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Telemedicine might help people with stubbornly high blood pressure get their numbers down — and possibly lower their risk of heart disease and stroke in the long run, a new study suggests. Doctors already recommend that people with high blood pressure use a home monitor to track their numbers. But research suggests that home readings, alone, only make a small difference in getting the condition under control. “People really don’t have the agency to act [on those readings] on their own,” said Dr. Karen Margolis, executive director of research at the HealthPartners Institute in Minneapolis. And if there is no clear plan for what to do about high home numbers, she said, any issues may only come to light at the periodic doctor visit. So Margolis and her colleagues tested a “telemonitoring” program designed to give patients more help: Their home readings were sent electronically to a pharmacist within the health system who then had regular phone “visits” with the patients. Over the next 18 months, the tactic worked. Compared with patients on standard care, those in the telemonitoring program lowered their blood pressure by an extra 7 to 10 points, on average, the study found. And over five years, they were half as likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke, or develop heart failure, according to the report. That finding, Margolis said, fell… read on >

If you have hypertension and you’re depressed, don’t blame your blood pressure drugs. Although previous research hinted there might be a connection between high blood pressure medications and depression, a new study of dozens of commonly used drugs found no such link. In fact, the Danish researchers found the opposite — nine blood pressure drugs were associated with a lower risk of depression. How could blood pressure medication help depression? “It is possible that the mechanism involved in decreasing the risk of depression is the anti-inflammatory effect among these nine medications,” study author Dr. Lars Vedel Kessing said in a statement from the journal Hypertension, where the findings were published Aug. 24. He’s a professor of psychiatry at the Psychiatric Center Copenhagen and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Kessing added that more study is needed. But the findings might help doctors when choosing medications to treat high blood pressure in patients who also have depression or a high risk of depression. He also noted that the study wasn’t designed to prove a cause-and-effect relationship between the medications and a lower risk of depression. The new study relied on a Danish population registry. The researchers included 5.4 million people in Denmark in 2005 and followed their health outcomes until December 2015. During that time, nearly 3.75 million people were given a prescription for a high… read on >

Women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant may need to forgo coffee, tea, sodas and other sources of caffeine. A new data analysis finds no safe level of the drug during this time. “The cumulative scientific evidence supports pregnant women and women contemplating pregnancy being advised to avoid caffeine,” concluded study author Jack James, a professor at Reykjavik University in Iceland. The findings challenge current U.S. expert recommendations from organizations such as the March of Dimes and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Those guidelines say that consuming a small amount of caffeine each day — 200 milligrams, equal to about a cup or two of coffee — does not appear to harm the fetus. In the new analysis, James tracked data from 37 studies and 11 meta-analyses (data gleaned from multiple studies) published over the past two decades. The study focused on six major negative pregnancy outcomes: miscarriage, stillbirth, low birth weight and/or babies small for gestational age, preterm birth, childhood acute leukemia, and childhood overweight/obesity. Of the 42 separate findings in the observational studies, 32 found that caffeine significantly increased the risk of a negative pregnancy outcome, while 10 others found either no associations or inconclusive associations. Caffeine-related risks were reported with moderate to high levels of consistency for all pregnancy outcomes except preterm birth. Of the 17 findings from… read on >

For a host of reasons, millions worldwide are deciding to give up meat and focus on a plant-based diet. But new research out of Greece is a reminder that not all vegetarian diets are healthy — especially for people who are already obese. “The quality of plant-based diets varies,” concluded a team led by Matina Kouvari of Harokopio University in Athens. Reporting Thursday at the virtual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), her team assessed the diets of 146 randomly selected obese people in Athens, who had normal blood pressure, blood cholesterol and blood sugar, and did not yet have heart disease. Their diets were assessed using a questionnaire about their typical eating habits in the previous year. It asked about 156 foods and beverages commonly consumed in Greece. Within 10 years, nearly half of the participants had gone on to develop high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and high blood sugar — a combination that’s particularly risky for the heart. However, diets focused on healthier plant-based foods were associated with normal blood pressure, blood lipids and blood sugar. These “healthier” vegetarian options included whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, olive oil and tea/coffee, as well as foods made with the least amount of processing. On the other hand, unhealthy plant-based foods — items such as juices, sweetened beverages, refined grains (for example, white… read on >

Feeling woozy when you stand up may be a sign of an increased risk of developing dementia, a new study suggests. Doctors call this feeling “orthostatic hypotension,” and it occurs when there’s a sudden drop in blood pressure as you stand, explained a team of researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The researchers found a connection between orthostatic hypotension and later onset of dementia with a drop in systolic blood pressure of at least 15 mm Hg, but not diastolic blood pressure or blood pressure overall. Systolic blood pressure is the top number in a blood pressure reading. The finding suggests that “people’s blood pressure when they move from sitting to standing should be monitored,” UCSF researcher Dr. Laure Rouch said in a news release from the American Academy of Neurology. “It’s possible that controlling these blood pressure drops could be a promising way to help preserve people’s thinking and memory skills as they age.” Rouch cautioned that this study couldn’t prove that orthostatic hypotension causes dementia, only that there appears to be an association. In the study, her team tracked the medical history of more than 2,100 people who averaged 73 years of age and did not have dementia at the beginning of the study. Over the next 12 years, 22% of these individuals developed dementia. Those with systolic orthostatic hypotension… read on >

