A team of Spanish researchers concluded that taking your blood pressure medicine in time could help people prevent type 2 diabetes.
A team of Spanish researchers concluded that taking your blood pressure medicine in time could help people prevent type 2 diabetes.
The Spanish research found that taking blood pressure medication may reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes if it is taken at bedtime rather than in the next morning. Researchers estimated the risks are cut by nearly 50%.
The team of scientists explained that some individuals who suffer from high blood pressure have a background process called non-dipping. The phenomenon does not allow blood pressure to be reduced in any circumstances, not even during sleep.
The team found that non-dippers have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes as early as in the first trials. Whereas people with high blood pressure but with no non-dipping complications had a normal risk of developing the disease.
It was the follow-up trial that revealed taking high blood pressure drugs at bedtime helped people reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes, mainly because they help reducing the sleeping person’s blood pressure during sleep time.
Researchers noted that for every 15% decrease in the average sleeping blood pressure of a person, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes was also reduced by up to 30%. Dr. Ramon Hermida, who is the study’s lead author, explained “The results from our prospective study indicate lowering asleep blood pressure could indeed be a significant method for reducing the risk of developingdiabetes.” Hermida is a professor at the University of Vigo.
So, what is the link between high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes? Spanish doctors explained that both type 2 diabetes and high systolic blood pressure are influenced by two important hormones: adrenaline, angiotension. The later causes high blood pressure by constricting the blood vessels.
Usually, this is prevented by blood pressure drugs which target the hormone. In addition, angiotensin contributes at increasing blood sugar and decreased insulin levels, which are the main factors of type 2 diabetes.
The most common drugs that target angiotensin are beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, and ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers). During the second phase of the clinical trials, these were the medications that helped the participants to reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The drugs were particularly useful for those who took them right before bedtime.
The study concluded that the risk of developing type 2 diabetes was significantly lower (57%) in people who took the treatment at bedtime than in those who took it during the day or in the morning (22%).
Photo credits: Vitapharmica
