by Dr. Mercola
Hypertension is dangerous if uncontrolled, increasing your risk for heart attack and stroke. But using drugs to lower your blood pressure may shorten your lifespan instead of extending it, according to the results of a University of Florida study.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association,1 suggests that when it comes to blood pressure medication, less is more.
This is another example of using drugs to “Band Aid” a health problem without addressing the underlying cause. There is a major difference between achieving a healthy blood pressure number by eating well, exercising and managing stress, versus “forcing” your body to produce that number with a drug.
Drugs promised to be safe have, on many occasions, done more harm than good, yet blood pressure medications join sleeping pills and painkillers as some of the most popular drugs in America.
Be Careful—Blood Pressure Drugs May Backfire On You
The featured study was performed on individuals age 50 and up who had been diagnosed with both type 2 diabetes and CAD (coronary artery disease). The standard hypertension guidelines for diabetics suggest maintaining a systolic blood pressure under 130 mm Hg, but there is little data for the growing number of diabetics who also have CAD. This study aimed at filling that informational gap.
Each person in the study received one or more blood pressure medications (a combination of calcium antagonist, beta-blocker, ACE inhibitor, and diuretic) in whatever combination required to achieve a systolic blood pressure less than 130 mm Hg.
Researchers discovered that tighter control of blood pressure in these patients was NOT associated with better outcomes! The uncontrolled group fared worst, which wasn’t surprising. But the group whose systolic blood pressure was held between 130 and 140 actually showed a slightly lower risk of death than the group whose systolic was maintained at the recommended level—under 130 mm Hg. The authors write:2
“In this observational study, we have shown for the first time, to our knowledge, that decreasing systolic BP to lower than 130 mm Hg in patients with diabetes and CAD was not associated with further reduction in morbidity beyond that associated with systolic BP lower than 140 mm Hg, and, in fact, was associated with an increase in risk of all-cause mortality. Moreover, the increased mortality risk persisted over the long term.”
Is It ‘Pharmageddon’?
This isn’t the first time pharmaceutical drugs have backfired. In fact, prescription drugs now kill more people than illegal drugs. Death by prescription drugs is a 21st-century epidemic, now killing even more Americans than motor vehicle accidents.
Drug fatalities more than doubled for teens and young adults between 2000 and 2008, and more than tripled among people age 50 to 69. It’s estimated there are 450,000 preventable adverse events related to medications in the U.S. every year, accounting for a substantial proportion of emergency room visits.
In a June 2010 report in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, almost a quarter of a million deaths resulted from in-hospital medication errors between the 1976 and 2006, based on a review of 62 million death certificates.
This doesn’t include the people who died after taking drugs exactly as prescribed! And when you add in deaths from hospital-acquired infections, unnecessary medical procedures, and adverse surgical outcomes, conventional medicine should top the list of the leading causes of death in the United States.
The Little-Known Connection Between Carbohydrates and Your Blood Pressure
The good news is, the vast majority of you don’t need prescription drugs to normalize your blood pressure. In most cases, hypertension can be reversed with a few basic adjustments to your diet and lifestyle.
Are you on a high grain, low fat regimen? If so, I have bad news for you. This nutritional regimen is a prescription for many to develop hypertension. For years I’ve been advocating avoiding wheat, and this advice is finally making its way into the mainstream. The LA Times just featured an article discussing how wheat (and low-fat diets) contribute to inflammation, heart disease, diabetes, joint pain and many other chronic health problems. Cardiologist William Davis is quoted as saying:3
“Eat more fat. Eat as little grain as possible.”
This is not new information. Scientific research published way back in 1998 in the journal Diabetes reported that nearly two-thirds of the test subjects who were insulin resistant also had high blood pressure. Insulin resistance is directly attributable to a high sugar, high grain diet, especially if accompanied by inadequate exercise.
So, chances are that if you have hypertension, you also have poorly controlled blood sugar levels, because these two problems often go hand in hand. As your insulin level increases, so does your blood pressure.
Along with excessive carbohydrates, most people are consuming inadequate dietary fats, in terms of both quality and quantity. Contrary to what you’ve been told, glucose is not the preferred fuel of human metabolism—fat is. And fat doesn’t make you fat—excess carbohydrates make you fat. I believe that most people would benefit by consuming around 50 to 70 percent of their diet as beneficial fats. Sources of healthy fats include:
- Olives and Olive oil (for cold dishes)
- Coconuts, and coconut oil (for all types of cooking and baking)
- Butter made from raw grass-fed organic milk
- Raw nuts, such as, almonds or pecans
- Organic pastured egg yolks
- Avocados
- Pasture finished meats
- Palm oil (make sure it’s the eco-friendly variety!)
- Unheated organic nut oils
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