LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Hypertension

Insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction and essential hypertension – (03-26-01)

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Insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction and essential hypertension

This study suggests a link between endothelial dysfunction (one of three layers of cells making up the arteries), essential hypertension and insulin resistance. Remember that most cases of high blood pressure are essential/idiopathic, meaning that the cause of the condition is unknown. This study may punch holes in the name “essential” hypertension. Maybe the name should be switched to “insulin resistance hypertension?” So many disease conditions have been linked to insulin resistance that this link should not be a surprise to anyone. The discouraging fact remains that a large portion of today’s diet consists of processed sugars which undeniably can lead to insulin resistance. And, to top off this, insulin resistance (also termed Syndrome X or Metabolic Syndrome) is a largely unrecognized disease state by most physicians.

Synergy : Journal of Internal Medicine 249 (2), 189-197

Read entire article here

Blood Pressure Meds in Older Adults Kill Quality of Life

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Keeping blood pressure under control is a main focus of mainstream medicine, especially as we age. We always use blood pressure medication to achieve this end.  But what if this makes us worse off??

I certainly seem to be on a rampage lately on the issue of blood pressure and blood pressure medications (including a recent post linking calcium channel blockers doubling risk of breast cancer), but I really do just flag these articles as they come out, so blame it on the medical research publishing community.  I’m just the messenger.

So, since it seems like the medical community has been hell-bent on destroying the $93.5 BILLION dollar industry (and that’s just in the US), I’ll just point out the details of this particular study quickly and give some resources for improving blood pressure without medications.

In it, researchers looked at the physical and mental health of 5866 persons with an average age of 57.  Here’s what they found:

  1. The use of blood pressure medications was associated with poorer health status.
  2. An increased intensity of blood pressure treatment (needing 3 or more meds) was also associated with poorer health status.
  3. The actual blood pressure reading was not a factor (in other words, it was the blood pressure medication and not the blood pressure itself).
  4. At the opposite end, both lower systolic and lower diastolic blood pressures were also linked to poorer physical and mental health status, regardless of treatment.

Basically, the use of blood pressure medications decreased overall quality of life.  Given that we know that drug treatment of stage 1 hypertension (systolic under 160, diastolic under 100) makes no difference in rates of heart disease, stroke or death, this adds yet another nail in the coffin of medication (versus lifestyle) management of elevated blood pressure.  Unfortunately, this is a habit that is going to die very, very, very, very hard given the decades we have spent medicating high blood pressure and the untold billions of revenue this class of drugs generates.

The vast majority of elevated blood pressure cases are really the early stages of diabetes.  This means that an anti-diabetic lifestyle is key to maintaining ideal blood pressure.  Here are some resources for you:

While it may sound like a brand new concept coming from me, but the use of blood pressure medication for stage 1 hypertension is falling apart quickly, leaving lifestyle as the ONLY method of safely lowering your blood pressure.

Side Effects of Blood Pressure Medication-Women Better Read This

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Calcium Channel Blockers (think “dipine” or “amil” names) are common blood pressure medications.  Much like every drug, this class comes with its list of side effects, but I’ll bet you didn’t know this was on the list.

Every drug comes with side effects.  That’s the price we pay to mess with physiology the way Mother Nature intended (which is what all drugs do–they mess with the way your body is supposed to be working).  The game we play is to make sure the side effects are not as dangerous as the disease state that is being treated.  Seems pretty simple, right?

If only.

There are hundreds of different types of blood pressure medications and fall into several classes: diuretics, beta blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, calcium channel blockers and angiotensin II receptor blockers.  And, as mentioned, they all have side effects.  Some of them, like the beta blockers, I can’t even figure out why we’re still using them for blood pressure since they clearly lead to diabetes and stroke.  I’ve covered many of the known side effects of all these classes of drugs in a previous blog article that can be read by clicking here.

However, there is a new side effect identified in this particular article that should make every women sit up and take notice.

In a well designed study, researchers looked at the relationship between calcium channel blocker use and breast cancer.  This association was first identified in 1996, but lost any momentum within a few years, to be picked up some 17 years later by this group.  Here’s the details:

  1. There were 2763 women in the study, 880 of them with invasive ductal breast cancer, 1027 with invasive lobular breast cancer, and 856 with no cancer for controls.
  2. Use of calcium-channel blockers for 10 or more years increased risk of ductal breast cancer 240% and lobular breast cancer 260%.
  3. The risk was the same for all types of calcium-channel blockers  used.

