Results from the European study IMMIDIET, published today in the Journal of Hypertension, official journal of the European Society of Hypertension and International Society of Hypertension, confirm that elevated blood pressure, an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, is still a looming problem in Europe.

As a risk factor for high blood pressure, low levels of potassium in
the diet may be as important as high levels of sodium—especially among African Americans, according to research being presented at the American Society of Nephrology's 41st Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Women who experience severe gestational hypertension may give birth to boys at lower risk for testicular cancer, although the exact reasons why are still unclear, according to a paper published in the November 1, 2008, issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Social environment may play a greater role in the disparity between the numbers of African Americans living with hypertension compared to non-Hispanic whites with the disease.

Scientists know that different normal and diseased tissues behave differently. But a method that tells them just how they do so may one day give medical science a new way to fight obesity, hypertension, diabetes and other dangerous disorders of the metabolism.

First, the bad news: More American adults have hypertension (high blood pressure) and prehypertension than ever before.

Chicken soup, that popular home remedy for the common cold sometimes known as "Grandma's Penicillin," may have a new role alongside medication and other medical measures in fighting high blood pressure, scientists in Japan are reporting.

A recent study shows that a loss of antioxidants in the endothelial cells that line blood vessels in the lungs contributes to the loss of vasodilator effects and, ultimately, to the development of pulmonary hypertension. The findings appear in Clinical and Translational Science.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have modified a honeybee venom toxin so that it can be used as a tool to study the inner workings of ion channels that control heart rate and the recycling of salt in kidneys. In general, ion channels selectively allow the passage of small ions such as sodium, potassium, or calcium into and out of the cell.

The drug allopurinol, which lowers uric acid levels, appears to reduce blood pressure in adolescents with newly diagnosed hypertension, according to a preliminary report in the August 27 issue of JAMA.

Taking 1000mg of a specific olive leaf extract (EFLA®943) can lower cholesterol and lower blood pressure in patients with mild hypertension (high blood pressure).

Patients with hypertension who monitored their blood pressure from home and received Web-based pharmacist care showed greater improvement in blood pressure control than patients who received usual care, according to a study in the June 25 issue of JAMA.