Skip to content

Category: blood pressure

Published on

From the Medical Daily:

High Blood Pressure In Teens, Young Adults A Sign Of Hardened Arteries Down The Road

Your blood pressure during your teens and early twenties, though often naturally low due to youth, may have something to do with your cardiovascular health in later years, according to new research from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. In the new study, which was published in JAMA, researchers found that having higher blood pressure during your teens and twenties was actually linked to hardened arteries at age 40.

The study, led by epidemiologist Norrina Allen, points out the significance of maintaining cardiovascular health at a young age.

The study reviewed 4,600 men and women throughout several different states and followed them for 25 years. They found that 19 percent of them had blood pressure that was much higher than their peers, and that another 5 percent started with high blood pressure that gradually rose. Though these blood pressure readings fell within “normal” range for their age, it was higher than average and thus they were more likely to develop hypertension by age 40. Hypertension is also known as high blood pressure or arterial hypertension.

“While you wouldn’t prescribe medications for this group, you might have conversations with those individuals about ways they can improve their diet or increase physical activity,” Allen told NPR. She notes that “many of these cardiovascular risk factors are cumulative,” meaning they often occur over a long period of time and are a combination of things, from smoking to living a sedentary lifestyle.

Published on

Another inadvertent way to kill off good bacteria. From the January 27, 2014 Medical Daily:

Antiseptic Mouthwash Raises Heart Attack Risk, Blood Pressure: Chlorhexidine Kills Off 'Good' Bacteria That Helps Blood Vessels Relax

Antiseptic mouthwash is commonly used to quickly refresh and clean the mouth after brushing your teeth in the morning, after eating, and before going to bed. According to a recent study published in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine, using a mouthwash twice daily — such as Corsodyl — may increase blood pressure up to 3.5 millimeters of mercury (mmHg), raising your heart attack risk.

Now a team of researchers at Queen Mary University of London believe using antiseptic mouthwash daily could increase the odds of HBP (high blood pressure) due to a chemical that kills the “good” bacteria responsible for helping the blood vessels relax.

Professor Amrita Ahluwalia, lead author of the study, and her team of researchers, observed the effects of a chlorhexidine-based antiseptic mouthwash — Corsodyl — by measuring the blood pressure of a small cohort of healthy participants during a two-week period. Chlorhexidine is an antiseptic that treats gingivitis and others problems of the mouth and gums. A total of 19 participants were recruited for the study during an initial seven-day control period followed by a seven-day treatment period with the antiseptic mouthwash. 

The findings revealed Cordosyl use retracts the oral bacterial conversion from nitrate to nitrate which reduces the plasma nitrate levels that are associated with increases in blood pressure. The mouthwash led the participants’ blood pressure to rise between 2 to 3.5 mmHg, with a noticeable effect found within one day of using the mouthwash twice.

The study authors believe killing off “good” oral bacteria plays a vital role in determining the plasma nitrate levels, and the bodily control of blood pressure. “Killing off all these bugs each day is a disaster, when small rises in blood pressure have significant impact on morbidity and mortality from heart disease and stroke,” said Ahluwalia, the Daily Mail reported. However, she adds, “We are not telling people to stop using antiseptic mouthwashes if they have a gum or tooth infection — but we would ask why anyone else would want to.”

The findings of the study do not apply to all mouthwashes because not all mouthwashes contain the chemical chlorhexidine, such as the popular Listerine. The study authors caution other mouthwashes could still produce the same effects as Corsodyl by damaging the mouth’s healthy bacteria.

Published on

Exposing skin to sunlight may help to reduce blood pressure and thus cut the risk of heart attack and stroke.

From the January 17, 2014 Science Daily: Here Comes the Sun to Lower Your Blood Pressure

Exposing skin to sunlight may help to reduce blood pressure and thus cut the risk of heart attack and stroke, a study published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology suggests.

Research carried out at the Universities of Southampton and Edinburgh shows that sunlight alters levels of the small messenger molecule, nitric oxide (NO) in the skin and blood, reducing blood pressure... "NO along with its breakdown products, known to be abundant in skin, is involved in the regulation of blood pressure. When exposed to sunlight, small amounts of NO are transferred from the skin to the circulation, lowering blood vessel tone; as blood pressure drops, so does the risk of heart attack and stroke."

While limiting sunlight exposure is important to prevent skin cancer, the authors of the study, including Dr Richard Weller of the University of Edinburgh, suggest that minimising exposure may be disadvantageous by increasing the risk of prevalent conditions related to cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease, often associated with high blood pressure, accounts for 30 per cent of deaths globally each year. Blood pressure and cardiovascular disease are known to vary according to season and latitude, with higher levels observed in winter and in countries further from the equator, where ultraviolet radiation from the sun is lower.