The Health Sciences Institute is intended to provide cutting-edge health information.
Nothing on this site should be interpreted as personal medical advice. Always consult with your doctor before changing anything related to your healthcare.

Bogus blood-pressure study a billion-dollar scheme

You can toss that reminder card in the trash. And forget about reading all those old issues of People magazine in the waiting room.

Because it looks like you don’t even need to go to your next doctor’s appointment any more.

A bunch of docs and researchers you’ve never even met have just diagnosed you — and practically everyone you know — with high blood pressure.

It doesn’t matter if you feel fine or if your numbers haven’t changed in years. A major new study wants to radically lower blood pressure targets to just about guarantee you end up on drugs.

It’s part of a new scheme to create millions of new customers for Big Pharma.

And patients like you could end up leaving your doctor’s office with a prescription for risky meds — and a one-way ticket to Alzheimer’s.

The moving magic number
Doctors everywhere are getting ready to throw old blood pressure guidelines — and common sense — right out the window.

Dr. Marc Alan Pfeffer, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, should know.

He’s one of them.

Just a couple weeks ago, if you were in your 50s and came to see Dr. Pfeffer with a top (systolic) blood pressure reading of 136, he says he would have patted you on the back and said “good job.”

Now, he says he’d feel “obligated” to put you on powerful prescription drugs.

It’s all because of a new study (one I warned you was coming a month ago) called SPRINT.

And that’s the right name for it, too. Because it’s nothing but a mad dash — written by researchers with drug company ties — to get just about everyone on blood pressure meds.

The authors followed more than 9,000 patients for about three years, and they claim we should practically all be medicated until our top blood pressure is down to 120. And they don’t care if you have to take multiple drugs to get there!

I’m talking about ACE inhibitors, diuretics, you name it — some of the most dangerous drugs on the planet. Pills that have been linked to everything from permanent organ damage to blindness!

Now, these researchers will tell you that the risks of these drugs is a small price to pay to prevent a stroke. But when I started digging around the SPRINT study, that’s not what I found at all.

For example, here are just some of the facts that the researchers (and their pawns in the media) weren’t so quick to report:

  • The participants were cherry picked. The authors set up guidelines that disqualified 11 out of every 12 Americans from participating in SPRINT. But now they want to apply the results to all of us! That’s awfully convenient for the drug companies — but it doesn’t make any sense for you.
  • The numbers were fudged: Even the New York Times reported that medicating your blood pressure down to 120 cut death rates by 26 percent. Sounds great, right? Well, not so fast. Swallowing pills by the handful only reduced your death risk from about 4 percent to 3 percent. That’s an awful lot of risk for one measly percent.
  • Millions of people will be medicated for nothing: It took 200 people taking meds to prevent ONE serious health event.

So what happens to the other 199 people? Well, nobody wants to talk about them.

The poor folks who took meds for the study ended up with dangerously low blood pressure, kidney problems, and even dangerous fainting episodes.

And if the study had gone on longer (they suspiciously cut it short) the results could have been even more tragic. That’s because driving your blood pressure too low can literally choke off the blood supply to your brain, putting you at risk for dementia or Alzheimer’s.

It’s the whole reason that last year a committee of some of the world’s top heart doctors officially raised the number that is considered high blood pressure. Those researchers found that readings of up to 150/90 in people 60 and older should not call for any medications to be started.

And that makes a lot more sense to me than treating blood pressure guidelines like a limbo stick, where the mainstream keeps lowering the bar.

Unfortunately, you can bet that a copy of the SPRINT study is being sent to just about every doctor in America. And lots of them will use it to send the number of drugs they prescribe through the roof.

But at your next appointment, make sure you don’t leave your doctor’s office with a shiny new prescription.

Because your health decisions should be based on real science — not manipulated data and moving targets.

