Contact: Richard Merritt
(919) 660-1309

Exercise and Weight Loss Effective in Reducing High Blood Pressure for Overweight Individuals

Although exercise alone was effective in reducing high blood pressure, the addition of a behavioral weight loss program enhanced this effect, according to an article in the July 10 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, a member of the Journal of the American Medical Association family of journals.

James A. Blumenthal, Ph.D., from Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., and colleagues studied 133 sedentary, overweight men and women with unmediated high normal blood pressure or stage 1 to 2 hypertension. They were randomly assigned to aerobic exercise only; a behavioral weight management program, including exercise; or a waiting list control group. "Combining a program of exercise and weight loss is recommended for the management of overweight individuals with an elevated [blood pressure]," the researchers conclude.

Editor's Note: To contact lead author James A. Blumenthal, Ph.D., call Richard Merritt 919/660-1309. This study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda.

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(Archives of Internal Medicine. 2000;160:1947-1958)

For more information about the Archives of Internal Medicine or to obtain a copy of the study, contact the American Medical Association's Amy Jenkins at (312) 464-4843 or send E-mail to Amy_Fox@ama-assn.org.