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46% of Americans Now Have High Blood Pressure (nbcnews.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the having-hypertension dept.

"Millions more Americans will now be diagnosed with high blood pressure," reports NBC News, which describes the condition as "one of the leading killers around the world." Anyone with blood pressure higher than 130/80 will be considered to have hypertension, or high blood pressure, the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology said in releasing their new joint guidelines. "It's very clear that lower is better," said Dr. Paul Whelton of Tulane University, who chaired the committee that wrote the guidelines... 130/80 to 139/89 is now considered Stage 1 hypertension and anything 140/90 or above will be considered stage 2 hypertension...

"Rather than one in three U.S. adults having high blood pressure (32 percent) with the previous definition, the new guidelines will result in nearly half of the U.S. adult population (46 percent) having high blood pressure, or hypertension," the groups said in a joint statement... While people may be confused by the change, the heart experts said three years of reviewing the research showed that many fewer people die if high blood pressure is treated earlier. "We are comfortable with the recommendations. They are based on strong evidence," Whelton said.
Slashdot reader 140Mandak262Jamuna blames the pharmaceutical lobby, arguing that "a few years down the line, we all will be taking blood pressure medications," though Dr. Robert Carey of the University of Virginia, who helped write the guidelines, claims there will only be a 1.9% increase.

The new guidelines recommend that everyone watch their diet and exercise, and that people with stage 1 hypertension should also first try eating less salt, more vegetables, fruits, and whole grains before taking blood pressure medications.

20 of 295 comments (clear)

  1. Well... by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Millions more will be diagnosed now that the numbers have been adjusted to sell more prescriptions.

    --
    "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
    1. Re:Well... by hey! · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Controlling mild hypertension with prescriptions is a choice. You *can* do it with lifestyle changes.

      I did it; I dropped my blood pressure from 128/86 to 105/60, without medication, through diet and exercise. It's not that hard, but the reason I succeeded where many like me fail is that as a geek measuring, tracking and evaluating data comes naturally to me. Measure everything; weigh your food, log it, analyze the results. If you try to obtain 100% of all your required nutrients without supplementation and within a wight maintenance level of calorie intake you're automatically forced to eat healthy.

      Eating healthy and exercise in moderation will turn most borderline cases of hypertension around, but it takes some discipline.

      Why did I bother? Becuase the consequences of hypertension really really suck. It's a disease with no symptoms but horrible complications. Think of all the things you consider as part of "aging" -- physical frailty, loss of memory and in some cases thinking ability. A lot of this isn't a result of the unavoidable genetics of aging; they're the result of things like heart attacks, strokes, and vascular dementia all of which are consequences of high blood pressure.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    2. Re: Well... by ishmaelflood · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "How about campaigning for affordable healthy food?"

      How about just buying affordable healthy food? Buy a chicken, roast it. Buy some frozen peas. Buy a cabbage. Boil them. Buy sweet potato and pumpkin. roast them(no fat).

      Which part of that is beyond the culinary abilities of a 10 year old? Which part is expensive?

    3. Re:Well... by alvinrod · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem is that too many American's let their health go to shit and then demand some kind of pill to fix the problem. High blood pressure is something that can be treated with changes to diet and exercise for the vast majority of people. Using medication should only be reserved for a very limited number of cases or for people who have particular medical conditions that make other approaches impossible.

      People like to complain about how awful the American health care system is, but I'd argue that it's easily one of the best in the world. I can't imagine many other systems that could manage to keep alive a group of people as chronically unhealthy as the Americans. That the first thought is that this is being done so that there can be more prescriptions handed out for medication shows just how unhealthy the thinking about health care in America has become. The summary even ends by stating that medication isn't recommended for people who now fall into this new category of high blood pressure, but the first thought is to reach for a pill to fix things.

    4. Re:Well... by hey! · · Score: 3, Informative

      Depends on where the clams were harvested. In the US states regulate shellfishing; in my state (where the clams were harvested), shellfish beds are mapped and classified; some are entirely prohibited, others are entirely permitted, and some (where fecal-oral route pathogens in the water are a concern) require treatment in a depuration plant.

