College Football Players May Be At Risk of High Blood Pressure

College football players, particularly burly linemen, may develop high blood pressure in just one season of play, new research suggests. The study of 113 freshmen on Harvard's football team found that while none had high blood pressure at season's start, 14 percent did by season's end. All of the affected players were linemen. Experts said the significance of the blood pressure increase is not clear. The study did not follow the players long enough to see if their numbers fell again during the off-season, for example. "I think this is provocative, but we need further study to determine the significance," said Dr. R. Todd Hurst, of Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_139141.html