NEW BLOOD PRESSURE TARGETS IN NON-DIABETIC PATIENTS AND INSULIN RESISTANCE IN BRAIN

The eighth JNC committee raised the target of systolic blood pressure to less than 150 mmHg for patients older than 60 years. Recently, results from a randomized controlled trial from the SPRINT Research Group have shown that among non-diabetic people with hypertension and other cardiovascular risk factors, reducing systolic blood pressure to less than 120 mmHg resulted in lower incidence of major cardiovascular events and deaths from any cause. In limited area of the human brain, insulin acts in modulation of body weight by food intake and modification of metabolism: hypothalamus (the central regulator of whole- body energy homeostasis and of food intake), prefrontal cortex (inhibitory control of eating), hippocampus (memory) and the fusiform gyrus (recognition of food, positive emotions, reward). Pregnancy, obesity, increasing age and also with some common genetic variants in the genes of IRS1, FTO, MC4R, CNR2, APOE are linked with insulin resistance in the brain.