In fact, if you’ve suffered from a myocardial infarction, your doctor has probably warned you that not taking these medications could increase your risk of a second heart attack.

There’s a problem, though…

Not only can taking beta-blockers lead to side effects like fatigue, low heart rate and sexual dysfunction, but study after study has demonstrated the medications may be both ineffective and dangerous.

A 2017 study found that taking beta-blockers following a heart attack, in which heart function was retained, made no statistical difference in the risk of a secondary heart attack.

Worse, additional research in 2020 determined that taking beta-blockers actually increased the risk of heart failure in women.

So what was done with those findings?

Not much. Beta-blockers continued to be recommended because skeptics believed the studies weren’t definitive enough!

But now, the jury is in, and the news is not good…

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Massive trial provides definitive answer on beta-blockers

This breakthrough discovery was made during the “REBOOT Trial,” a massive study that enrolled over 8,500 patients across 109 hospitals, and followed patients who either did or did not take beta blockers after a heart attack with regular heart function.

Sure enough, the results showed no significant differences between the two groups in rates of death, recurrent heart attack, or hospitalization for heart failure.

But the most disturbing finding came from a substudy of the REBOOT Trial…

That data confirmed that women treated with beta blockers had a higher risk of death, heart attack, or hospitalization for heart failure compared to women not receiving the drug.

In other words, not only did beta-blockers not prevent a second heart attack in women, they made the chances of another heart attack (or heart-related issue or death) more likely.

The results of the study were so significant that the investigators believe they will reshape the current treatment protocol for post-heart attack patients.

“REBOOT will change clinical practice worldwide. Currently, more than 80 percent of patients with uncomplicated myocardial infarction are discharged on beta blockers. The REBOOT findings represent one of the most significant advances in heart attack treatment in decades,” says Principal Investigator Borja Ibáñez.

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Choosing what’s right for your heart

If you’re currently taking beta-blockers, don’t stop them cold turkey without talking to your doctor first.

But how can you avoid a second heart attack?

Maintaining healthy arteries is vital to avoiding a second heart attack — and choosing the right diet is one of the best things you can do on your own towards that goal.

Ditch the typical American diet, which sets you up for heart trouble. It’s an obesogenic diet — basically a high-fat diet with lots of omega-6 fatty acids, and according to previous research, it promotes an inflammatory environment that contributes to heart attack by:

• Damaging blood vessels
• Promoting the buildup and destabilization of plaque
• Triggering blood clots
• And reducing blood flow to the heart

An obesogenic diet also prevents cells known as leukocytes from performing a crucial function: repairing the heart after a heart attack and protecting it from future damage.

If you’ve suffered a heart attack and want to avoid another, your diet should contain lots more omega-3s and much fewer omega-6s. Here’s a link to four diets Harvard recommends to lower the long-term risk of cardiovascular disease.

In addition to those four, spirulina is a supplement that promotes a healthier heart in three ways: reducing free radical damage that can lead to inflammation, and supporting healthy cholesterol and blood pressure levels.

Don’t forget the importance of exercise. Following a heart attack, get your doctor’s permission, but even in heart failure, exercise can help turn the heart’s health around.

Sources:

Common heart drug taken by millions found useless, possibly risky — Science Daily

Heart attack survivors: 5 tips to support your heart health goals — American Heart Association

The post Common drug increases women’s risk for second heart attack appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

VILPA stands for vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity. It’s a form of physical activity that involves short bursts of high-intensity exercise interspersed throughout the day.

It’s a great way to sneak exercise into your daily routine, and it’s different from traditional exercise in that it doesn’t require a dedicated workout session.

VILPA appeals to me because, instead of spending 30 minutes at the gym, I spend one to two minutes doing a full-on vigorous activity three or four times a day. These activities can include vigorously scrubbing the toilet or dishes, running up and down the stairs or sprinting while walking the dog.

It may not sound like much, but the benefits of VILPA can be profound. In fact, one study showed doing one-minute VILPA bursts three to four times a day resulted in a 40 percent reduction in all-cause and cancer-related mortality and up to a 49 percent reduction in death related to cardiovascular disease.

