an early age - hint ... the more of these tips you follow the better (or worse, depends how you look at it)
What advice would you give to a non married, pessimistic pop star who has recently lost weight and lowered their cholesterol level by taking vitamin supplements?
Easy - stay in bed until after lunch of course !
We all know lots of tips about staying healthy and get advice from every TV chat show and billboard. But check out these weird facts if you want to (or want not to ) die young!
Here's how to make sure you die at an early age - hint ... the more of these tips you follow the better (or worse, depends how you look at it)
- Remain pessimistic at all times
A 70-year long study of personality traits shows that pessimism is a risk factor for early death, especially among men. Pessimism can also be linked to increased risk for sudden
death from accidents or violence. Compared with individuals with a more cheerful and optimistic outlook, pessimists were more likely to die from accidents and violence (including suicide). A pessimistic way of seeing the world in which people catastrophize about bad events, predicts untimely death decades later.
So cheer up - you'll be dead soon! - Eat too many vitamins
Scientists at Copenhagen University found that people taking supplements which contained vitamins A and E and beta carotene were found to have a five per cent greater risk of dying than those who were not taking them. The research analysed the results of several studies involving over 180,000 people into the benefits of vitamins A, E, and C, along with beta carotene and selenium. Another Big Mac anyone? - Become a famous popstar
Rock and pop stars are more than twice as likely as the rest of the population to die an early death. The findings are based on more than 1,050 North American and European musicians and singers who shot to fame between 1956 and 1999. All the musicians studied were featured in the All Time Top 1,000 albums, selected in 2000. The albums chosen covered rock, punk, rap, R&B, electronica and new age genres. How long the pop stars survived once they had achieved chart success and become famous was compared with the expected longevity of the general population.
In all, 100 stars died early between 1956 and 2005. The average age of death was 42 for North American stars and 35 for European stars. When compared with the rest of the population in the U.K. and the U.S., rock and pop stars were about twice as likely to die early and even more likely to do so within five years of becoming famous. - Lose weight too quickly
Overweight people who are otherwise healthy may increase their risk of dying by intentionally losing weight, according to provocative research involving twins in Finland.
The research found that those who were overweight who lost weight on purpose were about 86 percent more likely to die for any reason over the next 18 years compared with those whose weight remained stable. Chocolate cake - yes please ! - Watch your diet too closely
Although a high cholesterol level is bad for you - bizarrely enough, a low cholesterol is worse.
A huge study in Austria showed that high cholesterol was predictive of death from coronary heart disease but low cholesterol results in increased all-cause mortality. Low cholesterol showed significant associations with death from cancer, liver diseases, and mental diseases. - Stay single
People who don't get married are much more likely to die young. A large research study showed some amazing findings. The researchers found that never-married people, compared with their married peers, are five times more likely to die of infectious disease, twice as likely to die in accidents, homicides, or suicides and nearly forty percent more likely to die of heart disease - Get up too early in the morning
It's official (hurray) - rising before 5 a.m. is very bad for your health.
A study conducted in Japan has found that early risers have a higher risk of medical conditions that can lead to heart attack and stroke. People who habitually rose before 5 a.m. had 1.7 times greater risk of high blood pressure and were twice as likely to develop hardening of the arteries as those who got up 2 to 3 hours later, researchers found.
So - what should you do with this information if you want a long life?
It's a no brainer really - stay in bed all day with your partner, eating junk food and slobbing out while avoiding vitamins or healthy stuff at all costs. Stay cheerful and don't be seduced by a large deal from the recording industry. Stick to all that and you'll live forever .... how cool a life would that be?
Labels: blood-pressure-treatment, high blood pressure, low-blood-pressure, salt and blood pressure
Salt and Blood Pressure in Children
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Salt and Blood Pressure in Children
High salt diets in children lead to raised blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart disease and stroke later in life.
A new large research study showed that for each extra gram of salt eaten there was a 0.4mmHg (millimeters of mercury) increase in systolic blood pressure. This means that ten extra grams of salt a day would increase the upper blood pressure number (called the systolic blood pressure) by 4 mmHg
This is an important finding which confirms that eating too much salt increases blood pressure in childhood.
The differences in systolic blood pressure between children with higher and lower salt diets may appear small, but making reductions of this order in childhood is likely to translate into lower levels of blood pressure in adult life, with reduced risk of developing heart disease and stroke and potentially huge gains in public health being possible
The advice to parents is to read the labels, especially in foods where you wouldn't expect a lot of salt, such as cereals. Try to avoid high blood pressure in children by reducing their salt intake.
The Food Standards Agency in the UK recommends that younger children receive less salt than older ones.
Children aged from 1 to 3-years-old should have a maximum of 2gm salt per day,
Children aged from 4 to 6-year-olds should have a maximum of 3gm,
Children from 7 to 10 year-olds should have a maximum of 5gm and for 11 and older it should be 6gm at the very most.
They also recommend that babies never be given extra salt on their food.
These figures are maximum daily recommendations, and parents should strive to have less than that, if possible.
What you do now in terms of your child's salt intake could shape their health record for the rest of their lives.
High salt diets in children lead to raised blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart disease and stroke later in life.
A new large research study showed that for each extra gram of salt eaten there was a 0.4mmHg (millimeters of mercury) increase in systolic blood pressure. This means that ten extra grams of salt a day would increase the upper blood pressure number (called the systolic blood pressure) by 4 mmHg
This is an important finding which confirms that eating too much salt increases blood pressure in childhood.
The differences in systolic blood pressure between children with higher and lower salt diets may appear small, but making reductions of this order in childhood is likely to translate into lower levels of blood pressure in adult life, with reduced risk of developing heart disease and stroke and potentially huge gains in public health being possible
The advice to parents is to read the labels, especially in foods where you wouldn't expect a lot of salt, such as cereals. Try to avoid high blood pressure in children by reducing their salt intake.
The Food Standards Agency in the UK recommends that younger children receive less salt than older ones.
Children aged from 1 to 3-years-old should have a maximum of 2gm salt per day,
Children aged from 4 to 6-year-olds should have a maximum of 3gm,
Children from 7 to 10 year-olds should have a maximum of 5gm and for 11 and older it should be 6gm at the very most.
They also recommend that babies never be given extra salt on their food.
These figures are maximum daily recommendations, and parents should strive to have less than that, if possible.
What you do now in terms of your child's salt intake could shape their health record for the rest of their lives.
Labels: high blood pressure, salt and blood pressure, treatment
