Heart Disease
Prevent Heart Disease
You should always keep in mind that whatever actions you do today can either help to prevent, delay or minimize the effect of heart disease or worsen it. The key is to control risk factors. Granted that you cannot control every risk factor for heart disease such as family history but you can definitely do something about your behavior. Age and gender also influence your risk of heart disease.
Major Risk Factors of Heart Disease
Cholesterol Levels
Cholesterol is a type of a lipid, a soft, fatlike substance that serves as a source of fuel. Excessive cholesterol can cause buildup of atherosclerotic plaque. Accumulation of plaque in arteries can block blood flow and lead to a heart attack. LDL cholesterol, the so-called “bad” cholesterol, is transported to sites throughout the body, where it’s used to repair cell membranes or to make hormones. LDL cholesterol can accumulate in the walls of your arteries. HDL cholesterol, the so-called “good” cholesterol, transports cholesterol to the liver, where it’s altered and removed from the body.
Blood Pressure
Normal blood pressure level is defined as less than 130 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) for systolic blood pressure and less than 85 mm Hg for diastolic blood pressure. The higher the blood pressure, the more likely it is to take a toll on the heart and on the brain. Blood pressure should be checked whether or not your levels are high. For normal, check once every two years. For high-normal, check once a year. If extremely high, you should get immediate care. Then get multiple measurements to know if a high level is sustained over time.
Diabetes
Another risk factor for heart disease is diabetes, a chronic disease of insulin deficiency or resistance. Type 2 diabetes, the most common type, is associated with obesity and may be prevented by maintaining ideal body weight through exercise and balanced nutrition.
Tips For Controlling Risk of Heart Disease
Stop Smoking
The effect of smoking on your lungs can cause almost every other medical condition.
Get Active
Routine physical activity is highly recommended and helpful in controlling obesity. Try to perform 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day. Fast walking is one of the best way to prevent heart disease. If you can lose even a small amount of weight, five pounds for example, it may have a positive effect on lipid levels and blood pressure preventing heart disease.
Limit Alcohol Consumption
Limit daily alcohol intake to three ounces or fewer to prevent heart disease. People who drink large amounts of alcohol (six to eight ounces a day) tend to have higher blood pressure.
Watch What You Eat
Eat five helpings of fruits and vegetables daily to prevent heart disease.
Maintain adequate dietary potassium, calcium and magnesium intake.
Reduce saturated fats and cholesterol to stay away from heart disease.
Copyright 2005 Mike Spencer
About The Author
Mike Spencer has been helping people protect their health for many years. To find out how you can help protect your heart and prevent heart disease visit mikes site at: http://www.heart-healthy-diet.com
Prevent Or Cure Heart Disease-No Drugs Or Surgery
The #1 cause of death in America today is heart disease, killing nearly 30% of us. Learn about preventing or even reversing these shocking facts!
I truly believe that “How to Prevent or Even Reverse Heart disease - Without Drugs or Surgery” will be the resource that saves thousands of lives — perhaps yours or that of a loved one. In it, you’ll learn:
- Hands-down best way to detect heart disease BEFORE it happens to you, but your doctor will probably never tell you about it.
- How raising your cholesterol can protect your heart.
- People who drink this every day (not red wine) can reduce their risk of heart attack by 40% or more.
- The best test for heart attack risk. Show this to your doctor ASAP.
- If you don’t do this occasionally, you will double your chances of having a heart attack. Best of all, it doesn’t cost you a cent.
- Why this telling indicator of heart disease risk is often ignored by conventional doctors — yet is so easy to reverse with a safe, natural mineral.
- Considering angioplasty with ‘Stents?’ What your doctor will never tell you!
- If you or a loved one has ever had a heart attack, chances are the hospital never gave you this critical information. Here’s what you need now — and how to get it.
- Why taking an aspirin-a-day can actually give you a stroke!
- Are you taking the one simple amino acid that helps restore normal blood pressure, relieve angina and open clogged arteries? Most people have never even heard of it!
This is the kind of “secret” information the mainstream medical establishment hopes you never find out about. To them, you’re nothing more than a source of income. But now you’ll know!
Find Out More About “How to Prevent or Even Reverse Heart disease - Without Drugs or Surgery”
by: Greg Post
Since its discovery in the late 1950’s Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) has received much attention as a necessary compound for proper cellular function. It is the essential coenzyme necessary for the production of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) upon which all cellular functions depend. Without ATP our bodies cannot function properly. Without CoQ10, ATP cannot function. This connection has made CoQ10 a very important object of study in relation to chronic disease. In many cases the presence of chronic disease is associated with inadequate levels of CoQ10. But no area of study has received more attention than the relation between CoQ10 and heart disease. That is because CoQ10 is believed to be of fundamental importance in cells with high metabolic demands such as cardiac cells. A further reason the connection of heart disease and CoQ10 has gained so much attention is because heart conditions of many kinds are associated with chronically low CoQ10 levels.
