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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Approximately seven million people worldwide die each year from high blood pressure (hypertension), a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. While you probably know losing weight can lower blood pressure, a new study says combining diet with certain medications may cut that risk even more.
Lowering blood pressure in patients with hypertension can reduce cardiovascular risk and decrease illness and death, researchers say, and weight loss can be a key factor in achieving that goal. A meta-analysis of 48 studies published before March 2007 found losing weight by pairing a healthy diet with weight-loss medication can help lower blood pressure.
"Weight reduction is recommended in major guidelines as an initial intervention in the treatment of hypertension patients," study authors write. Researchers say patients asked to follow weight loss diets lost more weight when using drugs like orlistat (alli) or sibutramine (Meridia). In turn, blood pressure reduction was even greater for patients taking orlistat; however, researchers say sibutramine treatment did not lower blood pressure. It actually appeared to increase systolic (top number) blood pressure.
"A reduction in body weight of approximately four kilograms [8.8 pounds] was necessary to achieve a reduction of approximately six milligrams of mercury in systolic blood pressure with dietary treatment and of approximately 2.5 milligrams of mercury with orlistat," the authors write.
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SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2008;168:571-580
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
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