After a period of improvement, U.S. kids are eating as much fast food as they were in the early 2000s, new government figures show. Researchers found that between 2003 and 2010, there was a decline in U.S. kids’ intake of fast-food calories — dipping from an average of 14% of daily calories, to just under 11%. The positive trend was short-lived, however. By 2018, that figure was back up to 14%. The study, by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), did not go into the underlying reasons. But other research gives some clues as to what could be driving the reversal. One possibility is that social media and “digital marketing” have a role, according to Frances Fleming-Milici, a researcher with the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut. “Fast-food companies have been pioneers in using digital marketing,” said Fleming-Milici, who was not involved in the NCHS report. Admittedly, she said, it is hard to get a handle on how often kids encounter fast-food promotions on their smartphones. But a recent Rudd study found that 70% of teens “engaged with” food and beverage brands on social media — meaning they followed the brands, or “liked” or shared their content. More than half of kids said they engaged with fast-food brands. Another Rudd study found that the percentage of parents… read on >

Folks who want to eat healthy by choosing whole grain foods aren’t helped by product labels that can confuse and mislead consumers, a new study shows. Almost half were unable to identify the healthier whole grain option when asked to rely on food package labels, researchers discovered. A similar proportion of participants were unable to accurately state the whole grain content of different products, according to the study. Terms like “multigrain,” “contains whole grains,” “honey wheat” and “12-grain” can be used to hawk breads, cereals and crackers as healthier options even if the product mostly contains refined flour, explained lead researcher Parke Wilde, a professor at Tufts University’s School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston. “If they say it contains whole grains, it really does have to contain some whole grains. They would get into trouble if they made a claim that was outright false,” Wilde said. “But it’s totally permitted to say it contains whole grains even if it’s mostly refined grains. “For terms like multigrain or seven-grain or 12-grain, or the coloring, there’s no rules at all,” Wilde continued. “There’s no rules against using any of those terms on a refined grain product, or coloring the product brown, which consumers associate with whole grains.” Current U.S. dietary guidelines recommend that whole grains make up at least half of a person’s overall grain… read on >

Coffee has been tied to many potential health benefits, but people should drink it for pleasure, and not disease prevention. That’s one of the main conclusions of a new research review. In it, researchers give an overview of the evidence on coffee and caffeine — the subjects of many health studies over the years. “The impact of coffee consumption on health is important because there are few other dietary factors that so many people across the world are so frequently exposed to,” said Rob van Dam, the lead author on the review. And overall, his team found, the news is good for coffee lovers: Caffeinated coffee does not appear to raise any disease risks, and is instead linked to lower odds of various diseases. And moderate doses of caffeine are generally safe for most people. “Moderate” is the key, however. Too much caffeine can disrupt sleep or make people jittery. “The amount of caffeine that leads to unpleasant side effects varies greatly from person to person,” said van Dam, a professor at the National University of Singapore. He suggested people pay attention to whether caffeine seems to affect their ability to fall asleep or lead to “agitation or anxiety.” If it does, van Dam said, “they can adapt their level of intake or timing of intake during the day.” That’s the advice for most adults.… read on >

Life in lockdown has led many to overeat and gain weight, a phenomenon referred to as the “COVID-15.” But some small changes can get you back into shape, a weight management specialist suggests. “COVID-19 changed how we eat, what we eat and how we spend our day,” said Dr. Peter Jian, an assistant professor of family and community medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “Unfortunately, for some of us that meant less healthy choices,” Jian added in a Baylor news release. Jian offered these tips for working off the excess pounds and returning to a healthy lifestyle: Learn how to cook. Or start other new hobbies to keep active. “Use this time as an opportunity to focus on the things that we can do in order to improve our health,” Jian said. Stay physically active. If you’re afraid to go to the gym, try biking, hiking and walking outside. You can also join an online fitness program. Eat a healthy diet. Buy nutritious foods with curbside pickup or delivery. If you shop in person, choose foods placed at the front and side aisles, where the fresh and organic produce is available. Avoid prepackaged and processed foods. To lose weight, start small. Gradually introduce new eating and exercise habits. This makes changes easier to adjust to. Stay clear of fad diets. Many of… read on >

Eating more fruits, vegetables and whole grain foods could lower your risk of type 2 diabetes, two new studies suggest. In one study, researchers looked at more than 9,700 people who developed type 2 diabetes and over 13,600 who didn’t. Participants were from eight European countries and part of a long-term cancer and nutrition study. After adjusting for lifestyle, and social and dietary risk factors for diabetes, people with the highest levels of fruit and vegetable consumption were 50% less likely to develop diabetes than those with the lowest levels, the researchers found. Every 66 grams a day (2.3 ounces) increase in total fruit and vegetable intake was associated with a 25% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, Nita Forouhi, of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, and colleagues calculated. The other study included more than 158,000 U.S. women and over 36,000 U.S. men. After adjusting for lifestyle and dietary risk factors for diabetes, people with the highest levels of whole grain consumption had a 29% lower rate of type 2 diabetes than those with the lowest levels, the findings showed. In terms of specific whole grain foods, one or more servings a day of whole grain cold breakfast cereal or dark bread was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes (19% and 21%, respectively) compared with less than one… read on >