Sources:

“3 things to know about the Sprint blood pressure trial” Harlan M. Krumholz, M.D., November 9, 2015, The New York Times, well.blogs.nytimes.com

“Data on benefits of lower blood pressure brings clarity for doctors and patients” Gina Kilata, November 9, 2015, The New York Times, nytimes.com

Get a free copy of 5 Household Items that Cause Cancer

By texting HSI to 844-539-1128, you are providing your electronic signature expressly consenting to be called and texted (including by prerecorded messages, using an autodialer, and/or automated means) with alerts, stories, reports, and marketing communications from Institute of Health Sciences, LLC. and its authorized representatives at the phone number you provide, including landlines and wireless numbers, even if the phone number is on a corporate, state or national Do Not Call list. You also consent and unconditionally agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, including the arbitration provision and class action waiver contained therein. Msg&data rates may apply. 15 Msgs/Month. You are not required to agree to this as a condition of making a purchase.

Terms & Conditions

The following Terms and Conditions apply to your use of the website located at hsionline.com (the “website”) and any text messages that you send to or receive from the Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C. These Terms and Conditions constitute a binding agreement (“Agreement”) between you (“you”) Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C (“we”, “us”, etc.)  Please read these terms carefully. 

By providing your telephone number to us, texting us a short code listed on the website, or otherwise indicate your agreement to these Terms and Conditions, you are agreeing to the mandatory arbitration provision and class action waiver below. 

ARBITRATION IS MANDATORY AND THE EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR ANY AND ALL DISPUTES RELATED TO THIS WEBSITE, THIS AGREEMENT, AND ANY TELEPHONE CALLS, EMAILS, OR TEXT MESSAGES THAT YOU RECEIVE FROM OR ON BEHALF OF US, UNLESS SPECIFIED BELOW OR UNLESS YOU OPT-OUT.

Text Messaging and Telemarketing Terms and Conditions

When you provide your telephone number on this website or send a text message to us with or from a short-code, you agree to receive alerts and communications, and marketing messages including those sent via automated telephone dialing system, text messages, SMS, MMS, and picture messages from Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C at the phone number you provide on this website or the phone number from which you text the short code, including on landlines and wireless numbers, even if the phone number is on a corporate, state or national Do Not Call list. You also agree to the mandatory arbitration provision and class action waiver below. Your consent is not required to purchase goods or services. Message & data rates may apply.

You may opt-out at any time by texting the word STOP to the telephone number from which you receive the text messages.  Call 1-888-213-0764 to learn more.  By providing your telephone number, you agree to notify us of any changes to your telephone number and update your account us to reflect this change. Your carrier may charge you for text messages and telephone calls that you receive, or may prohibit or restrict certain mobile features, and certain mobile features may be incompatible with your carrier or mobile device. Contact your carrier with questions regarding these issues.

Dispute Resolution by Binding Arbitration and Class Action Waiver

Any dispute relating in any way to telephone calls, emails, or text messages that you receive from or on behalf of Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C this website, or this Agreement (collectively “Disputes”) shall be submitted to confidential arbitration and shall be governed exclusively by the laws of the State of Maryland, excluding its conflict of law provisions.  For the avoidance of doubt, all claims arising under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and state telemarketing laws shall be considered “Disputes” that are subject to resolution by binding individual, confidential arbitration.

