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Mindfulness is a centuries-old practice that’s become trendy in recent years — and a new study now says it can help your heart health. Training in mindfulness can help people better manage their high blood pressure by helping them stick to healthy lifestyle changes, a new clinical trial reports. An eight-week customized mindfulness program helped people lower their systolic blood pressure by nearly 6 points during a six-month follow-up period, researchers found. That was significantly better than the 1.4-point reduction that occurred in people undergoing usual blood pressure care, researchers said during a presentation Sunday at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting, in Chicago. Such research is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. The results could be relevant to a patient’s health, given that previous studies have found that a 5-point drop in systolic pressure translates to a 10% lower risk of heart attack and stroke, said lead researcher Eric Loucks, director of the Mindfulness Center at Brown University. “If we can train people in mindfulness skills and then apply those skills to people’s relationships with the things that we know influence blood pressure — like physical activity or diet or antihypertensive medication adherence or alcohol consumption — we might be able to boost the effects” of their prescribed blood pressure control plan, Loucks said. For example, in this study participants armed with… read on > read on >

TUESDAY, Nov. 8, 2022 (HealthDay News) – Some patients with high blood pressure can’t get it under control with standard medications, but a new study shows an experimental drug is up to the task of treating these tough-to-treat cases. Why do some folks struggle more with managing their high blood pressure than others? When the hypertension is caused by the hormone aldosterone, which is responsible for how much salt the body retains, it is much harder to control, researchers explained. Enter the drug baxdrostat, which blocks an enzyme required to produce aldosterone. In the study, scientists worked with 274 participants, who were given one of three doses of the drug or a placebo along with their existing medications. Patients in the trial had blood pressure that was at least 130/80 mm Hg, even though they were taking at least three different blood pressure medications. High blood pressure is anything 130/80 or higher, while 120/80 is considered normal. When the upper number is 120-129, blood pressure is considered elevated. Researchers found that patients who were assigned to the highest dose of the new medication saw the top number drop by a full 20 points. The study even saw placebo patients lose 11 points off their top number, known as systolic blood pressure. “The likelihood always is that people were not taking every tablet every day that… read on > read on >

Telemedicine became widespread during the pandemic, and that may have shifted patient views about using technology as way to communicate with their doctors, a new study suggests. Certain groups, including Black patients and those with lower education levels, became especially more apt to use it. “Our findings suggest that more Americans are becoming comfortable with telehealth and using video technology,” said study author Dr. Shira Fischer, a physician scientist at RAND Corp., a nonprofit research organization. “This is important because there are concerns that lack of access to or willingness to use video telehealth may exacerbate disparities in the delivery of high-quality health care,” she said in an organization news release. In the study, data was collected on 1,600 adults who participated in the RAND American Life Panel, completing surveys in February 2019, May 2020, August 2020 and March 2021. Participants answered questions about their use of telehealth and their attitudes toward the technology. Willingness to use video telehealth increased overall from 51% in February 2019 to 62% in March 2021. That willingness grew from 42% to 67% among Black adults and from 30% to 56% among adults with less than a high school education. Lower trust of technology and lower rates of access to high-quality internet service may have been the reasons that some groups were less willing to engage with telehealth prior to… read on > read on >

Folks taking dietary supplements intended to help their heart health are just wasting their money, a new clinical trial suggests. Six supplements widely promoted as heart-healthy — fish oil, cinnamon, garlic, turmeric, plant sterols and red yeast rice — didn’t do a thing to lower “bad” low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol or improve heart health, researchers found. “Compared to placebo, none of the supplements had a significant decrease in LDL cholesterol,” said lead researcher Dr. Luke Laffin, co-director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Blood Pressure Disorders. In fact, two of the supplements made matters worse, Laffin said during a presentation on the findings Sunday at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting, in Chicago. The study findings were published Nov. 6 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The garlic supplement actually increased LDL cholesterol by nearly 8%, while plant sterols decreased “good” high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels by more than 7%, the results showed. The clinical trial also demonstrated that statins are incredibly effective in lowering cholesterol. A low dose of cholesterol-lowering rosuvastatin (Crestor) prompted, on average, a nearly 38% decrease in bad LDL cholesterol, Laffin said. “Every participant randomized to rosuvastatin had at least an 18.2% reduction in LDL cholesterol, with half receiving over 40% reduction in LDL cholesterol,” Laffin said. “Whereas with all the supplements and placebo, you might as well… read on > read on >

As the daylight hours shrink, people’s moods can wind up in the tank. Rest assured, you’re not alone. It’s the SAD season for those affected by seasonal affective disorder. That’s the depression, fatigue and withdrawal that shorter days and longer nights often bring. “The seasonal mood change can come in different shapes and forms,” said Dr. Dorothy Sit, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago. “It can be a clinical diagnosis of depression, which we call SAD, but some people experience a milder form,” Sit said. “The clinical diagnosis means it is quite intense; it affects people all day for many weeks and can impact their functioning. In milder cases, people can feel a bit blah, but can push through. Still, functioning will feel a bit harder.” Besides feeling sluggish, people may be hungrier, crave carbohydrates, eat more and gain weight. They may also feel less motivated and find less enjoyment in activities. “This is a form of depression that cycles naturally; it starts every fall and winter and remits every spring and summer,” Sit said in a Northwestern Medicine news release. A major remedy for SAD is starting the day with bright light therapy. Sit recommends a unit that produces 10,000 LUX of white light to be used in the 30 minutes after waking up.… read on > read on >

