Chips for Health | Chip on Shoulder

Got High Blood Pressure?

try a chip on your shoulder?

We may literally have to shoulder the responsibility of taking our medicines in the future. Pharmaceutical company Novartis has found a microchip on the shoulder may be the perfect way to remind people with high blood pressure to take their pills.

Researchers trialled the system on 20 people who were taking blood pressure tablets. Each person put a microchip patch on their shoulders, and tablets also contained a tiny edible microchip of their own. The chips in the tablets told the shoulder chips when they had been taken.

When a person forgot to take their tablet, the shoulder chip sent a text message to their mobile phone - including the latest pay as you go phones - to remind them that their next one was due.

Over the six-month trial 80 per cent of people remembered to take their tablet every day, compared with 30 per cent before the trial started.

Mid-life high blood pressure raise dementia risk

Having high blood pressure, smoking or having diabetes in middle age dramatically increases the risk of developing dementia in later life.

Researchers in the US looked at the lifestyles of 11,151 people age 46-70 years and followed their health for 12-14 years.

The study (published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry) found that, for people aged less than 55 years:

• Having high blood pressure increases the risk of dementia
• Smoking increases the risk of dementia five-fold
• Having diabetes increases the risk of dementia three-fold

In fact, people who had high blood pressure were 60% more likely to develop dementia than people who didn't have high blood pressure. While people who were smoking were 70% more like to develop dementia in later life than those people who had never smoked. People who had diabetes were more than 100% more likely to develop than people without diabetes.

Dementia is caused by damage to the blood vessels supplying the brain. High blood pressure, smoking and diabetes all damage the insides of these arteries and may explain the link between these conditions and a raised risk of dementia in later life.

These findings reinforce the need for everyone - especially in middle age - to take good care of their health by eating healthily, being regularly active and keeping to a healthy weight.

Pants that measure blood pressure.

Leading electrical development company Philips has begun its campaign to become a recognised authority in the health care market and has announced that it has made a patent application of undergarments that can measure blood pressure. The so called 'smarty pants' contain electronic sensors stitched into the waist band elastic and are designed to measure the speed of the pulse - by measuring this velocity and the time taken for the same pulse to go from one sensor to another the pants will calculate the wearers systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

High blood pressure has no visible symptoms and pants like these will allow the wearers to discretely check their blood pressure and seek medical help should they continue to record high readings.

These smart pants are part of a 4 year programme that Philips hopes will incorporate monitoring systems into clothes, bedding, home appliances and vehicles - Land Rover have been using similar terrain sensor technologies in their best selling SUV's to improve its safety and intend to extend this into other models.

The next time your GP asks you to drop your pants - it could be to check your blood pressure.

Lower blood pressure herbal remedies, garlic, hawthorn - alternative treatments

“Limited and inadequate evidence is available to support the use of garlic, herbal and other complementary medicines to lower blood pressure.”

This is the conclusion of the British Hypertension Society Guidelines 2004 when asked for a statement regarding herbal remedies.

The fact that herbal remedies are natural does not guarantee that they are safe.

Many country dwellers favour such remedies in the same manner as opting for a land rover when other more modern and effective methods are now available.

You should be very careful about taking herbs to treat your high blood pressure. They should not be used in place of conventional treatments and if you do decide to take them as a supplement to your regular medication, you should tell both your doctor and your herbalist about the other medicines you take. Some herbs can interact with conventional medicines and may be harmful.

Will hawthorn products lower my blood pressure?

Hawthorn is an country-folk remedy for many cardiovascular issues. There's little evidence of real benefit and none that hawthorn helps to lower blood pressure.

Can eating lots of garlic lower blood pressure?

In the absence of large, properly controlled experiments and studies of garlic that show that eating lots of garlic can lower blood pressure. Whilst garlic supplements aren't recommended to take to help lower high blood pressure, using it in your cooking as a flavouring can help you reduce the salt and help your low sodium diet!

Salt - easy on the white stuff this Christmas

It is high time that the popular television cookery programmes presented by celebrity chefs took notice of the clear health message about salt and its effect on blood pressure. Organisations such as Action on Salt whose information is based on research of leading cardiologists and nutrition experts are raising awareness of the impact that salt in our diet has.

Surely pressure needs to but placed where it will have a mass audience - would it be so hard for Nigella et al to hold back on the generous sprinklings of salt - if they truely were great cooks they would allow the natural flavours to prevail and help reduce high blood pressure and associated heart diseases.

Make a New Year resolution early - cut the salt this Christmas.

For detailed references see evidence of salt and its effect on health, salt and suggestions to help people reduce salt in food

Broadband solution to online blood pressure records

Microsoft - heard of them somwhere before - are entering the healthcare industry with their Healthvault. HealthVault will be an online system in which you will be able to view, your complete health records.

Users will be able to view information from medical devices such as blood pressure machines and body fat monitors. For example those using the latest digital blood pressure monitors such as the Omron M10 can connect to the internet by broadband and will be able to upload their results through their pc directly over the internet whilst taking the readings.

With sensitive medical information wizzing down the line it becomes increasingly important that you choose a trusted, reputable broadband provider such as British Telecoms in the UK who not only offer cheap broadband but fast transfer speeds with additional online privacy and security which is reassuring - "Patients need to be convinced that electronic personal health records (ePHRs) are safe" a group of leading academics have warned.

Healthvault have the following statement on their site: "Whether you are searching for the most up to date treatments, refer to existing health records, get test results or monitor physical readings Healthvault provides the control you need.