If a Dispute arises under this Agreement, you agree to first contact us at 1-888-213-0764 or help@hsionline.com. Before formally submitting a Dispute to arbitration, you and we may choose to informally resolve the Dispute.  If any Dispute cannot be resolved informally, you agree that any and all Disputes, including the validity of this arbitration clause and class action waiver, shall be submitted to final and binding arbitration before a single arbitrator of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) in a location convenient to you or telephonically. Either you or we may commence the arbitration process by submitting a written demand for arbitration with the AAA, and providing a copy to the other party.  The arbitration will be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the AAA’s Commercial Dispute Resolutions Procedures, Supplementary Procedures for Consumer-Related Disputes, in effect at the time of submission of the demand for arbitration.  Except as may be required by law as determined by the arbitrator, no party or arbitrator may disclose the existence, content or results of any arbitration hereunder without the prior written consent of both parties. Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C will pay all of the filing costs.  Without limiting the foregoing, YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE TO SUBMIT TO ARBITRATION ALL DISPUTES RELATING TO ANY TEXT MESSAGES OR TELEPHONE CALLS YOU RECEIVE FROM OR ON BEHALF OF US OR ANY ENTITY WITH WHOM WE MAY SHARE YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER.  Further, we both agree that all entities with whom we share your telephone numbers shall be third party beneficiaries of this Agreement to Arbitrate Disputes, and that those entities have the same rights as Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C to enforce this arbitration provision.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the following shall not be subject to arbitration and may be adjudicated only in the state and federal courts of Maryland: (i) any dispute, controversy, or claim relating to or contesting the validity of our or one of our family company’s intellectual property rights and proprietary rights, including without limitation, patents, trademarks, service marks, copyrights, or trade secrets; (ii) an action by us for temporary or preliminary injunctive relief, whether prohibitive or mandatory, or other provisional relief; (iii) any legal action by us against a non-consumer; or (iv) interactions with governmental and regulatory authorities.  You expressly agree to refrain from bringing or joining any claims in any representative or class-wide capacity, including but not limited to bringing or joining any claims in any class action or any class-wide arbitration.

The arbitrator’s award shall be binding and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, no arbitration under this Agreement may be joined to an arbitration involving any other party subject to this Agreement, whether through a class action, private attorney general proceeding, class arbitration proceedings or otherwise.

YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU WOULD HAVE HAD A RIGHT TO LITIGATE IN A COURT, TO HAVE A JUDGE OR JURY DECIDE YOUR CASE AND TO BE PARTY TO A CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION.  HOWEVER, YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE TO HAVE ANY CLAIMS DECIDED INDIVIDUALLY AND ONLY THROUGH ARBITRATION.  You shall have thirty (30) days from the earliest of the date that you visit the website, the date you submit information to us through the website, or the date that you send a text message to us, to opt out of this arbitration agreement, by contacting us by email at help@hsionline.com or by mail Health Sciences Institute, PO Box 913, Frederick, MD 21705-0913. If you do not opt out by the earliest of the date that you visit the website, the date you submit information to us through the website, or the date that you send a text message to us, then you are not eligible to opt out of this arbitration agreement.

Electronic Signatures

All information communicated on the website is considered an electronic communication.  When you communicate with us through or on the website, by text message or telephone, or via other forms of electronic media, such as e-mail, you are communicating with us electronically.  You agree that we may communicate electronically with you and that such communications, as well as notices, disclosures, agreements, and other communications that we provide to you electronically, are equivalent to communications in writing and shall have the same force and effect as if they were in writing and signed by the party sending the communication.

You further acknowledge and agree that by clicking on a button labeled “ORDER NOW”, “SUBMIT”, “I ACCEPT”, “I AGREE”, “YES”, by texting a short code to us in response to a request on this website, or by clicking or similar links or buttons, you are submitting a legally binding electronic signature and are entering into a legally binding contract.  You acknowledge that your electronic submissions constitute your agreement and intent to be bound by this Agreement.  Pursuant to any applicable statutes, regulations, rules, ordinances or other laws, including without limitation the United States Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, P.L. 106-229 (the “E-Sign Act”) or other similar statutes, YOU HEREBY AGREE TO THE USE OF ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES, CONTRACTS, ORDERS AND OTHER RECORDS AND TO ELECTRONIC DELIVERY OF NOTICES, POLICIES AND RECORDS OF TRANSACTIONS INITIATED OR COMPLETED THROUGH THE WEBSITE.  Furthermore, you hereby waive any rights or requirements under any statutes, regulations, rules, ordinances or other laws in any jurisdiction which require an original signature, delivery or retention of non-electronic records, or to payments or the granting of credits by other than electronic means You may receive a physical paper copy of this contract by contacting us at help@hsionline.com.

Privacy Policy

Please read our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated herein by reference.  In the event of any conflict between these Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy, these Terms shall control.

Contact Us

You may contact us by telephone at 1-888-213-0764 or by email at help@hsionline.com.