      Small amounts of bioaccumulating toxins like metals aren't any reason to avoid an occasional shellfish feast here, although you might not want to eat them every day. I might avoid shellfish altogether when visiting China with its poor environmental practices and lax health regulation enforcement.

      The biggest concern with occasional fried clam is exposure to rancid fat -- because that's something you can be continually exposed to in many places if you habitually eat fried food from not-very-good restaurants.

      I have no problem with GMO grains, but I consume grains overall in moderation because they pack a large calorie wallop for their limited nutrient payload. That makes it hard to incorporate large amount of grain (GMO or not) into a calorie limited nutrient complete diet. As for health advice, I stick to information in peer-reviewed literature review papers in high impact factor journals, plus common sense.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    5. Re: Well... by Aighearach · · Score: 3, Informative

      Only a small percent of the people with high blood pressure actually benefit from salt reduction. In the median patient, reducing dietary salt intake does not improve health outcomes .

      This is well known, though cue 5 people claiming to be RNs to respond claiming I'm murdering people by encouraging you to look up the actual risks of salt and high blood pressure and to ask the question, "Does it say salt is bad for everybody, or only for a minority of patients?"

    6. Re:Well... by Aighearach · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yor any other bottom feeders. These concentrate the toxins in the environment and are horribly bad for you.

      This is the same moronic bullshit that uneducated fisherman think up. What part of the food chain concentrates toxins? Is it "bottom-feeders?" Is it known to science?! Is it a mystery where we can just make up any random answer and it might be true? No. No, no, no, no, and no.

      Predators are the animals that concentrate toxins. Bottom feeders only concentrate toxins in very narrow conditions, for example in a bay with large amounts of water pollution. Predators concentrate all of the environmental toxins, including ones from bottom feeders!

      So you have some idiot fisherman accusing carp of concentrating toxins, but carp eat mostly plants and insects and are very low on the food chain; they only concentrate a little bit of toxins, mostly because of their long lifespan. A trout, that eats mostly meat, is concentrating way more toxins than a carp!

      This is why fish like Red Snapper, which are bottom feeders, have less toxins than Tuna; they're both carnivores, but tuna are higher on the food chain; more of their prey are also themselves predators, whereas most of the prey of a Snapper are small herbivores.

      Most bottom feeders are omnivores, they are not very high on the food chain.

    7. Re: Well... by jedidiah · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You have to add a LOT of salt to a real recipe to get it to resemble anything pre-packaged or bought at a restaurant. If you cook for yourself, "normal" people tend to think you're on some sort of radical low salt diet.

      Sometimes I need to consume extra electrolytes if I drink too much water to flush down my daily pharmacy with.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    8. Re:Well... by geekymachoman · · Score: 3, Insightful

      > I did it; I dropped my blood pressure from 128/86 to 105/60, without medication, through diet and exercise. It's not that hard, but the reason I succeeded where many like me fail is that as a geek measuring, tracking and evaluating data comes naturally to me.

      The reason most people 'fail' is because they don't see results immediately. They lack patience, discipline and proper motivation (eg. it's not "i want to be sexy" or "handsome"). I was like this, my GF is like this, I have couple of friends that mentioned it.. etc. It's hard to simulate physical labor and "enjoy" it, or at least.. stick with it as a lifestyle.
      Modern exercise is a simulation of real physical work which comes natural to us. Most people can do physical work, the work itself is a motivation and whatever the product of that work is... but when you take away that work (hence the product) and put a person on a treadmill, there is no natural goal anymore.. and health seems so abstract and far away that most people give up after an hour or so of running aimlessly ( so they feel ). And you have to plan for this, schedule it.. gym memberships etc. which adds to an extra headache.

      I for one *hate* gyms. I don't like sharing space with other people, sharing sweat especially. I don't like locker rooms, public showers etc. either. You will not see me in a gym.

      Point is. You don't need calculations, statistics and mathematics to stick with exercise. That might work for you, but I wouldn't agree it works for most people.
      What people need is a sense of accomplishment, and health + muscle mass etc. to be a CONSEQUENCE, and a side effect, not the main goal.
      If it's like this, and if people do physical labor for proper reasons, then the boredom, and lack of motivation sill not be an issue anymore.

      > Controlling mild hypertension with prescriptions is a choice. You *can* do it with lifestyle changes.