While this study does not prove that this blood pressure medication contributed to the breasts cancers, it certainly doesn’t look good.  But here’s the kicker–the vast majority of prescriptions written for all blood pressure medications have been shown to be worthless for someone with stage 1 hypertension (systolic below 160 or diastolic below 99), essentially not having any effect on someone’s risk of heart attack, stroke or overall risk of death.

If a drug does nothing for the patient, then ANY side effects of that drug are unacceptable.  If that particular side effect is an increased risk of breast cancer from a blood pressure medication you didn’t need in the first place, I’m not sure there’s a word to describe this.

Na+/H+ exchanger w/ hyperinsulinemia in borderline hypertensive rats – (04-19-01)

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Na+/H+ exchanger w/ hyperinsulinemia in borderline hypertensive rats

Here is another article (albeit a rat study) that begins to dispell the idea of most cases of hypertension being “essential.” Hyperinsulinemia is slowly appearing as a potential culprit in the development of this previous unknown etiology disease.

Synergy : European Journal of Clinical Investigation 31 (3), 193-200

Read entire article here

Your Heart and Blood Vessels on Soy: 5 Things to Know

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A simple Google search will leave you confused about whether eating soy is good for your heart and blood vessels or as evil as Twinkies.

Ok…so nothing could be as evil as Twinkies.

But what IS the deal with soy?  Is it good for us, or does it vaporizes the thyroid, cause breast cancer and stimulate teenage boys to grow Dolly Parton-esque boobs?

As someone who reads through hordes of medical literature, I can tell you that the evidence overwhelmingly points to soy as being very protective for our health.  I don’t even recall coming across any negative studies on soy, and this is a topic I always keep my radar screen open for.  Interestingly enough, all of the articles and blog posts on the Internet demonizing soy seem to point out the evils and then, in fine print, begrudgingly note that soy might be ok if it’s not processed and non-GMO.

When pressed, the naysayers agree that soy is part of a healthy lifestyle once those two factors are addressed.  So why not address these two requirements right out of the gate?  I can’t figure that one out myself.  Regardless of other opinions, I continue to promote soy as part of a healthy lifestyle.  And, as noted, this means no processed soy (as in veggie burgers, veggie dogs, textured vegetable protein, etc..) and non-GMO.

Also important to note is that soy contains protective compounds referred to an isoflavones, specifically daidzein and genistein.  By themselves, these compounds have protective effects.  Beyond this, if someone has the right blend of bacteria in his or her gut (like Asians raised on soy) these bacteria in the gut convert another class of compounds (lignans) into an even more potent compound called enterolactone.  This benefit may be destroyed by antibiotics.

You can see that it’s not all that simple.  The take home message is that soy is, in almost all circumstances, very good for you, so long as the above 2 criteria are met.  And you’re not allergic (not really all that common unless you were inundated with soy over a long period of time), and in some susceptible people it might cause some thyroid problems.

All of this brings me to this particular study looking at the effects of genistein on certain cardiovascular markers.  Participants to 54 mg/day (just under a cup’s worth of tofu) for 6 months, along with a Mediterranean-style diet.  Here’s what they found:

  1. Blood flow (as measured by flow mediated dilation at 50 seconds and peak FMD) improved.
  2. Decreases in total cholesterol, triglycerides and homocysteine.
  3. Descreases in visfatin (a hormone produced by fat cells that drive diabetes and inflammation).
  4. Adiponectin (another fat-derived hormone, but one that protects against diabetes and inflammation) levels were increased.
  5. The participants on the genistein experienced no more side effects nor discontinued the study.

Overall, this was a very positive effect on the health of the blood vessels.  Contrast this with the negative health effects of poor quality, abused, commercially grown beef.  Complete opposite ends of the vascular health spectrum.

