I also take 20mg daily.
Bill Faloon has been enthusiastic about the longevity benefits of Telmisartan for a long time. 10-15 years probably.
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Telmisartan doesn’t lower BP immediately after ingestion. It can take weeks for the full effect to be measured. A small dose like 20mg (from memory) only shaves 5-6mm Hg off BP. Barely measurable.
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@DrT this is exciting! I never knew I could potentially safely take a low dose. I always have FOMO because my BP is good.
Do many people with good bp take a low dose? Maybe EOD or?
I’ll start reading more about it.
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The link below has been posted in other threads on this forum.
Review
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Hi Beth, my experience on that is: I started telmisartan 20mg at night 2 months ago ( i already take beta blockers in the morning), my BP move down a little bit like was 11 x 6,5 for 10,5 x 6,0. Some times a little less. Iam confortable w my decision!
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Telmisartan is probably the most discussed and most used antihypertensive for its potential anti-aging properties:
- Why would doctors prescribe an inferior drug?
- Rilmenidine vs Telmisartan or other BP meds for Longevity
- Telmisartan -- 40 or 80 mg
- Telmisartan Ameliorates Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption in a High-Salt Diet Mouse Model
That’s why it is being tested in the ITP: https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/dab/interventions-testing-program-itp/supported-interventions
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Regarding telmisartan increasing klotho, that effect is actually a general property of drugs and supplements that inhibit angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) or block the receptors. Other interventions that decrease ACE do the same. This is one of many reasons I’ve tried to remain very lean and have been drinking a bit of pomegranate juice for decades. Being lean and having low blood pressure naturally without drugs will help decrease ACE and could similarly help increase klotho. Pomegranate juice is also a mild ACE inhibitor. Of course the drugs are stronger, but for people with already low blood pressure they can cause more harm than good especially if the diastolic pressure is very low.
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I have 40mg on the way for my husband. I’ll try breaking then in 1/4s and see what happens… if that goes well, I’ll take a half
What is the lowest bp that is safe to have? We have a cuff and I’ll closely monitor to make sure I’m not doing any harm.
Thank you!
There may be reasons for not lowering BP too much past the age of 60-70 or so. The literature seems to suggest that slightly higher BP might help with blood perfusion to the brain, particularly if there is some vascular stenosis and also preventing orthostatic hypotension related falls etc. There’s mixed signals in dementia and BP in the elderly, where very low BP is associated with higher risk of dementia, while mildly elevated is not. In general systolic should not go much below 90 and diastolic much below 60.
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I have the same question. The operational definition of "too low’ is generally based on a binary outcome: “I’m dizzy and might/did fall” or “I’m not dizzy and do not have an increased chance of falling.”
With the combination of 80 mg. telmisartan and aged black garlic (which added ~5 point drop), my lowest BP while awake is ~103/62. I do not feel dizzy at that BP, even if I stand quickly, so that is my personal benchmark and I have no interest in going lower. I know one person who doesn’t like to go lower than 110 SBP because he feels “woozy.”
On points like this, Attia’s admonitions come to mind when he notes that for older adults, the first goal is not to sustain an injury, especially a fall, because it can precipitate a downward spiral from which there is no recovery. I think about this a lot because I like to hike and I know that one serious fall could put a permanent end to my ability to exercise – at this level or perhaps any level. The same is true for certain weight bearing exercises. Attia, for example, said that he stopped doing full squats when he reached ~50 years of age. I have stopped doing them as well, along with most routines that involve hyper extension.
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@CronosTempi I never knew this about dementia (Sophie’s choice!). Thanks for the numbers, that will help me track it.
@RobTuck I didn’t know this about black garlic… I”ll look that up for the husband.
I’ve recently started l’citrulline for us to help the cause. I have not checked to see if it has had any effect on my bp but I’m hoping it’s just generically good for the vascular system.
The research in ABG is solid. Life Extension is the most convenient source of the refinement and concentration you want.
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Ordered… thank you for sharing the brand… you saved me several hours and several questions :).
I googled the benefits of ABG, wow… the list is long.
One more potential time saver is that you are looking for the exact specification you will see on the LE label. Most of the studies that show BP results are based on 1.25 mg S-Allyl-Cysteine. The LE formulation provides 2.5 mg.
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@RobTuck why the LEF black garlic rather than Kyolic Aged Garlic? I thought Kyolic had the most research behind it.
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There is no hard answer to that but generally you don’t want it so low as to start negatively influencing brain perfusion. This can start occurring at levels below 70 so as a rule of thumb it’s probably best if the diastolic doesn’t go much below 70. Height most likely matters a little bit here but short people should tolerate slightly lower blood pressure than tall people before it starts negatively impacting brain perfusion. The reason for that is simple physics, but the taller you are the higher the blood pressure needs to be when standing up right to pump blood all the way up to the brain. That’s why infants are fine with diastolic blood pressure far below 70.
It goes without saying that if you notice frequent dizziness upon standing up that isn’t explained by other things, then you may be running a blood pressure that is slightly too low. That said, lack of dizziness is not enough to be certain that perfusion is excellent. It’s most certianly possible to have suboptimal perfusion occasionally desepite noticing no symptoms.
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The target in this instance is S-Allyl-Cysteine in the amount of 1.25 to 2.5 mg. Additionally, there is a difference between aged garlic and aged black garlic; the research sourced S-Allyl-Cysteine from aged black garlic so there is always the possibility of shadow contributions from naturally co-occurring ingredients. TBD, I suppose. Life Extension’s product, and a few others, contain a formula specifically optimizing that ingredient.
I like Kyolic products and took one of their garlic formulations for years but it had no impact that I could determine on my BP.
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Important point @Olafurpall. Since brain perfusion is most closely tracked with mean arterial pressure, it is worth calculating that. One simple formula is:
MAP = Diastolic BP + 1/3 (Systolic BP – Diastolic BP)
or
MAP = (2 × Diastolic BP + Systolic BP) / 3
From the formula, you can see that DSP accounts for more of the outcome. Consistent MAP below 60 is definitely concerning and a better target might be 65 or 70.
Using my typical afternoon BP as an example – 108/62 – one might be concerned about perfusion based on the low DBP. However, the MAP of this reading is 77.3 which is above the level of 70 generally thought to be the safety threshold for the average person.
At the low end (our discussion here) MAP generally accounts for most variance in health outcomes.
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@RobTuck FYI Dr Luks, osteopath, is pitching agility excersize for safe aging. IE surprise movement one must stay a master of to catch a trip or fall. Makes sense. IE weight lifting not that useful besides retaining muscle but to prevent falling one needs agility training.
See many tips and videos in this search:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Dr+Luks+agility+excersize+for+elderly
Best to all, curt
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I like those tips. Personally, I need to spend more time on agility, it seems to decline faster than strength.