A new study has found even more heart benefits to these tiny, daily bursts of vigorous physical activity — particularly for women….

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VILPA halved cardiovascular risks in women

Researchers at the University of Sydney examined data from 22,368 UK Biobank participants ages 40 to 79 who reported they did not engage in regular structured exercise. The participants wore physical activity trackers for almost 24 hours a day for 7 days between 2013 and 2015. Cardiovascular health was monitored using hospital and mortality records, and significant adverse cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke and heart failure were tracked until November 2022.

The study defined physical activity (that qualifies as VILPA) as incidental activities such as carrying shopping bags or briefly power walking, and exercise as a structured activity like going to the gym or playing sports.

After adjusting for factors such as lifestyle, socioeconomic position, cardiovascular health, co-existing conditions and ethnicity, the researchers found the more VILPA women did, the lower their risk of a major cardiovascular event.

Women who averaged 3.4 minutes of VILPA daily slashed their risk of a major cardiovascular event by 45 percent. They also were 51 percent less likely to have a heart attack and 67 percent less likely to develop heart failure than women who did no VILPA.

Even when the women did less than 3.4 minutes of daily VILPA, they still saw benefits. A minimum of 1.2 to 1.6 minutes of VILPA each day was linked to a 30 percent lower risk of total major cardiovascular events, a 33 percent lower risk of heart attack and a 40 percent lower risk of heart failure.

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Men didn’t benefit as much

Unfortunately, the news wasn’t nearly as good for men. Those who averaged 5.6 minutes of VILPA daily were only 16 percent less likely to experience a major cardiovascular event compared with men who did none. A minimum of 2.3 minutes a day showed only an 11 percent risk reduction.

Given that fewer than 20 percent of middle-aged or older adults engage in regular structured exercise, VILPA could be a good alternative.

“Making short bursts of vigorous physical activity a lifestyle habit could be a promising option for women who are not keen on structured exercise or are unable to do it for any reason,” says lead author Emmanuel Stamatakis, a professor at the University of Sydney.

“As a starting point, it could be as simple as incorporating, throughout the day, a few minutes of activities like stair climbing, carrying shopping, uphill walking, playing tag with a child or pet or … power walking.” 

Stamatakis notes that more testing is needed to understand how VILPA may improve cardiovascular health.

“To date, it hasn’t been clear whether short bursts of VILPA lower the risk of specific types of cardiovascular events, like heart attack or stroke,” he says. “We aimed to identify minimum daily thresholds and feasible amounts for testing in community programs and future trials.”

Stamatakis emphasizes that the beneficial associations observed in the study were observed in women who committed to VILPA almost daily. “This highlights the importance of habit formation, which is not always easy,” he says.

“VILPA should not be seen as a quick fix — there are no magic bullets for health,” he adds. “But our results show that even a little bit higher intensity activity can help and might be just the thing to help people develop a regular physical activity — or even exercise — habit.”

Sources:

Tiny, daily bursts of vigorous incidental physical activity could almost halve cardiovascular risk in middle-aged women — ScienceDaily

Device-measured vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity (VILPA) and major adverse cardiovascular events: evidence of sex differences — British Journal of Sports Medicine

The post Got 4 minutes? Cut heart disease risk in half appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Microplastics carry endocrine-disrupting chemicals through your bloodstream, but that’s not all…

Microplastics are a kind of ‘magnet’ for environmental pollutants, concentrating them on their surfaces, ‘ferrying’ them through our digestive tract and releasing them in a concentrated form in areas throughout the body where they can cause increased toxicity.

They damage our liver and kidneys. They can even breach the blood-brain barrier that’s supposed to keep harmful pathogens out.

And then there’s the damage they do to our hearts.

A recent study is giving us a warning about something a lot of us do that leaves us wide open to heart failure.

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Hot plastic takeout containers could damage your heart structure

The authors of a study at Ningxia Medical University in China state unequivocally that “it is essential to avoid using plastic containers for high-temperature food.”

Their work was prompted by a survey of 3,179 Chinese adults where those who reported higher exposure to plastics were more likely to suffer congestive heart failure.

