Prevent harm over lowering blood pressure….Today's post:  Tuesday, 11-28-2017 

1.  A week ago HSI emailed me about the new guidelines for using drugs to control blood pressure to much lower numbers than they had previously.

Their email points out that the way this was done tends to cause more people to be classified as having high blood pressure.  And, in many cases, when followed this raises costs and even harms some kinds of people.

Worse than that, it ignores suggesting that more people do the things that protect people from high blood pressure and directly reduce the number of heart attacks and strokes and deaths and disability from them.

HSI suggests that this focuses most on increasing drug company sales and ignores the most effective ways to protect people. 

Because some blood pressure drugs are needed when doing the protective things fails to reduce blood pressure below the previous and higher targets, however, what bothers me the most is the failure of these new guidelines to pay three times more attention to suggesting people do more of the things that are far more effective at protecting them as a first priority.

Then it's important to look at different groups of people with different needs and related problems before deciding if these new guidelines make sense to follow.

The second part of this post is their email because I think the points they make are important to take into account and accurate.

The third part of this post is a partial list of things that are proven to protect people from heart attacks and strokes.  Because this is both more important and far more effective than the drugs, it must be the first priority.

Then the better drugs and those only are appropriately used to solve specific problems that some individuals still have. 

2.  Here’s the email I got last week:

“From: Health Sciences Institute

Sent: Tue, Nov 21, 2017 4:06 am

This essay is their feature after the ad "How To Lose 3X More Weight Than Anyone You Know!"

"Dear Reader,

Were you one of the over 30 million Americans who woke up one day last week to find that you'd suddenly developed high blood pressure... overnight?

You didn't even have to go see your doctor to get that news -- you just turned on the TV!

It was one of those "big" medical stories covered by media of every stripe. "Doctors and other experts" from groups such as the American Heart Association (and 10 other organizations) officially moved the "goal line" for what's considered acceptable blood pressure down to readings no higher than 130/80.

And that move is something which will be stuffing a lot of cash into Big Pharma's pockets.

It will also be putting untold numbers of seniors at a very big risk for heart disease, dementia, Alzheimer's, and death... and not because they have high blood pressure.

Forget making your blood pressure soar. This is enough to make your blood boil!

The latest strategy to keep Big Pharma in the black is the most brazen yet -- one that would raise the number of U.S. adults considered to be suffering from hypertension to nearly half the population.

And if you're wondering how this all came about so suddenly, well, it's actually been a few years in the making.

Three years ago, a group of many of the most well-respected heart doctors out there published official guidelines in the top medical journal JAMA that, for once, actually raised blood pressure numbers.

They found no reason for those 60 or older, for example, to start up on blood pressure meds unless their readings are 150/90 or higher (with the systolic, or "top," number, getting shifted 10 points higher than where it had been at before).

And if you were under 60, the "no need to treat" number went up to 140/90.

At that time, the panel that released those higher numbers said that, while lower readings are still healthier, getting to those numbers by using risky drugs isn't.

But Big Pharma has been in a snit ever since, hoping to get those guidelines down to ones more favorable to its bottom line.

The groups behind these latest, higher revisions, of course, claim it's all for your own good -- you know, the hackneyed "ounce of prevention" explanation.

But as we've told you here in the eAlert, blood pressure meds are among some of the most dangerous ones out there.

ACE inhibitors, for instance, can cause sudden, life-threatening swelling of the face and neck... and all these drugs can cause sudden drops in blood pressure that lead to dizziness and falls.

And then there's the risk of artificially driving down your blood pressure too low -- especially true where seniors are concerned.

For example:

A study of the medical records of nearly 30,000 people discovered a link between reducing blood pressure to the recommended low numbers and a substantially higher risk of developing Alzheimer's.

Other research done at Johns Hopkins found that lowering your diastolic, or bottom, number below 60 can make you almost 50 percent more likely to develop heart disease and over 30 percent more likely to die from any cause.

Yale researchers have found that seniors who take blood pressure meds for only three years up their chances of taking a fatal fall by almost 40 percent.