Large Artery Stiffness Accompanies the Insulin Resistance Syndrome – (11-19-01)

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Large Artery Stiffness Accompanies the Insulin Resistance Syndrome

I am a firm believer that, as we discover more and more about the arteries and their modulation by insulin, that the concept of “essential” hypertension will fall by the wayside. 90% of HTN is essential with no known cause. It very well may be that the real cause of a large chunk of this hypertension is hyperinsulinemia adversely affecting the contractility of the arterial walls. The inter-related nature of physiology and organ systems really becomes apparent when you look at problems and solutions from a different angle–exercise is known to lower blood pressure. Could it be that exercise does this by increasing insulin sensitivity and lowering blood pressure through this pathway???

JCEM — Abstracts: Westerbacka et al. 86 (11): 5262

Read entire article here

High Blood Pressure Medication–Is Your Doctor Still Prescribing It?

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Blood pressure medication use below 160/100 is worthless.  While nothing in medical research is set in stone, some things are close.

A review done by the Cochrane Collaboration in 2012, a worldwide medical research think-tank, found that there was no evidence that drug treatment of high blood pressure for systolic below 160 and diastolic below 100 lowered the rates of heart attacks, strokes or death.  That’s not to say that drugs for high blood pressure numbers like these does not actually work, just that there is no medical evidence to suggest that it does.

And let’s face it.  This is a LOT of money we’re talking about here.  Seemingly everyone is on blood pressure medications these days.  If the drug companies had research to prove that their drugs worked, the Cochrane Collaboration review would’ve found it.  I’m pretty sure there never will be research to show that medical management of high blood pressure below 160 and 100 works.

But what does this mean to a medical system that is so massively entrenched in dogma that I’m surprised they are not still doing bloodletting?

Apparently nothing.  Personally, I have yet to see a patient come in who’s doctor recently took them off of blood pressure medications.  This would, however, be a welcome sign that mainstream medical doctors actually read medical literature.  This is the heart of this short commentary basically asking the same questions.

The continued use of blood pressure medications beyond today would be fine if they were (a) free and (b) free of side effects.  Neither is true.

The cost to our healthcare system is monstrous and the list of side effects very long and can be reviewed in a previous blog article on this topic that can be read by clicking here.  Most notably, however, is the increased risk of stroke and diabetes from beta blockers.

What does all of this mean?  It means that, much like everything else, lifestyle is the only answer.  Using lifestyle to lower your blood pressure WILL lead to lowered rates of heart disease, stroke and death.  You can read my full recommendations in my Blood Pressure eBook that can be found by clicking here.

In the meantime, this is a great way to tell if your doctor is keeping up with the current medical literature as it relates to being the best advocate for your health.  If he or she is not doing this, maybe it’s time to find a new one.

Sex Influences Mortality Risk Associated With Diastolic BP – (02-12-01)

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Sex Influences Mortality Risk Associated With Diastolic BP

Wow..this is some new news to me! Men with systolic (the top number) hypertension and normal diastolic (bottom number) were at higher risk of cardiovascular mortality than those systolic hypertensive men with elevated diastolic values. No theory was given for these results.

J Am Coll Cardiol 2001;37:163-168 Middle-aged men with systolic hypertension appear to be at higher risk of death when their diastolic blood pressure is normal than when their diastolic blood pressure is mildly or moderately increased. However, women appear to be at increased risk when both the systolic and diastolic blood pressures are elevated, according to a report by French researchers. For both men and women, the investigators found that cardiovascular mortality increased as systolic blood pressure increased. After adjusting for age and systolic blood pressure, they noted that for subjects with normal systolic pressure, diastolic pressure did not influence cardiovascular mortality. Dr. Benetos’ team detected a U-shaped curve relationship between cardiovascular mortality and diastolic pressure in men with systolic hypertension. In this group, the lowest mortality rates were seen among men whose diastolic pressure was 90 to 99 mm Hg. However, there was a 73% increase in mortality for men whose diastolic pressure was less than 90 mm Hg, and a 65% increase in mortality when the diastolic pressure was 110 mm Hg or greater, according to the report. Additionally, among women with systolic hypertension, diastolic blood pressure was “positively correlated with cardiovascular mortality,” the researchers note. “In middle-aged subjects, classification of cardiovascular risk according to diastolic blood pressure levels should take into account gender, especially when systolic blood pressure levels are elevated,” Dr. Benetos’ group concludes.