Diverticulosis is a health condition where small pouches or bulges form in the wall of the intestine. This usually happens as people get older.
Most of the time, it doesn’t cause any symptoms. But in some cases, it can lead to pain, infection, or more serious health problems.
Another very common condition is high blood pressure. About one in ten adults around the world has it. High blood pressure can lead to heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes. Doctors often suggest lifestyle changes, like eating healthy food and exercising more. In many cases, they also prescribe medicines to help control it.
Researchers from Imperial College London recently studied some of these medicines to find out if they might cause any unexpected side effects. The study was led by Dr. Dipender Gill.
His team looked at three types of common blood pressure drugs: ACE-inhibitors, beta-blockers, and calcium channel blockers. These medicines are widely used, but scientists are still discovering all the ways they affect the body.
The team used a method called genetic analysis. This helps researchers understand how our genes respond to certain drugs.
First, they studied proteins in the body that the drugs target to lower blood pressure. Then, they looked at genetic information from around 750,000 people to find out if differences in those genes—similar to the effects of the drugs—were linked to other diseases.
They used data from the UK Biobank, a large database that contains health records from many people in the UK. The team studied whether people with certain genetic markers had higher risks of nearly 900 different health problems.
One key finding was about a type of calcium channel blocker, called non-dihydropyridines. These drugs work by relaxing blood vessels so blood can flow more easily. But the researchers found that people taking this kind of drug might have a higher chance of getting diverticulosis.
Why? The scientists think it may be because the drug slows down how food moves through the gut. If food moves too slowly, it can increase pressure in the intestines. That pressure might lead to the formation of those small pouches, causing diverticulosis.
Even though this is an important discovery, experts say there is no need to panic. People should not stop taking their medicine without speaking to their doctor. These drugs are still very important for lowering high blood pressure and preventing serious problems like strokes or heart attacks.
This study shows us that even trusted medicines can have side effects we didn’t know about. It also shows why it is important to keep doing research. Since millions of people take these drugs, learning more about their full effects can help doctors give better and safer treatment.
In the future, more research may help us find ways to keep the good effects of these drugs while avoiding the risks. But for now, the best thing to do is talk to your doctor if you have any concerns about your medicine.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies about why checking blood pressure while lying down is very important and lowering top blood pressure number to less than 120 mm Hg effectively prevents heart disease.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies that turmeric and vitamin D may boost blood pressure control in type 2 diabetes and scientists find link between blood pressure drugs and bowel diseases.
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