CoQ10 is highly concentrated in heart muscle cells because of their high energy requirements. Add this to the fact that heart disease is the number one killer in developed and developing countries and one can see why the bulk of scientific research on CoQ10 has been concerned with heart disease. Specifically, studies on congestive heart failure have demonstrated a strong correlation between the severity of heart failure and the degree of CoQ10 deficiency. The lower the levels of CoQ10 in the heart muscles the more severe the heart failure. If indeed CoQ10 deficiency is a primary cause of congestive heart failure then, in such cases, the remedy is simple and cost effective; CoQ10 supplementation.
Congestive heart failure is a condition where the heart does not pump effectively resulting in an accumulation of fluid in the lungs. Symptoms may include shortness of breath, difficulty breathing when lying flat and leg or ankle swelling. Causes include chronic hypertension, cardiomyopathy (primary heart disease) and myocardial infarction (irreversible injury to heart muscles). Heart muscle strength is measure by the ejection fraction which is a measure of the fraction of blood pumped out of the heart with each beat. A low ejection fraction indicates a weak heart.
Several trials have been conducted involving patients with enlarged weak heart muscles of unknown causes. For those of you who like difficult phrases this condition (or variety of conditions) is known as idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. In these trials CoQ10 supplementation was compared to placebo effects. Standard treatments for heart failure were not discontinued. The results were measured by echocardiography (a diagnostic test which uses ultrasound waves to make images of the heart chambers, valves and surrounding structures). The overall results of CoQ10 supplementation demonstrated a steady and continued improvement in heart function as well as steady and continued reduction in patient symptoms including fatigue, chest pains, palpitations and breathing difficulty. Patients with more establish and long-term cases showed gradual improvement but did not gain normal heart function. Patients with newer cases of heart failure demonstrated much more rapid improvement often returning to normal heart function.
Papers numbering in the hundreds from eight different symposia have been written and presented on the effects of CoQ10 on heart disease. International clinical studies have also been conducted in the United States, Japan, Germany, Italy and Sweden. Together these studies and the papers that have been derived from them demonstrate significant improvement in heart muscle function while causing no adverse effects.
One particular area of study involves diastolic dysfunction which is one of the earliest signs of myocardial failure. Diastole is the phase of the cardiac cycle when the heart is filled with returning blood. Because this phase requires more cellular energy than the systolic phase (when the blood is pushed out of the heart) it is more dependent on CoQ10. Diastolic dysfunction is a stiffening of the heart muscle which naturally restricts the heart’s ability to pump. This condition is associated with many cardiac disorders. Hypertension is among these disorders. As the heart muscles become stiff there is often a corresponding rise in blood pressure. When the diastolic dysfunction is reversed, blood pressure tends to lower as well. In one study involving 109 patients with hypertension, CoQ10 supplementation was added to normal hypertension treatments. In an average of 4.4 months 51% of the patients were able stop using at least one blood pressure lowering medication. Some were able to stop using up to three medications. Another study produced similar results. In that study 43% of 424 patients were able to stop using between one and three cardiovascular drugs because of CoQ10 supplementation.
These examples are just a drop in the bucket. Diastolic dysfunction (and by proxy, hypertension) includes only a small sampling of heart conditions that respond favorably to CoQ10 supplementation. Other areas of research show great promise for CoQ10 treatments. Among these are cancer and AIDS. But such conditions are beyond the scope of this essay. CoQ10 is essential to the proper functioning of all cell types. It is not surprising, therefore, to find a diverse number of diseases that respond favorably to CoQ10 supplementation. Since all metabolically active tissues are highly sensitive to CoQ10 deficiency, we can expect to see CoQ10 research expand to many other areas of chronic diseases.
About The Author
Greg holds degrees in science, divinity and philosophy and is currently an I.T. developer.
http://www.optimal-heart-health.com/coq10.html
http://www.optimal-heart-health.com/co-q10.html
by: Riana Lance
Heart disease includes a number of conditions affecting the structures or function of the heart. They includes coronary artery disease (including heart attack), abnormal heart rhythms or arrythmias, heart failure, heart valve disease, congenital heart disease, heart muscle disease (cardiomyopathy), pericardial disease, aorta disease and Marfan syndrome, vascular disease (blood vessel disease).
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. thus, it is essential to learn how prevent heart disease.
During menopause, many women are easily getting osteoporosis. Indeed, it would also be easy for them to get heart disease.
How is that?
Women, during menopause, might be lack of estrogen. This causes bones to lose calcium and become weaker, putting them at risk for severe bone loss or osteoporosis. A lack of estrogen also increases risk of heart disease.
