Taking Off Pounds Lowers Blood Pressure
For success, though, weight loss must come before obesity sets in

(HealthDay News) -- People who lose excess weight may discover an unexpected benefit: Their blood pressure drops along with the pounds.

But, for blood pressure to fall to healthy levels, the weight loss must be achieved before excess weight becomes obesity, said Dr. Roberto Fogari, professor of medicine at the University of Pavia in Italy , who presented the findings of his study to a meeting of the American Heart Association's Council for High Blood Pressure Research.

"The study suggests that, in many cases, hypertension [high blood pressure] is secondary to overweight," Fogari told HealthDay . "So, in the first stages of overweight, if we can induce people to reduce overweight, they can also avoid being treated for hypertension."

According to the AARP, one in three American adults has hypertension, which increases the risk for cardiovascular disease. Many people, though, don't know they have it, because hypertension has no symptoms or warning signs. Because of its danger to people's health, it's been nicknamed "the silent killer."

Fogari's study included 210 men and women whose body mass index -- a ratio of weight to height -- was between 25 and 29.9, indicating that they were overweight, but just short of the 30 mark that indicates obesity. Their systolic blood pressure was between 140 and 159, and their diastolic pressure was between 90 and 99, indicating moderately high blood pressure.

A low-calorie diet was designed for each study participant. Some also were prescribed orlistat, a drug that prevents fat from being metabolized.

After six months, 53 percent of the men and 49 percent of the women in the study were down to a normal body weight and had experienced a 5 percent reduction in blood pressure.

"The other 50 percent of those in the study already had abnormal changes in the vascular tree [blood vessel system], so that hypertension was no longer reversible by losing weight," Fogari said.

The implication for moderately overweight people with high blood pressure is straightforward, Fogari said: Lose weight.

That should happen before blood-pressure-lowering medications are considered, he said. "Only after six months of trying to reduce the patient's weight can a decision be made about drug treatment," Fogari said.

Dr. Daniel W. Jones, dean of the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, told HealthDay that the study "is not new news, but it is important news." Other research has shown that weight loss can help reduce blood pressure, Jones said, "but this is an increasingly important problem in societies around the world."

And, he stressed, "Once you gain weight, you find it difficult to lose weight, which is why we focus so much on preventing obesity these days."

On the Web

To learn more about controlling blood pressure, visit the American Heart Association online.

SOURCES: HealthDay News ; Roberto Fogari, M.D., professor of medicine, University of Pavia, Italy; Daniel W. Jones, M.D., dean, University of Mississippi School of Medicine, Jackson, Miss.; Sept. 28, 2007, fall meeting, American Heart Association Council for High Blood Pressure Research, Tucson, Ariz.; AARP (www.aarp.org)
Author: Anne Thompson
Publication Date: Sept. 30, 2008
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