High Blood Pressure: Is It All In Your Head?
New research suggests the heart isn’t responsible for high blood pressure. The brain is.
The latest news comes from scientists at the University of Bristol in the U.K.
They’ve published a study in the journal, Hypertension, suggesting that high blood pressure comes from inflammation in the blood vessels in your brain.
The researchers isolated a brain protein, JAM-1, which traps white blood cells.
They believe that the trapped cells may cause inflammation and restrict the oxygen supply to your brain. This supposedly causes high blood pressure.
It’s a controversial view.
The study involved rats only so there’s no guarantee that the outcome will be the same for humans.
But if the results can be replicated, it may lead to new ways of treating high blood pressure. Most likely, new drugs that reduce blood vessel inflammation and increase the blood flow to your brain.
Using today’s blood pressure drugs, many people still have hypertension. So I hope these scientists investigate their theory further.
But I wonder if instead of chasing the next big drug, the medical community should concentrate on a food-based solution.
I stumbled upon one in the 1990s which I detailed in I Love to Cheat.
A year or two after my discovery, the DASH diet was published. While I believe DASH is more restrictive than it needs to be, it does show that a food-based treatment can work for some people.
I know mine worked extremely well even if it was just one person. Our doctors didn’t believe we could do it. But the results were hard to deny.
As far as I can tell, there are no side effects with eating foods to reduce blood pressure. But there aren’t any big drug company profits, either.
So I suspect we’ll be looking at new drugs and new side effects in the future.
It’s a shame that profits so often drive medical research. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our health and well-being were the priority instead?
Technorati Tags: high blood pressure, hypertension, diet
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:19 am
As long as there’s a lot of money to be made, there’ll always be new drugs. Let’s just hope this works.
April 23rd, 2007 at 2:42 pm
I know my mother-in-law has had a lot of trouble getting her blood pressure under control with the blood pressure drugs that are out there.
April 23rd, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Glad to see you’re back.
April 23rd, 2007 at 5:09 pm
My blood pressure went up to 140/90 in college. My Dad had a similar pressure which he treated with a jogging program. I did the same and have been running ever since. My pressure stays at 110/70. I went to a medical meeting a few years ago and had my pressure and pulse rate measured. My resting pulse rate was 48. The man doing the test said, there’s only one other doctor here with a pulse that low and his was also 48..HaHaHa!! It was my DAD!!
I can understand how restricted blood flow to the brain would cause the heart, etc to increase it’s workload. The latest buzz in medicine is inflamation. I’m sure there is some validity to it and it’s not the whole story.
April 23rd, 2007 at 5:35 pm
I’ve had blood pressure problems, too, but my doctors always seemed more interested in getting me out of the office with a new prescription than giving me any advice to get the pressure down without drugs. I think it’s just easier and faster for doctors to prescribe drugs. The drug companies make a lot of money, too. If you want another answer, you have to search for it on your own.
April 23rd, 2007 at 7:06 pm
I’m hearing a lot about inflammation, too. Maybe like Dr. J says, it’s not the whole story.