Over the course of three months, the researchers fed 24 rodents the chemicals that are leached from plastic containers when they are heated by boiling tap water. These include BPA and phthalates, both of which have a known connection to heart disease.

Rats who consumed a cocktail of plastic contaminants for just three months showed the following changes in their heart tissue:

• broken or misaligned fibers
• inflammatory cells
• mitochondrial swelling
• bleeding between myocardial cells (muscular heart tissue)

Whether or not the same occurs in the human body is unknown for now, but the findings suggest that you should think twice before bringing home hot food in takeout containers.

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How can you protect yourself from microplastics?

This is far from the first time that chemicals from microplastics have been tied to harming the heart.

So how do you steer clear of microplastics? Do you have to stop eating takeout food entirely?

You could, which would assure you that you’re not consuming volatile particles with your hot food.

But let’s face it – most of us aren’t going to do that.

Remember, your choices can significantly reduce your exposure to these harmful particles.

First, try to cook at home often, reserving takeout food for an emergency go-to.

Here are a few more tips:

• Don’t use Styrofoam. Polystyrene (what Styrofoam is made of) nanoparticles are able to cross the protective blood-brain barrier and enter the bloodstream. Research on mice showed that it happened in just 2 hours. Avoid hot drinks or food in this packaging!
• Don’t drink bottled water. Again, it is convenient, but the level of microplastics is about twice the level you’d get from drinking tap water.
• Wash plastic dishes by hand. High heat from your dishwasher can cause a release of microplastics from your dishes. This means that you should always wash your plastic dishes by hand.
• Eat fresh food. Packaged foods wrapped in plastic can shed microplastic flakes that contaminate your food. As much as possible, stick with fresh produce that isn’t wrapped or stored in plastic.

Sources:

Your Takeaway Food Packaging Could Increase Your Risk of Heart Failure — Science Alert

Effects of leachate from disposable plastic takeout containers on the cardiovascular system after thermal contact — Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety

Plastic Found In More Than 50% of Plaques From Clogged Arteries — Science Alert

Microplastics in take-out food containers — Journal of Hazardous Materials

The post Harms of microplastics linked to heart failure appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

However, there’s a hidden type of visceral fat you hear less about that could be just as dangerous to your health, if not more.

Known as epicardial fat, this fat surrounds your heart and has the potential to cause deadly cardiac problems.

Luckily, scientists have discovered a 100% non-invasive test to analyze a person’s epicardial fat to determine just how much of a threat it poses…

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Getting to the heart of the issue

Every single one of us naturally has a layer of fat around our hearts known as “epicardial adipose tissue.”

When you’re in good health, this fat serves as protection for your heart and is necessary for normal heart function.

But a cascade of common health problems can turn its protective function on its head…

If you’re living with health issues like obesity, diabetes or high blood pressure, or you smoke or have a poor diet, the amount of epicardial fat can build, become inflamed and even undergo harmful changes in composition.

In fact, according to cardiologist, Amit R. Patel, MD, “… depending on its makeup, the fat which surrounds the heart has the potential to release damaging substances directly into the heart muscle, leading to serious heart problems”— including coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat) and heart failure.

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Poison fat: Analyzing the composition of epicardial fat

Doctors at the University of Virginia Health System set out to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess the amount and composition of the fat that surrounds the heart.

MRI has allowed them to analyze not only the amount of heart fat itself but also the amounts of saturated fatty acids, monosaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids — fats commonly associated with our diets — in the epicardial adipose tissue.

The UVA team has already tested their technology in both the lab and human patients.

They were able to determine that the fat around the heart in patients who were obese and had suffered heart attacks was comprised of an excessive amount of saturated fatty acids.

“That suggests that this new MRI technique could become a useful clinical tool for identifying at-risk patients and predicting their outcomes,” Dr. Patel said. “Being able to see the composition of the fat that surrounds the heart will improve our understanding of heart disease and may lead to the development of new treatment strategies in the future.”

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Is there too much fat around your heart?

The good news is doctors can at least see how much fat is surrounding your heart on an echocardiogram or cardiac MRI or CAT scan — even if they can’t analyze its composition yet.

