What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Hypertension

August 1, 2003
One in four Americans has high blood pressure, the disease known as the "silent killer." Uncontrolled, it can damage the heart, kidneys, brain, and other critical organs and cause heart attacks and strokes. Here, Houston (Vanderbilt Univ. Sch. of Medicine) touts his ten-point Hypertension Institute Program-which includes adhering to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, exercise, weight loss, smoking cessation, decreased caffeine and alcohol use, stress management, nutritional supplements, and physician support-combined with "Vaso-Guard Therapy," a cocktail of vitamins, minerals, and nutraceuticals designed to lower one's blood pressure without prescription medications. While most of the information is accurate, Houston's language is complex and intimidating; an appendix examining medical studies that support Houston's therapy will be virtually unintelligible to the average individual. Alan L. Rubin's High Blood Pressure for Dummies and Thomas Moore's The DASH Diet for Hypertension are far better choices.-Janet M. Schneider, James A. Haley Veterans' Hosp. Lib., Tampa, FL

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