High blood pressure numbers can do a real number on your brain health.

If you’ve read my book The Blood Pressure Miracle, then you know what a devastating impact high blood pressure has on heart health. But what you may not know is that high blood pressure jeopardizes our mental health as well.

Over the years, multiple studies have shown links between deteriorating brain health and high blood pressure.  One such study recently published in the journal Stroke found that older people with high blood pressure tended to have a greater accumulation of white matter on their brains.  Past studies on people with various forms of dementia—including Alzheimer’s disease—have found that people with the most severe forms of dementia have this so-called white matter.  White matter is basically scarring that’s formed on the brain.

Another study linking high blood pressure to dementia was published in the online issue of the Journal of Clinical Hypertension (December 2009).  Among the 1,400 elderly women studied over the eight-year study, a certain segment had “significantly more” lesions by study’s end.  What portion?  You guessed it—the ones with high blood pressure.

Not surprisingly, researchers believe that the longer high blood pressure goes unchecked, the greater risk there is for dementia.  And since high blood pressure is known as “the silent killer,” this is a serious concern that happens all the time.

Researchers are so sure of this hypertension/dementia link that the big dog on campus, the National Institutes of Health, is recruiting thousands of elderly people with high blood pressure to take part in their study.

The manner in which the recruits will be treated is not yet known, but I’d be willing to bet that they’ll be treated with some kind of statin.

You already know how I feel about statins, but if statins are the way the researchers go for treatment, fine by me.   The natural method is the ideal method, but when people have dangerously high blood pressure levels, desperate times call for desperate measures.

High blood pressure is one of the leading health risk factors for heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in America.  According to the CDC, approximately 630,000 people died from heart disease in 2006 (the latest year available with this kind of information).   Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, is the seventh most common cause of death in the country.  Approximately 72,450 people died from Alzheimer’s in 2006.

If you want to know how to get your blood pressure under control naturally, then you’re in the right place. Natural Health On The Web is an ideal place to begin your research.  There is plenty of free information on high blood pressure available to you on this website.  I suggest starting in the following section: High Blood Pressure.

Sources:
newsmaxhealth.com
cdc.gov

Alcohol intake impacts Dementia Risk, study concludes.

In a recent posting, I talked about the importance of moderation in all things and used prostate cancer as an example.  How something like alcohol could be beneficial to avoiding the deadly disease when drunk in moderation, but how it can actually increase the chances of getting it when taken in excess.

Well, finding that “booze balance” also applies to dementia, for according to a new report, moderate alcohol consumption can stave off the brain disease, but it can trigger dementia if drunk in excess.

The Wake Forest University study looked at over 3,000 healthy men and women over the age of 75.  Each of the participants were part of a larger study, called the Gingko Evaluation of Memory Study.  Through this study, the researchers were able to identify which participants had zero cognitive impairment and those who had mild cognitive impairment (a number of different tests were run to determine this).  None of the participants had full-fledged dementia at the study’s outset (only about 500 of them had mild cognitive impairment; the rest were quite brain healthy).

Through questionnaires, the researchers then determined what each participant’s drinking behavior was.  In other words, were they stone-cold sober (zero drinks over the course of a week), sporadic drinkers (one to seven per week, moderate drinkers (eight to 14) or heavy drinkers (14 or more).

Here’s what they discovered at the conclusion of the six-year study:  First, about 500 of the participants went on to be diagnosed with full-fledged dementia, which is a pretty good percentage of the total (about 12 percent).  But the study’s real takeaway was how much the participants drank or didn’t drink and whether or not dementia was their fate.

They found that those who drank moderate amounts of alcohol were much less likely to be among those diagnosed with dementia – 40 percent less likely, in fact – compared to those who were heavy drinkers or light drinkers.

But what about between the heavy drinkers and light drinkers?  Which one fared better there?  You guessed it – the light drinkers.
While the light drinkers were more likely to be diagnosed with dementia than the moderate drinkers, heavy drinkers were twice as likely to be diagnosed with dementia as the light drinkers.

In other words, if you’re debating between too much or too little, you’re definitely better off going the “too little” route.

The study will eventually be published, but the findings were presented at the International Association Conference for Alzheimer’s in Vienna, Austria on July 13.

Now, this study defines “moderate” as between eight and 14 drinks.  If you ask me, that’s a bit much, especially if that amount is in the 12-14 range week after week.  As I wrote in my piece about moderation, I define moderate drinking as 1 to 2 glasses of wine per day, preferably one.  And I stand behind that.  It’s fine to have more than seven glasses of wine per week occasionally, but it shouldn’t go much further than eight to 10.

Source:
msnbc.msn.com