      This not being the common sense is what the problem is with modern society, especially western ones where this way of thinking seem to be prevalent.
      I'm sure if we manage to not kill ourselves, this will be one of the things mentioned in the history books as that retarded thing people from 2000s thought it's ok.
      Like we think that people 2000 years ago were stupid, ignorant, barbaric, etc... this is going down in history as one of the things stupid people of 21 century did.

      Stuff yourself with crap fake food full of chemicals that are not supposed to be there (preservatives, colorings, etc.) that, naturally, effect body chemistry as you're ingesting these, and then take more chemicals to try to fix the consequence of your bad diet and lack of physical movement... and then go about thinking it's actually normal to live like this.

      Good luck to you all.

  2. Life is a disease by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Death is the cure

  3. Re:wrong diet by DogDude · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you're in the USA better to skip the whole grains altogether except as occassional treat, monsanto and company's franken-wheat causes many digestive disorders and elevated blood sugar levels.

    That's complete bullshit. There's zero science behind that.

    --
    I don't respond to AC's.
  4. Chang your diet, change your life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At age 25, I was 6' 3", 160 lbs, and exercised. I had high blood pressure and the doc wanted to put me on medication. I thought I was too young for high blood pressure medication. I instead started eating salads instead of sandwiches, quit eating deli meat, and avoid processed and high sodium foods. I'm now 35, still 160 lbs, and my blood pressure is well within a normal range. You don't need pills. Eat healthy instead.

    1. Re: Chang your diet, change your life by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What the fuck are you talking about. It's exactly perfectly in the middle of the healthy BMI range. The fact that you think otherwise it's quite telling.

  5. Re:Absolute Joke by avandesande · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you don't want to get sick don't go to the doctor. Works for me!

    --
    love is just extroverted narcissism
  6. Re:wrong diet by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 4, Insightful

    >That's complete bullshit. There's zero science behind that.

    Indeed. You don't need frankenwheat to elevate your blood sugar. Regular wheat will do.

    --
    I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  7. try eating less salt by fustakrakich · · Score: 3, Informative

    Let me fix that for you:

    try eating less crap! try to find a less hostile working environment. and most important, don't take on debt.

    Breath slow and deep. Learn how to work a defibrillator.

    You're welcome

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  8. Pharma Not Getting Rich On This by chill · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sorry to burst everyone's bubble, but Big Pharma isn't getting rich on this one.

    I've been taking Lisinopril for high blood pressure for a couple years now and a 90 day supply (1 x 20 mg tablet) costs me $3.00 with insurance. Without insurance it is about 3x-4x higher, from what I've seen.

    At 1/3 of a penny per dose, *my cost*, that isn't exactly high profit margin. U.S. Patents expired in 2002, meaning right now it is one of the cheapest medications available. Over the counter aspirin costs more.

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  9. Now the nutrition experts emerge again by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And tell you that you eat all wrong and you have to eat ... well, whatever the latest eating craze is today. Eat this, eat that, and avoid this because it's poison. No matter that the next person recommends eating exactly that and only that, because what you just suggested is killing you within the year.

    You know what? Take your eating disorder in the making and stuff it. As we can see right now, whenever we manage to get healthier, we just move the goalpost on unhealthy. Lower number of heart diseases? Just invent a few new ones!

    We're getting older than ever before. And we die when we get to age 80 from diseases that didn't exist before because, guess what, we died from other diseases that we don't die from anymore. This is a GOOD thing people. Going on a diet that won't make you die at 80 because what you're eating now is slowly (insert bad thing for your body here) isn't going to do you any good if it gives you (bad thing that makes your organ fail) at 50. Then you won't die at 80 from (bad thing) but at 50 from (other bad thing).

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Now the nutrition experts emerge again by serviscope_minor · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Now the nutrition experts emerge again And tell you that you eat all wrong and you have to eat ... well, whatever the latest eating craze is today.

      The problem isn't nutrition experts, it's people who can't tell the difference between someone on late night TV trying to sell a snake-oil diet and actual nutrition experts.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
  10. Re:Absolute Joke by avandesande · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nitwits read things into other peoples comments that they didn't say.

    --
    love is just extroverted narcissism