Alzheimers and high blood pressure strategies....
Today's post, Friday, 3-19-2010
This story appeared last Wednesday.
“Could Lowering Blood Pressure Help Stop Dementia?
by Amanda Gardner HealthDay Reporter Weds, 3-17-2010 (HealthDay News)”
This is a proposed study or the launching of one to see if lowering moderate to quite high blood pressure lower than is usual with drugs will help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
This strikes me a horrible waste of money and an even worse idea.
1. We know far less costly strategies to make Alzheimer’s disease far less likely.
Spending the same money on a program that simply makes sure to apply all of them at the same time to a group of people will likely get dramatically better results for preventing Alzheimer’s disease. Since those same strategies have other health benefits. This approach would help improve health and quality of life and lower future health care costs.
2. The research has already been done on using blood pressure drugs to lower high blood pressure. If the readings are well over 160 over 100 to start with and you lower them to about 150 over 80 or a bit less, the benefits outweigh the negative consequences of the side effects.
But, if you use drugs on people with readings well under 160 over 100 or push the levels down to less than 120 over 80 WITH DRUGS, you tend to do more harm to the health of the people involved and far more harm to their quality of life.
Will this change by having a research goal in mind for doing so. Not likely!
3. Many of the same nondrug methods to lower high blood pressure ALSO tend to prevent Alzheimer's disease.
4. The amount of money spent per person to use high doses of multiple drugs to lower blood pressure that much and keep it there is high enough to make it unlikely this will save money even if it works for some people!
There are three things that do make sense that could be done instead – OR, that you can do for yourself.
1. Do the things that do not involve drugs that make Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of senility far less likely.
2. Do the things, if you have high blood pressure, that will reliably lower it without drugs. (This makes extra good sense since there is considerable overlap between the first category and this one.)
3. If your blood pressure remains well above 140 over 90, try using a low dose of two or three drugs that either are most protective, have the fewest side effects, and those which have already been shown to have senility preventing effects! (There is one that clearly fits here and another that fits but not as well.)
The first set of things includes two kinds of lifestyle upgrades and some supplements.
The lifestyle changes or upgrades or lifestyle components that prevent senility are to have a more interesting and worthwhile life and to exercise and eat well for health.
People who often converse with social contacts get far less senility. They are less likely to get depressed. They generally get better support from other people when things go wrong which lessens the severe stress they are under. AND, just because people can talk easily due to doing it since they were quite young, researchers have found, they dramatically underestimate how much simple conversations of this kind exercise their brains.
People who often converse with social contacts exercise their brains as much as a champion athlete works out!
People who have a purposeful and meaningful life are less likely to get senility. They are far less likely to get depressed or isolated since their achieving their purposes keeps them connected and interested in life.
People who find many things of interest and keep learning also exercise their minds and are far less likely to get senility. People who speak more than one language are notably resistant to senility. And, I suspect, people who play a musical instrument well are also.
People who like mental challenges in an area that they have some background in also are less likely to become senile. Some people do crossword puzzles. Some people play bridge. I’ve become fond of the daily chess column to see if I can find the checkmate or to follow what it was if I cannot.
People who exercise regularly and eat right have far lower levels of the conditions that physically harm their brains or the circulation to their brains.
The DASH II and Mediterranean diets with a bit less grain work well.
(They provide a high vegetable and fruit diet with health supporting oils and fats and proteins AND extremely little or none of nonnutritive and junky treats such as soft drinks and snacks and desserts made mostly from refined grains, salt, some kind of sugar or artificial sweeteners, and oils high in omega 6 or that have been hydrogenated.)
Moderate daily exercise such as walking and interval cardio and strength training, strengthen your heart, and improve your circulation – including to your brain. These kinds of exercise even have been shown to relieve stress, prevent depression to some degree, and to grow new brain cells.
Further, if you do both these things, you’ll tend to avoid being obese or staying that way; your HDL will be high, your triglycerides and LDL and small particle LDL will be low, and you’ll avoid high blood sugar and insulin levels.
And, every one of those achievements keeps your circulation good and avoids conditions in your brain implicated in causing vascular senility and Alzheimer’s disease.
Exercise and eating right have also been proven to lower high blood pressure in people who already have it and to tend to prevent it in people who do not.
Then, as we posted on 2-19-2010 there are a whole list of supplements that either have strong or some ability to prevent senility. The two that are most promising are an intake of vitamin D3 of at least 2,000 iu a day and ingesting curcumin on most days – either by eating curried food that contains the spice turmeric or by taking a curcumin or turmeric supplement – or both.
Researchers are beginning to find that these two supplements tend to clean your brain of the damaging deposits that cause Alzheimer’s disease -- which prevents it or may even reverse it in its early stages!
