Now, here‘s the good news: There is a lot you can do to improve or prevent hypertension without taking a drug that will give you cancer. More on that in a moment, but first consider this...

Big Pharma‘s got big problems

Researchers analyzed the medical histories of 60,000 patients with high blood
pressure. They found that about 85 percent of the men and women who got cancer took a drug called Micardis. It‘s a kind of drug called an ARB (or angiotensin- receptor blockers).

Men and women who can‘t tolerate ACE inhibitors generally take ARBs. Diabetics also take ARBs to prevent kidney damage. The drugs -- which have been on the market for about 10 years --block a hormone that increases your blood pressure.

However, researchers also found that taking an ARB increases a patient‘s risk for prostate, breast, and lung cancer. They aren‘t exactly sure why ARBs cause such a sharp spike in cancer risk, although they have a theory.

In lab tests, these drugs encouraged the growth of new blood vessels. In humans, this could allow cancer to grow and spread more rapidly than normal as well. You see, cancer cells need access to blood vessels to survive. If fact, they pull in neighboring blood vessels and devour nutrients that are supposed to get delivered to other places. Technically, it‘s called angiogenesis. In fact, some of the drugs used to treat cancer, work by shutting off blood supply to tumors. This helps to drain the cancer cells of nutrients and causes them to stop multiplying.

Plus, here‘s another big problem...

According to the new research, you only have to take the drug for four years to increase your risk. But most men and women don‘t take these drugs for short stints. Blood pressure patients usually take them for 10, 15, even 20 years.

According to lead author of the study, Dr. Ilke Sipahi, this causes a much greater impact that one would think. "When you look at it from the population level, millions and millions of people are on these drugs and it can cause a lot of excess cancer worldwide."

So I want to know, if you take these drugs for longer than four years, does your cancer risk increase even more? Unfortunately, the researchers couldn‘t determine that...nor could they tell whether your risk normalizes once you stop taking the drug.

Clearly, there are a lot of unanswered questions out there for folks taking ARBs. But here‘s the bottom line: Why would you take a drug that may give you cancer when there are so many other ways to control high blood pressure?

Control hypertension naturally

I promised you some good news in this whole mess and here it is: There is a lot you can do to prevent (and even control) hypertension without resorting to drugs.

First thing I‘d do is to get off all the stimulants such as caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline. That means no soda, coffee, tea, or chocolate. You‘ll also want to check your meds for caffeine. Many over-the-counter products contain it.

Next, you‘ll need to get off all sugar. And I mean all of it. That means you‘ll also need to give up refined starches like white rice, processed cereals, and processed breads. These just turn immediately into sugar in the body. Besides adding unwanted calories, all this sugar plays games with your body‘s natural processes, including your heart function.

Then, I‘d like to see you add certain heart-healthy nutrients to your regimen...

Start with magnesium. It‘s probably the most important mineral for hypertension as it relaxes blood vessels. This is important because when blood vessels constrict, the heart has to work harder to push blood through the body. As a result your blood pressure spikes. So start with 400 mg of magnesium twice a day. If your stools become loose, you can back off a bit.

I‘d also like to see you add in a complete multi-mineral supplement that contains calcium and potassium. In numerous studies, scientists link hypertension to deficiencies in these minerals.

Coenzyme Q10 is another great nutrient for the heart. Studies have shown it improves heart function and can lower your blood pressure by 5 to 10 points when you take 100 mg per day.

Essential fatty acids can additionally help chip away at high blood pressure. So if you aren‘t already taking fish oil, now‘s the time to start. Just make sure to add vitamin E to the mix to help fight off the free radicals. As I told you a few weeks ago, look for a gel capsule that contains 400 IU of 100 percent natural vitamin E with mixed tocopherols.

And lastly, some brutal honestly: To really chip away at high blood pressure, you‘ve got to maintain a healthy weight and exercise. All the nutrients (or cancer-causing blood pressure drugs) in the world won‘t make a lick of difference if you don‘t keep the weight down and break a sweat a few times a week.