High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a big health issue in the United States. It’s a major cause of heart disease and stroke. These are two of the top causes of death in the country.
Lots of American adults—tens of millions, in fact—have high blood pressure. Many of them don’t have it under control.
A Step Forward in Understanding High Blood Pressure
Now, a recent study from the University of Virginia brings some good news. It found a key factor that could help create better treatments for high blood pressure.
The discovery helps us better understand how our bodies control blood pressure. It also shows how problems with this process can lead to high blood pressure.
High blood pressure affects more than 116 million American adults. It played a role in more than 670,000 deaths in the United States in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If not controlled, high blood pressure can damage the heart. It also raises the risk for stroke and other health problems.
Blood Pressure and Calcium: What’s The Connection?
One way our bodies control blood pressure involves calcium in our blood vessel walls. These walls have smooth muscle cells. These cells take in calcium and use it to control how much our blood vessels tighten or relax.
We often treat high blood pressure with “calcium blockers.” These drugs lower the amount of calcium that moves around in these cells.
But they can have side effects. That’s because they block a process that many parts of our bodies need to function properly.
A new kind of treatment might target only the harmful effects of calcium, not the helpful ones. That could be a big help to people with high blood pressure.
What Did The Study Discover?
The research team found two important signaling centers in the smooth muscle cells. These centers control calcium and, therefore, blood pressure.
The scientists compare these centers to symphony conductors. They direct blood vessels to tighten or relax as needed.
The researchers found that these centers play a big role in keeping blood pressure healthy.
They also found that problems with this process can lead to high blood pressure. Both in mice with the disease and in people with high blood pressure, the balance between the two centers gets lost.
That causes the blood vessels to get too tight. And that drives up blood pressure.
The Future of High Blood Pressure Treatment
These new findings could be a big help in developing better treatments for high blood pressure. They give scientists new targets to aim for.
However, more research is needed. We need to understand more about how our bodies use calcium.
The study was published in the scientific journal Circulation.
If you care about high blood pressure, please read studies that early time-restricted eating could help improve blood pressure, and natural coconut sugar could help reduce blood pressure and artery stiffness.
For more information about blood pressure, please see recent studies about added sugar in your diet linked to higher blood pressure, and results showing vitamin D could improve blood pressure in people with diabetes.
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