Human Heart - source: Yale University

(Best Syndication News) Hibiscus tea may lower blood pressure up to 13 percent. According to a report from the trade publication Pharmaceutical Technology, subjects that drank hibiscus tea daily were able to lower their blood pressure compared to their placebo counterparts.

Diane L. McKay, a nutritionist at the Antioxidants Research Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging said "Daily consumption of three cups of hibiscus tea, an amount readily incorporated into the diet, lowers blood pressure in pre- and mildly hypertensive adults and may prove an effective component of the dietary changes recommended for people at risk of developing hypertension."

Risk Factors For Atrial Fibrillation

Researchers have identified risk factors associated with atrial fibrillation. They hope that this information may be used to help prevent the disease in the future by providing heart patients with a risk score.

The risk factors identified are: older age, being male, being overweight, hypertension, having a heart murmur and a history of heart failure. While the risk factors have been looked at individually in the past, this new finding may help develop a scoring system.

Lead researcher Dr. Emelia Benjamin, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at Boston University School of Medicine said “We know a lot about the prevention of many different types of vascular disease, but there has been very little attention paid to preventing AF.”

Atrial fibrillation can be treated with either medication or surgery. It is the most common for of arrhythmia in the United States and affects 2.2 million Americans.

Dialysis Patients Benefit From Lower Blood Pressure

Lowering the blood pressure of dialysis patients can reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD). Kidney dialysis patients tend to have high blood pressure and are at a higher risk for dying from heart disease.

After evaluating data from eight studies, Australian researchers concluded that controlling blood pressure may reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. Vlado Perkovic at the George Institute in Sydney said "Risk of cardiovascular events (such as heart attack or stroke) is 29 percent lower in people with lower blood pressure than the control group."

They found that lowering blood pressure significantly reduced the rate of death in dialysis patients. They concluded that blood pressure lowering treatment should routinely be considered for individuals undergoing dialysis to protect patients from the high rate of cardiovascular disease such as heart attack and stroke. This will reduce their risk of dying.

By Dan Wilson

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