As a rule of thumb, doctors start to worry if that fat is greater than 5 millimeters, or the size of a pencil eraser. But you don’t necessarily need to rely on an MRI…

You can get a good idea of how much epicardial fat you might have simply by looking in the mirror. That’s because studies have linked epicardial thickness to abdominal visceral fat thickness, which is also linked to abdominal subcutaneous fat — and can be measured by BMI and waist circumference.

A BMI greater than 25 puts you at a higher risk of unhealthy epicardial fat. Additionally, a waist circumference higher than 40 inches in men or 35 inches in women could indicate too much fat around the heart.

The good news is that if you lose weight, epicardial fat will decrease too! And some healthy foods are quite good at helping decrease heart fat…

Research in 2022 found that eating a diet rich in healthy fats, fish, nuts, seeds and fresh vegetables worked to lower the amount of epicardial fat in patients with atrial fibrillation.

You might also consider adding avocados as part of that heart-healthy diet, since a study found that women who consumed avocado as part of a daily meal had a reduction in deeper visceral abdominal fat.

Sources:

Unlocking the secrets of the heart: Simple scan could identify patients at risk for serious heart problems — EurekAlert!

Understanding Epicardial Fat — Premier Health

Differential relationship between waist circumference and mortality according to age, sex, and body mass index in Koreans with age of 30–90 years; a nationwide health insurance database study — BMC

A Comparative Study of Epicardial Fat Thickness and its Association with Abdominal Visceral Fat Thickness in Obese and Nonobese Type 2 Diabetes Subjects — NIH

Effect of Aerobic and Resistance Exercise on Cardiac Adipose Tissues — JAMA Network

Comparison of reducing epicardial fat by exercise, diet or bariatric surgery weight loss strategies: a systematic review and meta-analysis — NIH

PO-696-08 MEDITERRANEAN DIET AND EPICARDIAL ADIPOSE TISSUE IN PATIENTS WITH ATRIAL FIBRILLATION TREATED WITH ABLATION — Heart Rhythm Journal

The green fruit that keeps deep belly fat away — Easy Health Options

The post The unseen fat that’s your heart’s biggest threat appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Normally the pancreas produces insulin which helps move blood glucose into our cells where it’s used for energy. Some is also stored in the liver, muscles and fat cells.

But when blood sugar is high often or spikes a lot, the cells become resistant to allowing the insulin to enter, and blood sugar continues to rise. Over time, insulin resistance can lead to prediabetes and eventually, full-blown type 2 diabetes, if the trajectory is not stopped.

It’s well known that people with diabetes are at increased risk for heart disease. But now we’re learning that just being insulin resistant is linked to the world’s most common heart valve disease…

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What is aortic stenosis?

Aortic stenosis (AS) causes a narrowing of the aortic valve, restricting blood flow out of the heart.

Eventually, the valve thickens and stiffens, making the heart work harder to pump blood effectively around the body. If not corrected, this can gradually cause debilitating damage that can lead to life-threatening complications, such as heart failure. 

The symptoms of AS can take years to develop. Someone living with AS can experience symptoms that include chest pain, tiredness, shortness of breath and heart palpitations. Some may experience no symptoms at all but still be at risk of heart failure and death.

Known risk factors for AS include age, gender (being male), hypertension, and smoking. Diabetes is an established risk factor too.

But now we’re learning that insulin resistance, even if it never progresses to become diabetes, can also put men at high risk of this dangerous heart condition.

Biomarkers that predict aortic stenosis

A group of researchers from Finland have identified specific biomarkers of insulin resistance as predictors that a man will develop AS.

A biomarker is a substance that, when found in bodily fluids like blood, can indicate an abnormal process in the body.

The researchers analyzed data from 10,144 Finnish men aged 45 to 73 who did not have AS. They measured biomarkers related to insulin resistance.

At a ten-year follow-up, 116 of those men, or 1.1%, were diagnosed with AS.

Now, that may not sound like a lot. But the important thing here is that the team identified very particular biomarkers related to insulin resistance – fasting insulin and serum C-peptide, for example – that were associated with an increased AS risk.

This is good news. By taking care of these biomarkers, it’s possible men can avoid aortic stenosis, heart disease and early death.

