Medical Update - April 12, 2005

Failure to control high blood pressure could have some major consequences. Also, a possible down side to a high carb diet. <br/><br/>And the latest on silicone-gel breast implants. News on 6 anchor

Tuesday, April 12th 2005, 10:30 am

By: News On 6

Failure to control high blood pressure could have some major consequences. Also, a possible down side to a high carb diet.

And the latest on silicone-gel breast implants. News on 6 anchor LeAnne Taylor has this Medical Update.

This week the FDA revisits the safety of silicone-gel breast implants. For more than 10 years, the implants have only been available to women enrolled in research studies because they could cause major health problems.

Now 2 companies want to get their implants back on the market and say they have addressed concerns about possible breakage. Monday, the FDA heard from patients on both sides of the issue.

A new study shows a high carb diet may raise the risk of breast cancer. Researchers found diets that produce high blood sugar levels may raise the risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal that've used hormone replacement therapy. For this group of women the breast cancer risk increased by 87-percent, while high carb diets cut the risk by 22 percent in pre-menopausal women.

Scientists say more research is needed to confirm these results.

Failing to control high blood pressure ups patientâ€™s risk for suffering a stroke. According to a new study. Swedish researchers found about half of the first time strokes in patients who are being treated for high blood pressure are a result of the pressure not being adequately controlled.

They concluded adequate blood pressure control might prevent a substantial portion of first time strokes in these patients.