However, there are steps you can do to prevent osteoporosis and heart disease, such as:
1. Get enough calcium to keep your bones strong. Before menopause, you need about 1,000 mg of calcium per day. After menopause, you need 1,500 mg per day. You also can talk with your physician about taking medicine to help preserve bone and slow down bone loss. Get at least 30 minutes of physical activity on most days of the week. Try weight-bearing exercises, like walking, running, or dancing.
2. Eat healthy by including plenty of whole grain products, vegetables, and fruits in your diet. Choose a diet low in total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol.
3. Maintain a healthy weight. Ask your health care provider what a healthy weight is for you.
4. Control your blood pressure. Ask your health care provider what a healthy number is for you and how often you need it checked.
5. If you have diabetes, control and monitor your blood sugar levels.
6. Lower your cholesterol to the right level. Ask your health care provider what a healthy level is for you.
7. If you smoke, try to quit. Ask your health care provider for help or visit this special section of the NWHIC web site: www.4woman.gov/QuitSmoking
8. If you drink alcohol, limit it to no more than one drink per day.
So, if you think that your menopause has begun, it is important for you to pay attention to the eight essential ways to prevent osteoporosis and heart disease.
About The Author
Riana Lance has a deep concern on health. Get her inspirational guides on How to Cure Insomnia at http://healthifica.com/guides/menopause-stress/ Also, grasp her other motivational health tips at http://www.healthifica.com, a worth-to-visit daily updated blog.
by: Mary Desaulniers
We only have to look at a Titian painting to recognize that at one point in the history of Western culture, fat was considered beautiful. Before the 20th Century, corpulence was touted as a sign of wealth and luxury, largely because most people were barely surviving on a meager existence.
Ironically, now in our era of affluence and plenty, we have to contend with the health and economic problems of obesity. We have a population in North America that is more than 55% overweight. More than 20% of those overweight are considered obese, a situation which proves to be an economic burden on our Health Care system because of the coronary risk factors associated with obesity. In 2004, total national health expenditure in the USA was $1.9 Trillion or $6,280 per person.
Why is obesity a risk factor for heart disease?
Among obese individuals, triglyceride levels are unusually high, while HDL levels tend to be low; both of these situations are risk factors for heart disease .A recent study involving tissues collected from autopsies of 3000 men (15-34 years old) who had died of external causes (not heart related) identified an association between obesity and coronary atherosclerosis.
Abdominal fat which characterizes obese individuals is also an area of concern. A study of 1300 Finnish men (42-60 years old) suggests that abdominal fat is an independent and major risk factor for coronary events. Several reasons have been suggested for this: a) stomach fat is continually released into the bloodstream in the form of artery-clogging fatty acids; b) abdominal fat also releases compounds that facilitate risk factors such as atherosclerosis, metabolic syndrome and inflammation; c) abdominal fat initiates biochemical events that lead to insulin resistance, a precursor of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Obesity is often a precursor to metabolic syndrome, a dangerous health situation that is manifested through a cluster of symptoms—excess body fat, insulin resistance, low HDL cholesterol, high triglyceride levels and high blood pressure—all risk factors for coronary events. People with metabolic syndrome release immune system messengers called “cytokines” into their bloodstream. Cytokines lead to a communication breakdown between body cells and insulin which leads to excessive insulin production by the pancreas, creating a situation that is a literal “time bomb” for heart disease . In addition, this excessive insulin production can raise fibrinogen concentrations in the bloodstream, thus allowing blood to clot more easily, a situation that is a direct risk factor for heart attacks and strokes.
Because of their size, obese individuals are more often than not sedentary in lifestyle. Inactivity in and of itself is also a coronary risk factor. Data from more than 88,000 women in the Nurses’ Health Study shows that a lean sedentary woman had 1.48 greater risks for coronary heart disease than a slightly heavier but physically active woman.
However, the same study also showed that obesity alone is a risk factor, in fact, an even greater risk factor than inactivity because coronary disease risk was highest for women who exercised the least and had the greatest waist-to–hip ratio. The conclusion that obesity itself is a risk factor is also supported by a study of 5881 overweight and obese individuals which showed that being overweight increased the risk of heart disease by 34%, while being obese increased the risk to 104%.
What can we do to help someone we know who is obese or dangerously overweight?
Acknowledgement of the problem is the first step. Very often, individuals are in a state of denial about the seriousness of their weight situation. A visit to the doctor or a healthcare professional who deals with the morbidly obese is essential. So are visits to a nutritionist, fitness consultant and body work therapist. Only then can the individual be presented with options viable and necessary for his or her situation.
In severe cases of obesity, surgery would be part of the solution. Lifestyle changes that include exercise and healthy eating are more than essential. Just as critical are bodywork therapies that can uncover some of the real issues behind addictive eating. Learning to read body cues of hunger, depression, stress is equally important for re-mapping a new life and a whole new cartography of food and consciousness, body and mind.