“This novel finding highlights that insulin resistance may be a significant and modifiable risk factor for AS,” says lead author Dr Johanna Kuusisto, from the Kuopio University Hospital, in Finland. 

“As insulin resistance is common in Western populations, managing metabolic health could be a new approach to reduce the risk of AS and improve cardiovascular health in aging populations. Future studies are now warranted to determine whether improving insulin sensitivity through measures such as weight control and exercise can help prevent the condition.” 

The findings of this study are somewhat limited since the research group consisted of only male subjects. However, men are more likely to develop the condition.

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Preventing insulin resistance

Some risk factors, such as your gender or ethnicity are clearly not under your control. And unfortunately, genes have been identified that can make some people more likely to develop insulin resistance.

But lifestyle plays a significant role both in the development and prevention of insulin resistance, including:

Being overweight. Obesity is considered a primary cause.

Lack of physical activity. Exercise builds muscle that can absorb blood glucose, but not if you’re too stationary.

Poor diet. A diet high in ultraprocessed foods, with high levels of carbs, and saturated fats is a recipe for insulin resistance.

Research has already shown that insulin sensitivity can be improved, fasting blood sugars normalized and even type 2 diabetes reversed.

To keep from succumbing to this dangerous spiral that can lead to aortic stenosis, read my detailed post on the early signs of insulin resistance and how to get insulin sensitivity back. 

Sources:

World’s most common heart valve disease linked to insulin resistance in large national study — EurekAlert

Biomarkers reflecting insulin resistance increase the risk of aortic stenosis in a population-based study of 10,144 Finnish men — Annals of Medicine

Insulin resistance — Cleveland Clinic

The post Aortic stenosis: What’s insulin resistance got to do with it? appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In the U.S., the average lifespan for a woman is 5 years longer than that of a man. And the difference is even greater worldwide, where the average lifespan for women exceeds that of men by 7 years.

For as long as science has recognized the difference, scientists have been trying to unravel the reasons. Now, they’ve zeroed in on one of them… a quirk of nature that occurs in some men as they age…

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Losing the “male” chromosome

We all know that the vast majority of women are born with two X chromosomes, while the vast majority of men have one X and one Y chromosome.

However, what is not as widely known is that an estimated 40 percent of men will lose their Y chromosome in a fraction of their cells by the time they reach the age of 70.

This Y chromosome loss primarily occurs in cells that undergo rapid turnover, such as blood cells. It doesn’t happen in male reproductive cells, so men who experience this loss won’t pass it on to their children.

In some studies, researchers have observed that men who lose their Y chromosome are more likely to experience age-associated diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, as well as early death.

This prompted researchers from the University of Virginia School of Medicine (UVA) to look further into the relationship between Y chromosome loss and early death. What they discovered is believed to be the first hard evidence that the loss of the Y chromosome directly causes harmful effects on men’s health.

The impact of Y chromosome loss on the heart

The UVA research team used gene-editing technology to develop a special mouse model, then used those mice to better understand the effects of Y chromosome loss in the blood. Results showed the loss accelerated age-related diseases, made the mice more prone to heart scarring and led to earlier death.

The scientists noted that the results weren’t just driven by inflammation in the mice. Their immune systems underwent a complex series of responses, leading to a process called fibrosis throughout their bodies. And this process is what the researchers believe may accelerate disease development.

The UVA researchers didn’t stop with mice. They also investigated the effects of Y chromosome loss in human men by analyzing data compiled from the UK Biobank, a massive biomedical database. What they found was that Y chromosome loss was associated with cardiovascular disease and heart failure. And as chromosome loss increased, so did the risk of death.

These findings could explain nearly four of the five-year difference in lifespan between U.S. women and men, according to UVA researcher Dr. Kenneth Walsh.

“The years of life lost due to the survival disadvantage of maleness is staggering,” Walsh says. “This new research provides clues as to why men have shorter lifespans than women.”

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Is it possible to combat Y chromosome loss?

Is there anything that can be done to counteract this loss of the Y chromosome? Science hasn’t found that answer yet. But there may be a way to counter its effects on the body.