The supplements and foods that lower high blood pressure strengthen your heart or fight depression or improve circulation. So, by taking them, you’ll be less stressed and have much better circulation. And, those two things are protective for your brain.
Ubiquinol, the dramatically more effective version of CoQ10 lowers high blood pressure AND by as much an effective blood pressure drug. Several supplements increase HDL such as niacin, inositol hexaniacinate, chromium polynicotinate, and choline. Several lower inflammation such as vitamin D3 and omega 3 supplements and curcumin, some lower LDL cholesterol – notably niacin and sterols and soluble fiber in plant foods, and eating right plus taking omega 3 supplements and eating onions and garlic tends to keep your triglycerides low.
Lastly, there ARE 3 kinds of drugs for high blood pressure that have been reported as having extra brain protective effects. It might be worth trying all three at once – but in doses low enough to reliably avoid side effects -- in people who have blood pressure over 140 over 90 – even if the results are NOT enough to bring the blood pressure below 120 over 80.
Doing so would NOT ruin the quality of life for the people involved. But the track record of the drugs is such that some significant benefits in brain protection might actually occur.
ARBs have been reported to be brain protective more than other blood pressure reducing drugs. ACE inhibitors have done the same but not as strongly. And calcium channel blockers tend to prevent heart attacks and strokes by making blood pressure changes less extreme without blunting normal responsiveness as beta blockers do. This tends to make the increase in blood pressure first thing in the morning moderate instead of extreme which is particularly protective.
In addition, low doses and even moderate ones in many people tend to produce few side effects. People who react badly to calcium channel blockers can get a lesser effect with no side effects by taking 600 to 800 mg a day of magnesium as it has a calcium channel blocker effect. People can be tried on a low dose of ACE inhibitors. (Larger doses tend to produce an unstoppable dry cough that is very harmful to quality of life.) Also, the herb hawthorn has ACE inhibitor effects and can be used for people who don’t do well on ACE inhibitor drugs.
THAT protocol looks likely to produce brain protection without causing severe side effects even though it may well NOT lower high blood pressure below 130 over 80.
To me, testing any of these three approaches will likely prove brain protective and to benefit the health and quality of life of the people involved.
The research proposed in last Wednesday’s article looks likely to waste LOTS of money and produce much suffering from avoidable side effects and achieve little results in preventing senility.
Why test something you know will cause people to suffer when much more effective methods can be tested that do not?
Today's post, Friday, 3-19-2010
This story appeared last Wednesday.
“Could Lowering Blood Pressure Help Stop Dementia?
by Amanda Gardner HealthDay Reporter Weds, 3-17-2010 (HealthDay News)”
This is a proposed study or the launching of one to see if lowering moderate to quite high blood pressure lower than is usual with drugs will help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
This strikes me a horrible waste of money and an even worse idea.
1. We know far less costly strategies to make Alzheimer’s disease far less likely.
Spending the same money on a program that simply makes sure to apply all of them at the same time to a group of people will likely get dramatically better results for preventing Alzheimer’s disease. Since those same strategies have other health benefits. This approach would help improve health and quality of life and lower future health care costs.
2. The research has already been done on using blood pressure drugs to lower high blood pressure. If the readings are well over 160 over 100 to start with and you lower them to about 150 over 80 or a bit less, the benefits outweigh the negative consequences of the side effects.
But, if you use drugs on people with readings well under 160 over 100 or push the levels down to less than 120 over 80 WITH DRUGS, you tend to do more harm to the health of the people involved and far more harm to their quality of life.
Will this change by having a research goal in mind for doing so. Not likely!
3. Many of the same nondrug methods to lower high blood pressure ALSO tend to prevent Alzheimer's disease.
4. The amount of money spent per person to use high doses of multiple drugs to lower blood pressure that much and keep it there is high enough to make it unlikely this will save money even if it works for some people!
There are three things that do make sense that could be done instead – OR, that you can do for yourself.
1. Do the things that do not involve drugs that make Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of senility far less likely.
2. Do the things, if you have high blood pressure, that will reliably lower it without drugs. (This makes extra good sense since there is considerable overlap between the first category and this one.)
3. If your blood pressure remains well above 140 over 90, try using a low dose of two or three drugs that either are most protective, have the fewest side effects, and those which have already been shown to have senility preventing effects! (There is one that clearly fits here and another that fits but not as well.)
The first set of things includes two kinds of lifestyle upgrades and some supplements.
The lifestyle changes or upgrades or lifestyle components that prevent senility are to have a more interesting and worthwhile life and to exercise and eat well for health.
People who often converse with social contacts get far less senility. They are less likely to get depressed. They generally get better support from other people when things go wrong which lessens the severe stress they are under. AND, just because people can talk easily due to doing it since they were quite young, researchers have found, they dramatically underestimate how much simple conversations of this kind exercise their brains.
