Among a total of 214 consecutive patients attending a diabetic clinic, 30% were taking beta blockers to lower blood pressure according to a study from Australia.

Those taking beta blockers were 19.6 pounds heavier than patients not taking a beta blocker (202 lbs vs 183 lbs).

Beta blockers are drugs are given for:

• abnormal heart rhythms
• High blood pressure
• Heart failure
• Angina (heart pain)
• Tremor
• Prevention of migraines
• given after a heart attack
• hyperthyroidism
• akathisia (restlessness or inability to sit still)
• panic disorder
• anxiety
• aggressive behavior

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Among a total of 84 consecutive patients attending a hypertension clinic, 50% were taking beta blockers to lower blood pressure according to a study from Australia.

Those taking beta blockers were 37.9 pounds heavier than patients not taking a beta blocker (197 lbs vs 159 lbs).

Beta blockers are drugs are given for:

• abnormal heart rhythms
• High blood pressure
• Heart failure
• Angina (heart pain)
• Tremor
• Prevention of migraines
• given after a heart attack
• hyperthyroidism
• akathisia (restlessness or inability to sit still)
• panic disorder
• anxiety
• aggressive behavior

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Beta blockers reduce diet-induced thermogenesis by 50% according to a study from Australia.

Beta blockers are drugs are given for:

• abnormal heart rhythms
• High blood pressure
• Heart failure
• Angina (heart pain)
• Tremor
• Prevention of migraines
• given after a heart attack
• hyperthyroidism
• akathisia (restlessness or inability to sit still)
• panic disorder
• anxiety
• aggressive behavior

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Beta blockers reduce fat oxidation by 32% according to a study from Australia.

Beta blockers are drugs are given for:

• abnormal heart rhythms
• High blood pressure
• Heart failure
• Angina (heart pain)
• Tremor
• Prevention of migraines
• given after a heart attack
• hyperthyroidism
• akathisia (restlessness or inability to sit still)
• panic disorder
• anxiety
• aggressive behavior

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Beta blockers reduce weekly habitual activity by 34%, as measured by the number of steps taken in a week by a pedometer, according to a study from Australia.

The average number of steps taken in a week was 38,816 steps in the Beta-blocker group versus 58,944 steps in the control group.

(The paper rounds off the calculation to approximately 30%, however, the calculation shows the difference is 34%.)

Beta blockers are drugs are given for:

• abnormal heart rhythms
• High blood pressure
• Heart failure
• Angina (heart pain)
• Tremor
• Prevention of migraines
• given after a heart attack
• hyperthyroidism
• akathisia (restlessness or inability to sit still)
• panic disorder
• anxiety
• aggressive behavior

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People given beta blockers were:

• 10 to 24 times more like to dropout of studies due to fatigue
• 5 times more like to dropout of studies due to sexual dysfunction.

Beta blockers only prevent:

• one stroke per year out of every 1400 patients given these drugs.
• one heart attack per year out of every 1400 patients given these drugs.
• one death per year out of every 2500 patients given these drugs.

This was noted in a Letter to the Editor in JAMA by cardiologist, Franz Messerli, MD who has written several papers about the ineffectiveness of beta blockers.

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Women taking a diuretic plus a beta blocker were 21% more likely to die of cardiovascular disease during a 5.9 year follow-up than women taking NO blood pressure medicines even though the average systolic pressure was 15 points LOWER in the drug group than the no drug group (134 mm Hg vs 149 mm Hg) according to a 2004 study.

To say this the other way, women taking NO blood pressure drugs were 18% LESS likely to die of cardiovascular disease during a 5.9 year follow-up than women taking a diuretic plus a beta blocker.

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Women taking a beta blocker were 15% less likely to die of cardiovascular disease during the 5.9 year follow-up than women taking NO blood pressure medicines according to a 2004 study.

The average systolic pressure was 11 points LOWER in the drug group than the no drug group (136 mm Hg vs 149 mm Hg).

To say this the other way, women taking women taking NO blood pressure medicines were 17% MORE likely to die of cardiovascular disease during the 5.9 year follow-up than women taking a beta blocker.

(YouTube videos are limited to 10 minutes, so I had to split the video into 2 parts.) Read the entire article | Email this article

“... beta blocker therapy has been shown to cause... weight gain... and to significantly increase the risk of developing diabetes.”

— Franz Messerli, MD, European Heart Journal, 2003. Read the entire article | Email this article

“... [In] patients over the age of 60, beta blockers did NOT reduce [heart attacks], cardiovascular mortality or [the total risk of death].”
— Franz Messerli, MD, European Heart Journal, 2003. Read the entire article | Email this article

... [T]he risk of strokes was between two and four times higher in middle-aged patients on [the beta blocker] atenolol compared to [a diuretic].

— Franz Messerli, MD, European Heart Journal, 2003. Read the entire article | Email this article

Blood pressure medicine called beta blockers increase the risk of suicide by 60 percent as noted in a Letter to the Editor published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Read the entire article | Email this article