Patients can Control High Blood Pressure With Weight-loss Diet, Medications

Following a weight-loss diet or using the medication orlistat may help reduce weight and blood pressure in patients with hypertension, says a new study.

The study is a meta-analysis of previously published studies conducted by researchers at Medical University of Graz, Australia, led by Dr. Karl Horvath.

The boddins performed a meta-analysis of 48 articles that were published before March 2007 and analyzed weight-loss interventions for patients with hypertension.

38 of the studies assessed diet and 10 focused on medications for weight loss, including five evaluating orlistat and five assessing sibutramine.

The researchers found that dieting and medication helped lower blood pressure in High BP patients.

“Reduction of blood pressure was higher in patients treated with weight loss diets or orlistat,” they stated.

Sibutramine treatment, however, did not lower overall blood pressure and appeared to increase systolic (top number) blood pressure.

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“A reduction in body weight of approximately 4 kilograms [8.8 pounds] was necessary to achieve a reduction of approximately 6 milligrams of mercury in systolic blood pressure with dietary treatment and of approximately 2.5 milligrams of mercury with orlistat,” the authors added.

The study was reported in the March 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

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Source-ANI
SRM/L