According to Walsh, men who suffer Y chromosome loss could particularly benefit from an existing drug, pirfenidone, that targets dangerous tissue scarring and could help these men live longer, healthier lives. Pirfenidone is approved to treat a form of lung scarring and is being tested to treat heart failure and chronic kidney disease, two conditions in which tissue scarring occurs.

While Walsh believes men with Y chromosome loss could respond well to this drug, as well as other antifibrotic drugs in development, more research is needed to determine that.

But to administer any of these therapies, healthcare professionals will need to be able to identify men suffering Y chromosome loss. Unfortunately, doctors currently have no easy way to do that.

One of Walsh’s collaborators, Lars Forsberg of Uppsala University in Sweden, has developed an inexpensive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, similar to those used for COVID-19 testing, that can detect Y-chromosome loss. However, this test is largely confined to his and Walsh’s laboratories.

“If interest in this continues and it’s shown to have utility in terms of being prognostic for men’s disease and can lead to personalized therapy, maybe this becomes a routine diagnostic test,” Walsh says.

Is there anything men can do right now?

If you smoke, quit.

Walsh and his team discovered that smokers were especially likely to suffer Y chromosome loss as they age. Combine that with all the other health risks of smoking and the damage it can do to your heart and lungs, and you’re better off without those cigarettes.

Here are 6 proven ways for you to quit smoking this year.

But that may not be all men should do to try to live longer…

While your Y chromosome may not be a modifiable factor immediately in your control, there are plenty of others.

For starters, men have a bad reputation for putting off healthcare — both physical and mental. Instead:

• Pay attention to symptoms and changes and report them to your healthcare provider.
• Don’t skip out on regular checkups.
• Talk with a professional about feelings of depression and anxiety.
• Practice known healthy lifestyle habits, like eating right (more fruits, vegetables and fiber) and getting regular exercise.

Sources:

Loss of Male Sex Chromosome With Age Leads to Earlier Death for Men—UVAHealth

Hematopoietic loss of Y chromosome leads to cardiac fibrosis and heart failure mortality — Science

Why men often die earlier than women — Harvard Health Publishing

The post The one thing men lose with age that could shorten their lifespan appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

However, the truth is that heart disease kills more women each year than breast cancer by far.

In fact, according to the American Heart Association, one in 39 women in the U.S. will die from breast cancer each year, while 1 in 3 dies from cardiovascular disease.

That works out to roughly one death every minute, with menopause playing a significant role in women’s cardiovascular risks.

This makes menopause a dangerous time in life for a woman due to changes in her heart health. And according to studies presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific meeting recently, there are five particular dangers women should be aware of…

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#1 – Irregular heartbeat

Research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA), found that 1 in 4 women are likely to develop irregular heart rhythms post-menopause. Known as atrial fibrillation, if not treated, it’s the most common cardiac cause of stroke. Fortunately, it’s possible to reduce the risk of AFib by 60 percent with regular exercise.

#2 – Elevated risk of heart failure

Scientists also found that women who went through menopause late – at age 55 or older – and who lived with obesity were at a significantly higher risk of heart failure.

#3 – Higher chance of heart disease

On the other end of the spectrum, research presented at the Association’s 2022 Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference (EPI), showed that women who naturally experienced early menopause (by the age of 40) had a 40% higher chance of coronary heart disease over their lifetime, compared to women who did not go through early menopause.

Coronary heart disease (also known as coronary artery disease) occurs when blockages or damage to the vessels prevent the arteries from delivering enough oxygen-rich blood to the heart. This can lead to a heart attack.

#4 – Dementia dangers

Results of another 2021 study found that women who experience very early menopause were 35% more likely to develop some type of dementia later in life, compared with women who enter menopause around age 50.

#5 – Effects of loneliness on the heart

Additional research in 2021 showed that menopausal heart danger can be compounded by social isolation. The study showed that women who experience loneliness post-menopause were at a 29% risk of cardiovascular disease.

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Support your heart health starting now

As the researchers noted, “More women in the U.S. are living longer, and a significant portion of them will spend up to 40% of their lives postmenopausal, so it’s important to monitor a woman’s health and lifestyle and develop intervention strategies to protect heart health.”