In Titian’s day, the corpulent body was an idealized figure on canvass, essentially exiled to the realm of the fantastic or the realm of the unjust in a society where hunger was the norm. In our days, the corpulent body has its own tale to tell: a Quasimodo that is both the scourge and product of a culture addicted to perfection.
Copyright 2006 Mary Desaulniers
About The Author
Mary Desaulniers
A lifestyle and weight management consultant, Mary is hosting an Internet Radio show on “Reclaiming The Body’s Wisdom” October 5/06 till January 4/07. Guests include Dr. Bruce Lipton ( The Biology Of Belief), Dr. Lee Pulos ( The Biology Of Empowerment), Dr. John Diamond ( The Diamond Color Meditation) and more. Visit her at http://greatbodyafter50secrets.com/My%20Web/hostpromo1.htm
by: Marcus Ryan
If you’re interested in your heart health, then this article will interest you.
Omega 3 fatty acids have made into the medical journals because of several important and impressive health effects.
These omega 3 fish oils are available from natural food sources or as supplements (as fish oil capsules). Either way, they can be used to help keep us healthy in mind and body.
It is a real medical discovery that has both the medical community as well as the general population take notice.
In this article, we’ll look at the benefits of omega 3 oils on heart health.
Benefits of omega 3 fatty acids in survivors of heart attacks (myocardial infarction)
The DART study (which stands for the Diet And Reinfarction Trial) showed that survivors of heart attacks who took oily fish, equivalent to about 500 to 800 mg of omega 3 fatty acids per day, had a reduction in total death rate of 29%. Those patients who chose to take fish oil capsules containing 450 mg of omega 3 fatty acids (DHA and EPA) per day, had a reduction in cardiac related death of 62%, and a reduction in risk of death of 56%.
Then came the GISSI prevention trial, which was a large Italian study of 11,324 myocardial infarction survivors.
This study showed that myocardial infarction survivors who took a capsule of fish oil every day, equivalent to 1 gram of fish oil, which is equivalent to 850mg of omega 3s, had a 30% fall in cardiac mortality, and 45% fall in risk of sudden death. And these benefits were apparent within just four months of the trial.
Then the Lyon study came into the picture, looking at 600 myocardial infarction patients.
It was found that those who took the advice of eating a Mediterranean diet, with an emphasis on fruit and vegetables, and in particular an adequate intake of non marine sources of omega 3 oils (alpha-linolenic acid), had a fall in their risk of heart related death at 5 years by 70%, when compared to those patients who had no such dietary advice.
Now let’s have a look at fish oil effects in prevention of heart disease in the first place…
Benefits of omega 3 in preventing heart disease and sudden death in healthy individuals
Firstly, there was a study looking at the benefits of omega 3 fatty acids in healthy male doctors. This study was known as the Physician’s Health Study.
This study found that those with the highest levels of omega 3 fatty acids in their blood streams, had a risk of sudden death that was only 1/5 of the risk of sudden death found in the group with the lowest omega 3 fatty acid levels. That is, their relative risk was 19%. Those with the second highest levels of omega 3 fatty acids had a relative risk of less than 1/3, with a relative risk of 28%.
Secondly, there was the Chicago Physician’s Health Study Western Electric Study which studied a group of 1822 men over a period of 30 years.
This study found that those who ate more than 35 g of fish per day had 38% less risk of dying from heart disease, and a 44% reduction in risk of heart attacks, when compared to those who had no fish intake.
These are just sample of the various studies on the health effects of omega 3 fatty acids on cardiac health.
It is very sobering to realise that about 50% of heart attacks have no warning.
The benefits as shown in the studies above, relate to preventing heart attacks in those who have already had one, as well as reducing the risk of myocardial infarction and sudden death in healthy individuals.
The these essential fatty acids have been linked to reductions in risk of dementia and depression, in the treatment of depressed patients, and improvement in IQ of children.
There are even studies on the effect of fish oils on reducing levels of aggression in young adults.
The health benefits of omega 3 fish oils are certainly very interesting, and very promising.
They vary from heart health, to mental health.
If you have a medical condition, you should always seek the advice of your doctor before taking any new supplements or medications in case you are on medications or have medical conditions that contraindicate the use of natural supplements.
Remember that prevention is always better than cure.
And that health is really our greatest asset.
So be alert for more developments in this area, including more medical studies on the various health benefits of omega 3 fatty acids.
About The Author
Marcus Ryan
Want to learn more about omega 3 fatty acids? Marcus Ryan helps you to discover the health benefits of omega 3 fatty acids and fish oil, including a clear understand of the results of medical studies and research. Visit http://www.omega3oils.info