The Telegraph reports that researchers have reviewed studies and found that blood pressure drugs reduced the risk of a heart attack and stroke even in people whose blood pressure was not raised to start with.
Blood pressure medication can be a big help to people with high blood pressure but I find it alarming when 'experts' recommend pharmaceutical drugs for everyone of a certain age to take for the rest of their lives. This is surely drug-pushing and should be resisted. It would certainly benefit the drug companies and their workers and shareholders. However, it would fill GP surgeries with the 'worried well' and be a great additional burden to the taxpayer.
To reduce blood pressure and the risk of stroke and heart attack there are two completely safe and cost-free measures that are crying out to be implemented. One is a curb on excessive prescribing by doctors, often in high dose, of drugs that actually RAISE blood pressure and RAISE the risk of heart attack. These include steroids like prednisone, prednisolone, cortisone and HRT, tricyclic anti-depressants like amitriptyline, anti-psychotics and other psychotropic drugs. The other safe, cost-free measure that would dramatically reduce blood pressure and risk of heart disease is to enact legal sanctions against food companies that put a lot of salt/sodium into their products. The threat of criminal prosecution for the directors of these companies would soon get the salt levels lowered, and people's health would benefit greatly, without recourse to mass medication and risk of side-effects from further drugs.
Another possible measure that could be taken is to introduce a swingeing tax on common salt. This would also result in lower salt levels in food and fewer people suffering from high blood pressure and heart problems and a host of other illnesses caused or exacerbated by salt sensitivity and salt intake.
Telegraph reference.
Written by Margaret Wilde
Margaret is the author of www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
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