If you're over 60 and being told that it's now time to start up on risky drugs to get those numbers down to meet these new "goals," it's a good idea to get a second opinion from a doctor who practices integrative medicine and will look at your overall health, before you rush off to fill that Rx.

Because this big new announcement didn't change any of the facts -- just the numbers!

To Not Playing a Numbers Game,

Melissa Young”

3.  The things that prevent heart attacks and strokes do take some effort to do.

But they work spectacularly well.  People who do them have far fewer strokes of either kind and far fewer heart attacks. They are less likely to die of any cause.

And, not only do they tend to cause people to live longer, they also help ensure that you are mobile and pain free and mentally sharp so you live more years of life worth living!

a) Here’s one post with a new way to increase this effect and many of the most effective things to do besides that:

This one is from just three weeks ago:

Heart Protection Breakthrough….Tuesday, 11-7-2017 

This information has been out for some time as I remember reading some of it before.

I’ve known and posted that there are known and proven heart attack starters people do to themselves and that stopping them all is protective.  Some like smoking and soft drinks and hydrogenated oils are frighteningly effective heart attack starters.

I’ve known and posted that there are known and proven heart attack preventers that if you stop the heart attack starters and use most of the more effective preventers it can slash your risk of heart disease.  These include eating organic vegetables every day; exercising vigorously in various ways most days of every week – while NOT taking statins or beta blockers; and taking or eating niacin, deodorized garlic, extra virgin olive oil, olive leaf extract, turmeric, curcumin, and ginger. 

(Also eating one piece a day of organic fruit helps AND protects against BOTH kinds of strokes.)

I estimate that two part combination once you fully put it in place for two to six months can cut your risk of heart attack  from over 50% to as little as 5% or less.

The breakthrough:

Wouldn’t it be nice to cut your risk in half while you are putting all that in place?

Wouldn’t it be great to cut your risk to 2% or less?

The good news is that we now know for sure there is one and that it IS doable.

The one downside is that just like the rest of the protective actions, you have to know what to do and spend time doing it every day;  you have to learn to do it well enough; and you have to check regularly to be sure you are doing it well enough since your last check.

Why this information caused this post the minute I’d read it:

I’d read before that gum disease causes heart disease because of the effect of the bacteria involved.  I’d even read before that these bacteria tend to cause harmful lipids with odd numbers of carbon atoms. 

And, I got lucky and discovered that flossing and brushing my gums correctly every day helps prevent gum disease.   Then I got luckier and found out that the SonicCare toothbrush can at least double that effect. 

Then just before I saw the new information, I still had a bad checkup for gum disease at the dentist.  It wasn’t horrible but there were some places not in the OK category. I’ve since added a couple of upgrades to what I was doing to be sure to have everything in the OK category soon and at my next check.

THEN I saw this!  My motivation to improve my teeth and gum cleaning went way up.

AND, I also realized that his WAS a breakthrough that likely could cut the risk in half in people just getting into all the heart protection plus cut the possible risk reduction to near 98% protection!

Why gum disease causes heart disease and foods do so less or not at all!

This was in the Medical News Today email last Friday, 11-3:

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319967.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-us

“For the new study, the team analyzed atheromas collected from patients being treated in hospital.

They found that the growths contained chemical signatures of lipids that could not have come from animals. Instead, they matched the signature of fat molecules made by bacteria belonging to the Bacteroidetes family.

Bacterial lipids are 'subtly different'

Bacteroidetes make fats that are quite distinct in that the fatty acids that they contain have branched chains and an odd number of carbon atoms. 

Fatty acids in fats that come from animals do not typically have these features.

One of the researchers, Xudong Yao, associate professor of chemistry at the University of Connecticut, explains that if you compare the chemical makeup of human lipids with lipids produced by bacteria, they show subtle differences in weight.

"We used these weight differences and modern mass spectrometers to selectively measure the quantity of the bacterial lipids in human samples to link the lipids to atherosclerosis," he notes.

