Healthy

Blood pressure news‘Going green’ may help heartResearchers have found that a chemical contained ingreen vegetables helps to prevent heart attacks andstrokes. The chemical – sulphorane – appears to stopblood vessels being clogged up by cholesterol.It’s already known that cholesteroltends to build up on the insidesof blood vessels where theybend and branch. Theseparticular areas seem to lackthe protection of the proteinNrf2, which normally preventscholesterol building up.Researchers found that Nrf2 didnot work in these areas becauseit was attached to anotherprotein. This latest study showsthat, in the laboratory, sulphoraneremoves the unwanted proteinand reactivates Nrf2.Good natural sources ofsulphorane are green ‘brassica’vegetables, such as broccoli,cabbage and cauliflower. It nowremains to be establishedwhether eating these vegetableshas the same effect on livingblood vessels as has been seenin the test tube.Wasting statinscosts NHS £200mThe NHS spends nearly £200 milliona year on statins for people who donot take them, according to a studypresented at this year’s BritishPharmaceutical Conference.And this figure rises dramaticallyif you include every medicationprescribed in the UK – four in10 people do not take theirmedicines regularly enoughto get any benefit from them.This equates to £4 billionwastage a year, or enoughto fund 120,000 extranurses, reports TheTimes newspaper.❤newsSource: Zakkar M, Van der Heiden K,et al. Activation of Nrf2 in EndothelialCells Protects Arteries From Exhibitinga Proinflammatory State. ArteriosclerThromb Vasc Biol, Sep 2009;doi:10.1161/ATVBAHA.109.193375.Rate your GPPatients are being encouraged to let others know whatthey think of their GP surgery on a new NHS websitedesigned to drive up standards in primary care.At www.nhs.uk, you can now postcomments ranging from how youwere treated to whether it was easy tobook an appointment.The Government recently announcedthat you will soon be able to registerwith a GP practice of your choice.The new ratings site aims to helpprovide the information needed todecide which of England’s 8,300practices is right for you.Similar to the hospital comparisonservice launched over the summer,the tool will make it easier to find keyinformation in one place, such asopening times and additional facilitiesoffered by a GP practice. Patients willalso be able to read other people’scomments about how highly theywould recommend the GP practiceand if they felt they were involved indecisions about their care.But writing abusive comments andmentioning staff by name will not beallowed, say health officials. Healthminister Mike O’Brien said:“As we open up real choice in primarycare, it is vital we equip patients withenough information to make the rightchoice for them.“This new tool allows every singleGP practice in the country to seethe patient’s view on what they aredoing well and what needs to beimproved. It will help drive upquality across the board.”3