Popular Drug Boosts Pancreatic Cancer Risk 66%

There’s no such thing as a “good” cancer… but pancreatic cancer is one of the worst. 

By the time you learn you have it, there’s a good chance it’s already progressed. 

And sadly, only 8.5% of folks diagnosed with pancreatic cancer will survive more than 5 years.

Now, researchers have discovered one of the greatest risk factors for developing this deadly disease. 

And it’s a drug that may be sitting in your medicine cabinet right now. 

Millions of people take calcium channel blockers (CCBs) to treat their high blood pressure. 

Researchers wanted to find out if there was any connection between CCBs and pancreatic cancer. 

Their initial hypothesis was that CCBs might lower pancreatic cancer risk. 

Boy, were they in for a surprise.

Not only did the drugs NOT lower pancreatic cancer risk… people who took them had more than DOUBLE the risk of the cancer.

When the researchers combed through data from the Women’s Health Initiative—studying nearly 150,000 women between 50 and 79 years old—they found that anyone who had ever taken short-acting CCBs was 66% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer.

And the risk was much higher for CCBs than other types of blood pressure drugs.

What’s so dangerous about this particular class of blood pressure medicine?

The researchers believe it has to do with the impact CCBs have on inflammation.

Calcium channel blockers work by blocking calcium from entering the heart’s muscle cells. This results in more relaxed blood vessels, which equals lower blood pressure.

The problem is that blocking calcium channels ALSO blocks the release of a receptor called sRAGE that helps control inflammation. 

Less sRAGE equals more inflammation. More inflammation equals higher pancreatic cancer risk.

You shouldn’t have to choose between high blood pressure—a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke—and cancer.

And you don’t have to.

Ultimately, blood pressure drugs don’t address the underlying cause of hypertension. 

The most common underlying causes are surprisingly simple—poor nutrition, toxicity, lack of physical exercise, stress, and cellular dysfunction. 

And this means that the solutions are often equally simple: Eat more whole foods (especially seafood), get plenty of morning sunlight, avoid fake light at night, and stay away from electromagnetic fields.

Even a simple mineral like magnesium has been shown to lower blood pressure—without any of the risks that come with prescription drugs. 

To a brighter day,

Dr. Richard Gerhauser, M.D.