People who often converse with social contacts exercise their brains as much as a champion athlete works out!
People who have a purposeful and meaningful life are less likely to get senility. They are far less likely to get depressed or isolated since their achieving their purposes keeps them connected and interested in life.
People who find many things of interest and keep learning also exercise their minds and are far less likely to get senility. People who speak more than one language are notably resistant to senility. And, I suspect, people who play a musical instrument well are also.
People who like mental challenges in an area that they have some background in also are less likely to become senile. Some people do crossword puzzles. Some people play bridge. I’ve become fond of the daily chess column to see if I can find the checkmate or to follow what it was if I cannot.
People who exercise regularly and eat right have far lower levels of the conditions that physically harm their brains or the circulation to their brains.
The DASH II and Mediterranean diets with a bit less grain work well.
(They provide a high vegetable and fruit diet with health supporting oils and fats and proteins AND extremely little or none of nonnutritive and junky treats such as soft drinks and snacks and desserts made mostly from refined grains, salt, some kind of sugar or artificial sweeteners, and oils high in omega 6 or that have been hydrogenated.)
Moderate daily exercise such as walking and interval cardio and strength training, strengthen your heart, and improve your circulation – including to your brain. These kinds of exercise even have been shown to relieve stress, prevent depression to some degree, and to grow new brain cells.
Further, if you do both these things, you’ll tend to avoid being obese or staying that way; your HDL will be high, your triglycerides and LDL and small particle LDL will be low, and you’ll avoid high blood sugar and insulin levels.
And, every one of those achievements keeps your circulation good and avoids conditions in your brain implicated in causing vascular senility and Alzheimer’s disease.
Exercise and eating right have also been proven to lower high blood pressure in people who already have it and to tend to prevent it in people who do not.
Then, as we posted on 2-19-2010 there are a whole list of supplements that either have strong or some ability to prevent senility. The two that are most promising are an intake of vitamin D3 of at least 2,000 iu a day and ingesting curcumin on most days – either by eating curried food that contains the spice turmeric or by taking a curcumin or turmeric supplement – or both.
Researchers are beginning to find that these two supplements tend to clean your brain of the damaging deposits that cause Alzheimer’s disease -- which prevents it or may even reverse it in its early stages!
The supplements and foods that lower high blood pressure strengthen your heart or fight depression or improve circulation. So, by taking them, you’ll be less stressed and have much better circulation. And, those two things are protective for your brain.
Ubiquinol, the dramatically more effective version of CoQ10 lowers high blood pressure AND by as much an effective blood pressure drug. Several supplements increase HDL such as niacin, inositol hexaniacinate, chromium polynicotinate, and choline. Several lower inflammation such as vitamin D3 and omega 3 supplements and curcumin, some lower LDL cholesterol – notably niacin and sterols and soluble fiber in plant foods, and eating right plus taking omega 3 supplements and eating onions and garlic tends to keep your triglycerides low.
Lastly, there ARE 3 kinds of drugs for high blood pressure that have been reported as having extra brain protective effects. It might be worth trying all three at once – but in doses low enough to reliably avoid side effects -- in people who have blood pressure over 140 over 90 – even if the results are NOT enough to bring the blood pressure below 120 over 80.
Doing so would NOT ruin the quality of life for the people involved. But the track record of the drugs is such that some significant benefits in brain protection might actually occur.
ARBs have been reported to be brain protective more than other blood pressure reducing drugs. ACE inhibitors have done the same but not as strongly. And calcium channel blockers tend to prevent heart attacks and strokes by making blood pressure changes less extreme without blunting normal responsiveness as beta blockers do. This tends to make the increase in blood pressure first thing in the morning moderate instead of extreme which is particularly protective.
In addition, low doses and even moderate ones in many people tend to produce few side effects. People who react badly to calcium channel blockers can get a lesser effect with no side effects by taking 600 to 800 mg a day of magnesium as it has a calcium channel blocker effect. People can be tried on a low dose of ACE inhibitors. (Larger doses tend to produce an unstoppable dry cough that is very harmful to quality of life.) Also, the herb hawthorn has ACE inhibitor effects and can be used for people who don’t do well on ACE inhibitor drugs.
THAT protocol looks likely to produce brain protection without causing severe side effects even though it may well NOT lower high blood pressure below 130 over 80.
To me, testing any of these three approaches will likely prove brain protective and to benefit the health and quality of life of the people involved.
The research proposed in last Wednesday’s article looks likely to waste LOTS of money and produce much suffering from avoidable side effects and achieve little results in preventing senility.
Why test something you know will cause people to suffer when much more effective methods can be tested that do not?
Labels: prevent Alzheimer’s disease, prevent senility, protect your brain, very unwise research on lowering high blood pressure with drugs to fight senility
posted by David at 2:15 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home