"Establishment of such a link is a first step to mark the lipids as indicators for early disease diagnosis."

Prof. Xudong Yao

The team suggests that perhaps the immune system triggers inflammation because when it encounters the fatty deposits in the artery walls, it recognizes that the lipids are not of human origin.

Bacteria deliver 'double whammy'

The researchers also found that there is an enzyme that breaks down the bacterial lipids into starting materials for making molecules that promote inflammation.

They suggest, therefore, that the presence of bacterial lipids has a "double whammy" effect on the arteries. First, the immune system spots them and sets off alarm signals, and secondly, the enzyme breaks them down into materials that assist inflammation.

The researchers also point out that it is not the bacteria themselves that are invading the blood vessels and causing problems. 

Bacteroidetes, which colonize the mouth and gut, do not usually cause harm. Under certain conditions, they can give rise to gum disease; and, even then, they still do not invade the blood vessels. However, the lipids that they secrete can get through cell walls and into the bloodstream.

The team now plans to carry out a more detailed analysis of atheromas to find out exactly where the Bacteroidetes lipids accumulate. 

If they discover that lipids from these specific bacteria are building up inside atheromas as opposed to the artery wall, then that would provide more convincing evidence that fat molecules from Bacteroidetes are linked to atheroma growth, and thus to heart disease.

Clogged arteries may be down to bacteria, not diet
http://mnt.to/du/4KgX
An analysis of the chemical signatures of fatty deposits in clogged arteries found that they matched lipids produced by mouth and gut bacteria.

-----Original Message-----
From: Medical News Today
To: iehealth

My comments:

This kind of fatty deposit outside the artery walls can break loose and cause a heart attack or stroke.  If it builds up inside the artery wall too, that can cause a narrow passage easier to block and tend to cause high blood pressure.

(Taking deodorized garlic may combat both; and NOT smoking DOES do both also!)

The really good news is that acting on this breakthrough can really massively improve your heart protection!

It does take extra effort.  But it is really effective!  “

Here’s a similar post from 8 months before that which makes some of the same points but covers the other protective methods a bit better:

Prevent strokes and heart attacks 3 ways.....Tuesday, 3-21-2017

We’ve posted on a number of ways to do this that work.

This post was sparked by a recent email from HSI that I got detailing the very big risks of something even some educated but very busy people don’t do now.

I feel very fortunate to have found a way to do this effectively in as little as two or three minutes a day.

But this email showing that failure to do this is so very harmful that it sparked this post.

1.  Remove plaque from your teeth almost 100% daily to prevent strokes and heart attacks!

Here’s what that is, what great risk and harm it causes people who fail to do it.

And, here’s a superfast and easy way to do it on the weekday mornings you are rushed, that just tested to be effective in me just a few weeks ago.

*Plaque is a biofilm that the bacteria in your mouth coat your teeth with when you eat.  If you remove it every day, you escape the harm that NOT doing this causes.

But most people don’t yet know how extremely dangerous allowing it to build up actually is. 

They don’t know how to remove it effectively. 

AND, they don’t know an effective way to remove it so fast, they can do it even on the most rushed days so they get it removed EVERY day. 

*We’ve long known that allowing plaque to build up just below the gum line allows it to prevent your gums from staying healthy, getting enough circulation, AND shrinking them and removing their attachment to your teeth.

THAT causes horrible bad breath and teeth that fall out or have to be pulled.  And, the fixes for that either ruin your appearance with missing teeth or cost you a LOT of money for false teeth or dental implants.

This condition has been named, periodontal disease.  

*The even worse news that new research has found that was in the HSI email is that this plaque buildup gets these dangerous bacteria in large quantities into your blood stream.

This has already been found to make heart attacks more likely with even moderate periodontal disease increasing the risk and severe periodontal disease increasing it a lot!

The HSI email quoted a study reported in the British medical journal Lancet that had even worse news.  John’s Hopkins research came to similar conclusions.

Periodontal disease increases your risk of ischemic stroke considerably more than it boosts the risk of heart attacks!