Adult cancer survivors, particularly those who have undergone chemotherapy, have an increased risk for serious pelvic and vertebral fractures, new research shows. “These findings are important as the number of cancer survivors living in the United States is projected to rise to 26.1 million by 2040. Research like this seeks ways for cancer survivors to have a better quality of life after their diagnosis,” said study lead author Erika Rees-Punia. She is a behavioral and epidemiology researcher at the American Cancer Society. “Fractures of the pelvis and vertebrae are more than just broken bones — they are serious and costly,” Rees-Punia added in a society news release. The researchers analyzed data from the Cancer Prevention Study-II Nutrition Cohort linked to Medicare claims from 1997 to 2017. Of about 92,400 participants they assessed, more than 12,900 had had a frailty-related bone fracture. Investigators compared that group to people without a history of cancer. Cancer survivors who were more recently diagnosed within five years with an advanced stage cancer had the highest risk of fracture compared to those with no previous cancer. Vertebral and pelvic fractures drove this higher risk. Survivors who received chemotherapy were more likely to have a fracture compared to survivors with no past chemotherapy. Researchers found this association was stronger within five years of diagnosis but was still suggestive even after the five-year… read on > read on >

Routine eye checks can help ensure seniors know if they’re developing any age-related vision issues. An expert from Baylor College of Medicine spells out what seniors need to know. “Don’t blame vision issues on just aging eyes. Get your eyes checked out because it can be a more serious issue that can be treated,” said Dr. Sumitra Khandelwal, associate professor of ophthalmology at Baylor. “If you wait too long, there may not be ability to treat it.” Among the issues is dry eye. As the skin gets drier with age, so do eyes. Artificial tears can help. “If your skin is dry and you wait until it’s very papery to put lotion on it, it won’t help as much as if you put lotion on the skin daily to prevent dryness — the same goes for your eyes. As you get older, you notice dryness and irritation. This is when you should start using artificial tears,” Khandelwal said in a college news release. Artificial tears are available as over-the-counter drops, ointments and prescription eye drops. It’s also possible to get a prescription medication to reduce eye inflammation and increase tear production, Khandelwal said. Catching problems early is important. Otherwise, the dry eye can become so advanced it may not be treatable. Cataracts are one of the most common age-related eyesight issues. With these, the clear… read on > read on >

Deaths caused by alcohol skyrocketed in the United States between 2019 and 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, according to a just-published government report. The alcohol-induced death rate jumped 26% during that period, claiming more than 49,000 lives, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday. That’s about 13 deaths for every 100,000 people. In 2019, the alcohol-induced death rate stood at 10.4 deaths per 100,000, CNN reported. Americans drank more during the COVID pandemic than before, and a health expert said it’s possible this is just the beginning of a disturbing trend. “We know that in large-scale traumatic events to the population – like 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina – people historically start drinking more. The pandemic has been, as we all know, a major stressor to our lives,” said George Koob, director of the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. “What we’ve been picking up with numerous small studies is that about 25% of the population increased their drinking and these individuals were people who were drinking to cope with stress,” he said. “And many people who drink to cope with stress inevitably go on to have an alcohol use disorder.” More than half of the 2020 deaths caused by alcohol were due to alcoholic liver disease, CNN reported. Other causes included mental health and behavioral disorders due to… read on > read on >

In a finding that suggests more Americans than ever are struggling with their sight as they get older, researchers report that nearly 20 million adults have age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Broken down, about 18.3 million people aged 40 and up had an early stage of the condition in 2019, while almost 1.5 million people had late-stage AMD. “There haven’t been many new examination-based studies of the prevalence of AMD, and the only nationally representative data on AMD were last collected in 2008. So, this limits the ability of researchers to update the estimates,” said study author David Rein, director of the public health analytics program at NORC at the University of Chicago. “I think a strength of our study is our use of other data sources such as Medicare claims and population data from the Census Bureau to create contemporary estimates.” AMD is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States. It is characterized by intermediate-sized drusen, which are deposits under the retina, and retinal pigment epithelium abnormalities. It affects the macula, which is part of the retina that controls sharp, straight-ahead vision, according to the U.S. National Eye Institute. The condition comes in two forms: Dry AMD involves the thinning of the macula, while wet AMD is less common and causes faster vision loss. With wet AMD, abnormal blood vessels grow… read on > read on >

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed limiting the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to minimally addictive levels, but there’s been concern that the drop in nicotine could exacerbate anxieties in smokers who might already battle mood issues. However, a new study shows that while cigarettes with nicotine at 5% of the normal dose can help anxious or depressed smokers quit, they do so without adding to mood or anxiety problems that led them to smoke in the first place. “There do not appear to be any concerning, unintended consequences of having to switch to very low nicotine cigarettes,” said lead researcher Jonathan Foulds, a professor of public health sciences and psychiatry at Penn State University School of Medicine. “On the contrary, it appears that the result is that smokers feel less addicted to their cigarettes and more able to quit smoking when offered relatively brief assistance with follow-up appointments plus nicotine replacement therapy,” he said. Smokers with mood and anxiety disorders showed no signs of “over-smoking” the very low-nicotine cigarettes, nor was there any sign that switching to them made their mental health worse, Foulds said. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed limiting the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to minimally addictive levels. Doing so could not only lessen addiction, but also reduce exposure to toxic substances and increase the odds… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Take the Mindful Way to Lower Blood Pressure

New Drug Helps Tame Uncontrolled High Blood Pressure

Telemedicine’s Popularity Has Risen During Pandemic

6 ‘Heart-Healthy’ Supplements Flop in Cholesterol Study

‘SAD Season’: Depression Risks Rise as Days Get Shorter

Cancer Survivors May Face Higher Risks for Bone Fractures

Vision Is Vulnerable With Age: Here’s What to Look For

Alcohol-Linked Deaths Soared During Pandemic, CDC Says

Almost 20 Million Older Americans Live With Sight-Robbing Macular Degeneration

Low-Nicotine Cigarettes Won’t Leave Smokers Agitated, Study Finds