The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday sent a stern warning to drug maker Forest Laboratories about claims raised in advertisements for one of Forest's high blood pressure medications. An eight page ad for the drug Bystolic (nebivolol) claims that the drug is superior to other high blood pressure treatments and that it works in a novel way to combat the problems of high blood pressure.

The FDA disagrees, saying that there have never been any studies comparing Bystolic to other, similar, medicines, and that the claims made in Forest's advertisements cannot be substantiated with evidence.

On the FDA website Tuesday, a spokesperson commented that Forest's claims were dangerous to the public because they suggest "that Bystolic is safer and more effective" than it actually is.

Nebivolol is a type of beta blocker, one the most commonly prescribed medicines for the treatment of high blood pressure and heart disease.

A common drug used to treat people suffering from gout might be the next big thing in treating teenagers with high blood pressure, according to data from a a new study.

The study, published by researchers from Baylor University and appearing in the new issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, examined how certain types of teenagers responded when treated with the drug allopurinol. Allopurinal is designed to reduce blood levels of a substance called uric acid. It is commonly used to treat gout, since elevated uric acid is the primary cause of the painful disease.

Earlier research has shown that some teens with high blood pressure have unexplained increases in their uric acid levels, leading the authors of the current study to suggest that drugs designed to reduce uric acid might have some benefit in treating high blood pressure in these specific patients. This theory was bold, because scientists were unsure whether the high blood pressure was casuing the increase in uric acid, or whether the increased uric acid was causing changes leading to high blood pressure.

Patients in the study group - who all had elevated uric acid levels - showed greater reductions in blood pressure when treated with allopurinol in addition to normal high blood pressure medicines. The patients on both medicines had larger overall drops in blood pressure than patients only receiving traditional treatments.

This research is a potential breakthrough in treating certain types of high blood pressure that are usually difficult to control. The authors caution, though, that allopurinol can be a dangerous drug and that traditional treatment - along with lifestyle changes - is still the most effective treatment for most patients

As the worsening economy puts increasing strain on people's pocketbooks, tough economic times may actually have overall health benefits. According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, researchers have found that tough economic periods seem to correspond to a decrease in deaths from diseases and conditions that are sensitive to lifestyle choices.

Deaths from high blood pressure, heart disease, and even car crashes fall as people worried about the economy eat, smoke, and drive less.

After examining a wealth of data from the United States and 23 developing nations, economics professor Christopher J. Ruhm, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina, found that "deaths, overall...decrease when times turn bad." Ruhm argues that "the more that a cause of death affects primarily young people, the greater the effect of a shifting economy."

A research team from the Harvard Medical School is working to detail the complicated relationship between migraine headaches and heart disease in women, and has published their most recent findings in the journal Neurology.

In the study, investigators looked at the links between genetics, migraine headaches, and cardiovascular disease. People who suffer from migraine headaches fall into one of two groups - those who have "aura" symptoms before getting a headache and those who develop headaches without any preceeding aura symptoms. Now, the Harvard team thinks that auras, along with certain genetic markers, may indicate certain types of risk for heart disease and stroke.

About 11 percent of patients in the study had a specific type of genetic variant thought to be the critical link between migraines with aura and an increased risk of stroke. When examined further, the researchers found that this gene variant by itself does not seem to increase the risk of heart disease, as once thought. Similarly, people with the gene variant, who also have migraines do not appear to have any increased cardiovascular risk, but may be at increased risk of having a stroke. However, patients who have migraines preceeded by aura symptoms combined with this gene variation do seem to exhibit an increased level of developing cardiovascular disease.

The reasons for this are not yet clear, and are the focus of ongoing research. Dr. Tobias Kurth, one of the study authors, says that "while it is too early to start testing young women with migraine(s)...for this gene variant, more focused research...will help us to potentially develop preventative strategies."