So what can you do to promote better heart health before, leading up to and during your menopause years?

Exercise, follow a Mediterranean-style diet and consider adding the veggie that gives back the heart protection menopause steals to your daily diet…

When women stop producing estrogen, they’re losing more than a sex hormone. Estrogen helps maintain nitric oxide (NO) levels in the body. NO is a signaling molecule found in the endothelial cells that line artery walls — where its chief function is to act as a powerful vasodilator and an important regulator of the cardiovascular system.

In one study, researchers at Penn State determined that beetroot juice, a naturally occurring dietary source of NO, improved blood-vessel function in menopausal and postmenopausal women so much that if it could be maintained over the postmenopausal years, the risk of heart disease could be significantly reduced.

NO may also help with the weight gain linked to heart failure. In a study using mice, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, found that mice on NO therapy gained 17 percent less body weight than the control mice.

That same study saw the mice on NO therapy had improved cerebral blood flow and improved spatial learning abilities. That’s a win since better brain blood flow is associated with a lower risk of cognitive impairment.

As a doctor, I think adding beets to our healthcare arsenal is one of the simplest things women can do for the threats we face when menopause comes knocking.

Beets can be enjoyed in salads, pickled, juiced with other veggies and added to smoothies.

Sources:

Hot news flash: Menopause can impact a woman’s heart health — EurekAlert!

3 amazing benefits of summer’s best heart-healthy vegetable — Easy Health Options

The post 5 serious health threats tied to menopause appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

If that person is a close family member, your risk for AFib could be 30 percent higher.

But even if it doesn’t run in the family, the risk of developing AFIB increases with age, particularly after 65. After age 80, 1 in 10 have the condition.

In AFib, the heart’s upper two chambers beat rapidly and irregularly. If not treated, it’s the leading cardiac cause of stroke and can also lead to heart failure.

But you’re not powerless to reduce the risk of developing AFib…

Lifestyle factors can take it down — and one thing in particular can slash that risk by more than half.

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A little exercise can slash your risk for AFib

Past studies have determined that regular exercise could reduce the risk of developing AFib. However, there was a consistent problem with those older studies…

They replied on self-reported data. In other words, study participants shared estimates about their activity levels, which often turned out to be inaccurate.

So before Researchers at NYU Langone Health decided to dig deeper into the relationship between AFib and exercise, they first sought to improve the way their data was gathered. They took advantage of fitting 6,086 American men and women with a fitness tracker and logged their data for an entire year.

The results of their study showed participants who averaged between 2.5 and 5 hours of exercise per week, the minimum amount recommended by the American Heart Association, had a 60 percent reduced risk of developing AFib. Those who averaged greater than 5 hours of exercise per week showed a slightly greater risk reduction of 65 percent.

Interestingly, even modest amounts of moderate-to-vigorous exercise were associated with reduced risk. The researchers classified moderate-to-vigorous exercise as anything from taking a brisk walk or housecleaning to swimming laps or jogging.

“Our findings make clear that you do not need to start running marathons to help prevent atrial fibrillation and other forms of heart disease,” says preventive cardiologist Dr. Sean Heffron, an NYU Grossman School of Medicine professor and the study’s senior author. “Just keeping moderately active can, over time, add up to major benefits for maintaining a healthy heart.”

Dr. Souptik Barua, a NYU Grossman School of Medicine professor, says the study was not designed to determine whether exercise alone directly reduced AFib risk, nor to detect how that might happen or what other factors (such as income or educational status) might be at play in the reduced risk. However, he adds, the connection between exercise and the development of AFib in study participants was strong.

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The wrong exercise can raise your risk

Exercise is a lifestyle factor that’s often recommended to keep the heart healthy.

In the case of AFib, The ACTIVE-AF trial demonstrated that some people already diagnosed with the condition can control their arrhythmia through physical activity.

Of course, if you have existing conditions and are under a doctor’s care, it’s always a good idea to consult them before starting an exercise regimen.

And if just getting started, take it slow, easy and steady, then build up to what feels best. But exercise caution when selecting what type of exercise to engage in…

Research has shown that high-intensity, extreme endurance activities like marathons or triathlons can raise your risk of AFib, especially if it’s your first time participating in such an event.

