Posted on 03/24/2008 12:13:13 AM PDT by neverdem
A new vaccine lowers blood pressure in hypertensive people, a study shows. The finding breaks ground in a field dominated by drug therapy.
Surges in blood pressure make physical exertion possible, but chronically elevated pressure spells trouble. Scientists have entertained the idea of immunizing people against high blood pressure for decades, but it hasn't been easy. The only other vaccine to reach the testing stage in people failed to reduce blood pressure.
A vaccine may augment or offer an alternative to blood pressure medications, known to cause side effects.
Several compounds orchestrate blood pressure changes, including a small protein called angiotensin. When cleaved by an enzyme, angiotensin signals blood vessels to constrict, increasing pressure.
Researchers created the new vaccine by binding angiotensin to a harmless fragment of a virus. The protein "is then recognized by the immune system as a virus," says study coauthor Martin Bachmann, an immunologist at Cytos Biotechnology in Schlieren, Switzerland. The immune system makes antibodies against angiotensin and pulls it out of circulation.
Bachmann and his colleagues gave 48 people with mild-to-moderate high blood pressure three injections of the vaccine over 12 weeks. Some received higher doses than others. Another 24 volunteers received sham injections. All patients used devices that monitored their blood pressure regularly day and night.
Two weeks after the last shot, those getting a higher dose of vaccine averaged systolic (top number) blood pressure that was 9 points less than those getting the placebo shots, the researchers report in the March 8 Lancet. The diastolic (bottom number) reading dropped only 4 points, a difference that could reflect chance.
However, compared with the sham-injection group, participants getting the higher vaccine dose had reductions of 25 points for the systolic reading and 13 points for the diastolic during early morning, when their risk of stroke...
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
I have chronic hypertension. Beta blockers do a fair job of keeping it down, but I wouldn’t mind getting a vaccination every seventeen weeks, if it would help stabilize things.
Don’t forget, though, the law of unintended consequences. You don’t know what kind of havoc something like those could wreak with your immune system.
Eat more bananas (potassium) and/or take Olive Leaf Extract.
Seriously.
I take potassium, but sugar in fruit or any other means is a no no. I’ll have to try the olive leaf extract.
Where does one get Olive Leaf Extract?
From OLEEC, the Olive Leaf Extract Exporting Countries cartel. It's about $110 a barrel. Biodiesel?
Much appreciated.
Is the avoidance of fruit sugar because of diabetes?
Wasn’t a simialar scenario used in Will Smith’s “I Am Legend”?
Not to mention going on a “Zone” like diet. My mother had hypertension for years, and finally stumbled upon a doctor that told her to cut out white flour, increase lean proteins and veggie intake. She is now considered in the normal range.
I didn’t know that about Olive Leaf Extract for hypertension. I take it for colds and sinus infections and such. It works wonders for that!
mr. mm went on a low sodium diet for his kidney stones and his blood pressure dropped right to normal. Potassium helps with sodium regulation.
have had it since I was 16 - now 45 - Ive been on them all - they lower nothing but my flag pole
My doctor has learned not to even mention a new drug to me. Unless I can be shown the double blind study showing it to be both safe and effective, he knows it is not going in me. Why would I want to be part of the test?
I have been sending Pressur-Lo tabs that are based on Hawthorn berries with lots of other stuff in it to two nuns in Viet Nam who have hypertension, one pretty severely. Both have good results from it. The severe one has added a Zona Plus device, which I also sent, to the pills. In a couple of weeks I will find out how well that works.
Yes. About eight years ago I had a colon resection, and while in the hospital the doctors put me on insulin, and told me I would have to stay on it. Well, I ruptured, ended up staying in the hospital for 30 days without eating, and miracle of miracles, my blood sugar went down to normal. I eventually modified my diet to the point that I am off all blood sugar medications, and my doctor tells me I am no longer diabetic.
Yes. About eight years ago I had a colon resection, and while in the hospital the doctors put me on insulin, and told me I would have to stay on it. Well, I ruptured, ended up staying in the hospital for 30 days without eating, and miracle of miracles, my blood sugar went down to normal. I eventually modified my diet to the point that I am off all blood sugar medications, and my doctor tells me I am no longer diabetic.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.