In an analysis published on Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, Finnish researchers found adults at risk for heart disease and stroke who took cholesterol — or blood pressure-lowering medications were more likely to reduce their activity levels and gain weight over time than those not on drug treatment, according to UPI.

“Medication shouldn’t be viewed as a free pass to continue or start an unhealthy lifestyle,” study coauthor Maarit J. Korhonen, a senior researcher at the University of Turku in Finland, said in a press release. “People starting on medications should be encouraged to continue or start managing their weight, be physically active, manage to quit smoking.”

Heart-healthy lifestyle habits — like exercise and a balanced diet — are always recommended whether or not blood pressure or cholesterol medications are prescribed.

Korhonen and her colleagues assessed more than 40,000 public-sector workers in Finland who had not been previously diagnosed with heart disease or stroke. On average, participants were 52 years of age at the beginning of the study, and 80 percent of them were female.

Each participant was given two or more surveys in four-year intervals between 2000 and 2013. The surveys assessed BMI, physical activity and smoking history.

The researchers also obtained pharmacy data if they began taking the prescribed high blood pressure or statin medications, categorizing medication use based on those who began the preventive medications between the start of the study and the four-year follow-up surveys and those who did not start medications.

Compared to those who did not start medications, the researchers found that those who did were eight percent more likely to become physically inactive. They also noted that those on medication were 82 percent more likely to become obese or have an increase in body mass index.

The researchers note that because of a public health initiative in Finland, as well as variations in the habits of participants — such as smoking, the cessation of which can affect weight gain, and a lack of specific information on participant diets — the results of the study may not be broadly generalizable. But, they say, the research suggests that many slack off in lifestyle habits when they start drug treatment.

“Our findings support the notion that there is scope to improve management of lifestyle-related risk factors among individuals who have initiated preventive medication,” researchers wrote in the study. “Patients’ awareness of their risk factors alone seems not to be effective in improving health behaviors.”

It’s true that many plants provide an abundance of nutrients, typically at a fraction of the energy expended to raise animal protein. However, before embarking on a wholesale change in diet, it’s worth considering the research and experience of a trio of neurotoxicologists at Oregon Health and Science University about undernourished people, Iran News explains what medicalxpress wrote.

Their message: Not all plants are good for you.

That’s particularly true for undernourished people or whom depend on a single plant. But the scientists caution that growing interest in foraging for wild edibles raises the risk for people in wealthy countries, too, especially as some plants may become more toxic with a changing climate.

“The bottom line is that plants and fungi were not put here for our benefit — they need to defend themselves,” said Peter Spencer, professor of neurology in the OHSU School of Medicine and an affiliated faculty member of the Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences at OHSU. “They have all sorts of chemical defense systems that would make the Department of Defense blush with embarrassment at their former efforts.”

In a recent review published in the journal Environmental Neurology, OHSU scientists highlighted plants with neurotoxic potential in undernourished people around the world. The study was jointly authored by Spencer along with first author Valerie Palmer, instructor of neurology, and Desiré Tshala-Katumbay, professor of neurology in the OHSU School of Medicine.

In it, the scientists catalogue a quartet of plants that sicken or kill undernourished people around the globe.

“The adverse neurological effects of food dependency on plant components with toxic potential constitutes a significant global health issue,” they write.

The researchers catalogued the potential neurotoxic effects of fruit of the ackee tree, an evergreen native to West Africa and favorite of Jamaica; lychee fruit, a delicious tropical fruit from South Asia now eaten worldwide; grasspea, a protein-rich legume eaten on the Indian Continent and the Horn of Africa; and cassava, a plant whose roots and leaves are consumed in across sub-Sahara.

Although these plants provide food for millions, the scientists elucidate ways in which they can rapidly and fatally affect brain function or, in the case of cassava and grasspea, gradually induce crippling disease. Critical is the amount of plant product consumed; the poor health of the people eating it; and the relative availability of each of these plants due to poverty, hunger and, increasingly, climate change.

Cassava is a prime example.

Many people in Africa rely on cassava as a primary food source because it grows well in arid soil. But when stressed by drought, the concentration of its chemical defenses increases at the same time water to wash out the toxic factors is in short supply. Those dependent on cassava develop an irreversible struggle to walk.

Tshala-Katumbay, who fondly remembers eating the cassava root as a child growing up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has spent the past two decades working with local communities in the DRC to reduce exposure to the plant’s toxins. Although cassava’s toxicity can be reduced through careful methods of food preparation, high levels of consumption make it difficult to eliminate the risk altogether.

“Even if it’s a low-dose toxicant, cumulative exposure may have long-term effects,” Tshala-Katumbay said.

Palmer and Spencer focused decades of their research in the field and laboratory on grasspea, a tasty legume that also causes tremor, muscle weakness and even paralysis in those who depend upon it for sustenance. Before the internet, Palmer formed a worldwide group of scientists with a wide range of expertise including botany, biology and chemistry to develop low-toxin strains of this valuable, environmentally tolerant legume.

Unfortunately, Palmer said, people may well become increasingly exposed to potentially toxic plants as the climate warms and the global population expands, especially in low-income countries.