Diet pills May bridle Hypertension

According to a new research review weight loss drugs Xenical may ease high blood pressure. Reaching and maintaining a healthy weight helps treat or prevent high blood pressure (hypertension). And a healthy diet and active lifestyle are important for blood pressure, too.

Dieters often wish for a magic pill that will help them lose weight. Now there is a new one showing promising results. The first studies of the new diet drug, taranabant, reveal that obese people lose weight and burn more calories on the drug. Taranabant works by blocking cannabinoid receptors in the brain. The idea came about from marijuana. For years doctors have known that marijuana increases the appetite by stimulating the cannabinoid receptors. So, the idea is to block them with drugs like taranabant. However, studies show the drug has increased side effects when used at higher doses.

Seven of the reviewed studies focused on diet, not drugs. Together, the studies included 1,632 patients. Some patients were assigned to go on weight loss diets. For comparison, others didn't change their eating habits.

The studies lasted for at least six months. During that time, the dieters shed 9 pounds more than those who kept their diets. The dieters also trimmed 6 extra points off their systolic blood pressure (the first number in a blood pressure reading) and about 3 extra points off their diastolic blood pressure (the second number in a blood pressure reading), compared with those who didn't diet.

Patients taking Xenical or Meridia lost 8.2 more pounds, on average, than those taking the placebos.Compared with placebo, Xenical was linked to an average systolic blood pressure improvement of 2.5 points and an average diastolic blood pressure improvement of 2 points.

But Meridia users had an average increase of about 3 points in their systolic blood pressure, compared with placebo. "Although [Meridia] treatment reduced body weight, it did not lower or might even elevate blood pressure," write Horvath and colleagues.

Source: Meridia.net.