It seems that even mild periodontal disease where your gums bleed just a bit after brushing or when you see the dentist doubles your risk of stroke.

And, severe periodontal disease dramatically increases your stroke risk AND may help cause rheumatoid arthritis, some cancers, and Alzheimer’s disease too!

Perhaps the most important finding was that the level of periodontal disease controlled the harm done.  This didn’t just happen to people over 80! 

The researchers found that young adults with some or severe periodontal disease had the same high risks as older people with them.

I once met a younger middle aged woman who was very, very nice and had been a dynamic athlete who survived a stroke.   To see her need a walker and be able to understand clearly what you said to her & even know a response but be unable to say it was heart breaking.

Oh my!  You don’t want that to happen to you!

*The MUCH better news is that there’s a superfast fix for this that works very well.

I was brushing and flossing as well as I could and my once each 6 months checkups at the dentist, that are no charge in our dental insurance plan, found no periodontal disease. 

But the plaque buildup was still high enough, they had to work at prying it loose each time.

Then the dental hygienist said that a Sonic Care toothbrush with its gentle but superfast vibrations removed plaque better than flossing and that I could use it on days I didn’t have time to floss also.

So besides using the Sonic Care toothbrush AND flossing AND brushing well on Saturday and Sunday, I tried using the Sonic Care toothbrush in just two minutes and brushing as well as I could in one or two minutes.

The combination averaged just 3 minutes a day.

So, at my last checkup, I was curious how well that superfast program had removed my plaque buildup.

WOW! 

The dental hygienist was actually impressed because my superfast but every day program using the Sonic Care toothbrush had removed three or four TIMES the plaque I’d been able to remove with the flossing I’d had time to do!

So, this very doable daily fix, has given me almost 100% protection from this stroke risk from periodontal disease!

2.  Did you know there is an almost easier way to cut your overall risk of strokes in HALF on top of that?

Adding just one piece of organic fruit each day to what you eat a study in the UK found does just that!

Even better, doing this cut the risk of BOTH kinds of strokes by doing this ONE easy thing.

Like preventing plaque buildup, eating a piece of organic fruit at least once a day, cuts your risk of ischemic strokes that the plaque buildup can cause.

AND, it cuts your risk of hemorrhagic or bleeding strokes about twice as much too just by eating a piece of organic fruit at least once a day!

Many kinds of fruit taste good and most people like at least some kinds! 

And, many kinds of organic fruit such as blueberries and strawberries have so many OTHER health benefits, they are listed as “Superfoods.”

3.  There is a third way to reduce your stroke risk that is also about twice that effective in preventing heart attacks!

A UK study found that eating 6 or more servings of an organic vegetable other than potatoes each day cut the risk of death by all causes AND slashed the risk of all heart attacks and also cut the risk of strokes about half as much as fruit.

The even better news is that another study found that eating THREE or more servings of an organic vegetable other than potatoes each day AND doing an effective exercise program most days of every week had much the same effect!

This is great news because eating 3 servings of organic vegetables is more doable and manageable in the kitchen than eating 6 to 10!

And, it’s also great news because doing an effective exercise program most days of every week has a very long list of OTHER health benefits!

Conclusion:

Incredibly, you can cut your risk of heart attacks and strokes even more with many other methods that you can use also.

But just doing the first two has tested to be so effective, if you’d prefer not to get strokes, do these first two alone and you can worry a LOT less!

This is only PART of what can be done to prevent harm from strokes and heart attacks and avoid them totally.

Few people have high blood pressure so high that they should take drugs too!

Up to 150 over 90 or even 159 over 99, a Cochrane study found that for people who do these protective things or even most of the most important ones, adding drugs to lower their blood pressure, adding blood pressure drugs did NOT result in any less strokes or heart attacks or deaths!

Simply put, when these priority protections are put into place, spending money on blood pressure drugs to get below those levels as these new guidelines suggest  is a waste of money.

Not only that, it subjects the people who do it to extremely undesirable reductions in their quality of life and even harm from falls as the HSI article describes!