Study Finds a Link Between Blood Pressure Drugs and Increased Breast Cancer Risk

Nearly one-third (32.7%) of American women have high blood pressure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While many individuals with high blood pressure change their diet and increase activity levels to keep blood pressure under control, others are content to rely wholly on the chemical concoction prescribed by their doctor. There are many problems with blood pressure medications though—one of which is a significant increase in the risk of breast cancer for women.

According to a recent study published in the journal Internal Medicine, women taking calcium channel blockers like nicardipine (Cardene) and amlodipine (Norvasc) have about a 250 percent greater risk of developing some types of breast cancer than other women.

Researchers with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle looked at nearly 3,000 women, 891 of which were cancer-free, 905 of which had been diagnosed with ductal breast cancer and 1,055 of which had been diagnosed with lobular breast cancer. About 40 percent of women in each group was taking or had taken calcium channel blockers for high blood pressure.

After analyzing drug usage rates among all the groups and comparing this data to rates of breast cancer, the research team discovered that, compared to those without breast cancer, more than twice the number of women with either form of breast cancer had been taking calcium channel blockers for 10 years or longer.

In the ductal and lobular breast cancer groups, the number of women taking calcium channel blockers for 10 years or longer was 25 and 26, respectively, while only 11 of the women in the cancer-free group had taken the drugs.”

Read: Home Remedies for High Blood Pressure

This means the women taking the popular high blood pressure medications were 2.4 to 2.6 times more likely to have breast cancer.

“Quantification of the potential relationships between use of these medications and breast cancer risk has the potential to aid clinical decision making regarding selection of antihypertensive agents for patients with hypertension, as the benefits and risks of potential medications are weighed,” concluded the researchers.

As is common in Big Pharma sponsored Academia, the researchers cautioned women from discontinuing their blood pressure medications, even though there are numerous herbs and foods for reducing high blood pressure. They didn’t discuss the various other ways of reducing blood pressure and preventing heart disease, they simply made their observations and then minimized them.

Both heart disease and breast cancer can be prevented with a proper diet and lifestyle. Too often the medications prescribed to treat and prevent such diseases do far more harm than good, all while filling the pockets of big pharmaceutical companies.

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CancerNetwork