Using less amount of salt in diet can lead to slight reduction in blood pressure in the medium term, a new study has claimed.
However, whether in the long term this can also reduce the risk of late complications in people with sustained high blood pressure, otherwise known as essential hypertension, and whether in the long term their anti-hypertensive medication can be reduced remains unresolved, the study by the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) concluded.
The study has been published in the form of a rapid report on 20 July 2009. This rapid report is part of a package commissioned by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), in which the benefit of various non-drug treatment strategies for high blood pressure are to be assessed. Stress management and more physical activity are also included, as well as giving up smoking and cutting down alcohol consumption.
This rapid report was prepared on the basis of secondary literature. In principle, this can be done if current, high quality systematic reviews are already available on a given topic. This was the case with reducing salt intake in hypertension, as IQWiG''s preliminary search revealed.
To reach the conclusion, IQWiG searched for systematic reviews that compared the following patients with hypertension: an intervention group, which was to follow a low-salt diet over a long period, versus a control group, which either did not have this target or whose salt reduction was not so great as in the intervention group.
The minimum duration of the studies had to be 4 weeks. In order not to overlook any current and potentially relevant studies, IQWiG also conducted an update search of recently published primary studies.
IQWiG was able to include in its assessment 7 reviews, in which the results of between 520 and 3391 participants from a total of 62 randomized controlled trials were analysed together.
IQWiG found that no conclusions on late complications could be drawn from the available data. The reason for this is that none of the studies had the primary goal of investigating the effects of a low-salt diet on cardiovascular disease or all-cause mortality.
However, the investigations consistently show that a reduction in salt intake can assist in lowering blood pressure: over a period of up to one year, there was a mean drop of 3.6 to 8 mmHg in systolic values and a mean drop of approximately 2 to 3 mmHg in diastolic values. This applied primarily to patients who did not take any additional anti-hypertensive drugs.
The sustainability of this effect, however, remains unclear.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
It’s official: Reduced Salt intake lowers BP
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sex can stop a cold & Diabetes
A healthy sex drive will leave you peaking in more ways than one. People who have a lot of nookie experience health benefits which can leave them in much better physical form than those who don't. Sex can help fight flab, ward off colds and make you live longer, as reported in The Sun.
According to Jennifer Bass, of sex research centre The Kinsey Institute, "There is definitely a correlation between health and sex. If you are healthier, you are going to have more sex. "Making love provides a cardiovascular workout and floods the body with feel-good chemicals."
Longer life
Sex is associated with good health and a longer life, a survey by the American Association of Retired Persons reveals.
Almost half of over-50s - 44 per cent - who described their health as excellent or very good had intercourse at least once a week.
But just 20 per cent of those with only fair or poor health made love this often.
It could be due to dehydroepiandrosterone - DHEA - which floods the body during sex and surges on orgasm.
Bloodstream levels of this hormone are five times higher than normal when sexual pleasure peaks. DHEA has been shown to be beneficial in fighting reduced insulin response and middle-age spread.
Blood pressure
In the heat of the hump, sex increases blood pressure but in the long run it reduces it - cutting the risk of stroke, says The Sun.
A study in Biological Psychology says regular sex lowers diastolic blood pressure - the lower number that shows the reading when your heart is resting.
Satisfying sex also increases output of the chemical transmitter dopamine, which improves relaxation and counteracts stress hormones associated with hypertension.
Low libido can also be an early warning of blood pressure problems. Doctors know that men who have hypertension are likely to have erectile dysfunction.
And Greek researchers recently discovered it has an even greater impact on women.
Four out of ten with high blood pressure go off sex, compared to three in ten men.
Combats diabetes
The exercise and calorie burning benefits of sex help reduce Type 2 diabetes risk.
A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that DHEA, released when we orgasm, improves insulin action. It also combats central obesity.
Carrying weight around the stomach is a known risk factor for diabetes because the flab releases hormones called adipokines that seem to impair the body's glucose tolerance. Animal studies show DHEA protects against this damage too.
Heart boost
Men who have sex less than once a month are twice as likely to have a fatal heart attack than men who make love at least twice a week.
Sun GP Dr Carol Cooper says: "Sex is great for the cardiovascular system but how much you get out depends on how much effort you put in.
Bonking three times a week could halve the risk of stroke
"If it's not getting your heart racing, you're doing it wrong.
"Patients with heart problems sometimes worry about dying on the job, but that's very rare. If you can manage two flights of stairs you are probably fit enough for sex."
Because it boosts circulation, sex increases the supply of oxygen to cells and stimulates the activity of various organs and systems within the body.
Erectile dysfunction can also indicate cardiovascular problems.
Weight control
Sun fitness expert Nicki Waterman says: "Just 30 minutes of sex will burn around 200 calories, so if you have sex five days a week, that's equivalent to two-and-a-half hours in the gym.
"For best results, women can hop on top because this will help firm their thighs and tone their belly."
An orgasm can burn 60-100 calories, 30 minutes of snogging will blitz 90 calories.
And orgasms release both enkephalins and dopamine. These feel-good body chemicals help to reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol which is associated with weight gain, particularly around the tummy.
They also flood the body with DHEA, which attacks belly fat, according to researchers at Washington Univeristy School of Medicine. Volunteers were given 50mg of DHEA and a second group took a dummy pill.
Women lost 10.2 per cent of their abdominal fat and men lost 7.4 per cent.
(As reported in The Sun)
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