Eventually, you may want to try adding a strength training workout a couple of times a week. According to one study, having a strong grip strength lowers the risk of AFib by 46 percent compared to those with weak grips.

Finally, you’ll want to stop exercising immediately if you experience any pain, extreme shortness of breath or exhaustion. Talk with your doctor before resuming your workouts; they may need to check your heart function first.

Sources:

While more is better, even moderate amounts of exercise may reduce risk for common heart condition — EurekAlert!

Heart Arrhythmia Do’s and Don’ts — Penn Medicine

The post How to slash your risk of AFib by 60 percent appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

How can I be so sure? Because according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, these remain the top two disease-related causes of death.

Given that sobering statistic, you should do whatever you can to lower your odds of contracting these illnesses. One good way to double up your efforts is to focus on reducing risk factors for both diseases, such as smoking, diabetes and obesity.

But there’s another newly discovered risk factor you’ll want to know about that shows just how connected heart health and cancer are in the body…

Cellular “bubbles” promote cancer

An international team of researchers identified a mechanism that occurs after a heart attack that can lead to a higher risk of developing cancer.

They found that small extracellular “bubbles” the heart releases to heal itself enter the bloodstream, where they can promote the growth of cancer cells throughout the body.

According to Tal Caller, a medical and research student at Tel Aviv University, research revealed the small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) are secreted by all cells, but “Following an injury in the heart muscle and deterioration to heart failure, sEVs containing growth factors and small nucleic acid molecules that promote cell division are released.

“These sEVs contribute to the healing of the injured cardiac tissue. However, released from the injured heart, those vesicles move within the body’s circulatory system, eventually targeting cancerous growths.”

In other words, these small bubbles directly promote the growth of certain tumors.

When the researchers inhibited the formation of sEVs in animal models with heart disease, they found the risk of cancer decreased. However, they also found this inhibition caused severe undesired side effects.

“When you systemically inhibit the formation of sEVs, you get less cancer — but you cause collateral damage along the way,” says Jonathan Leor, a professor at Tel Aviv University and the Taman Institute at Sheba’s Leviev Center. “That is why we tried a different strategy: treat the patient’s heart to reduce the damage to the cardiac tissue so that it secretes fewer sEVs.”

Leor says the researchers used spironolactone, an established drug used to treat heart failure, to treat the animals at a very early stage of the disease. They found the heart secreted 30 percent fewer sEVs, and the cancerous tumors grew more slowly as a result.

“Our experiment shows that it is possible to intervene in heart disease in a way that reduces the risk of cancer among heart patients,” he adds.

Attack your heart disease risk to lower your cancer risk

“It may be necessary to adjust the existing treatments for the heart so that they also consider the risk of cancer,” Caller says. “In addition, it is possible to find biomarkers among heart patients that will indicate an increased risk of cancer since not all patients are at an increased risk. This is basic research, and much work is still required to unravel the connection between the two.”

The American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8^TM provides great advice on lifestyle factors that can decrease your risk of heart disease. It makes sense to start there, but don’t stop there…

I can’t express the importance of a diet rich in polyphenols — particularly a subgroup known as flavonoids.

One study which followed over 53,000 Danes for over 23 years, found that people who habitually consumed moderate to high amounts of flavonoid-rich foods were less likely to die from cancer or heart disease.

Those with the lowest risks consumed about 500 mg of flavonoids daily from a variety of sources, including one cup of tea, one apple, one orange, 100g of blueberries, and 100g of broccoli.

The researchers claimed the protective effect of flavonoids is so strong, it can even provide a level of protection for people at higher risk for chronic diseases due to risky behavior — meaning unhealthy lifestyle habits, like smoking and drinking more than two alcoholic drinks per day.

That doesn’t mean you get a pass for bad habits. It’s just a testament to the power of the right foods.

If you’d like to know your risks right now for heart disease and cancer, find out what an echocardiogram — or this comparable at-home test — can tell you.

Sources:

Study reveals mechanism linking heart disease to cancer development — EurekAlert!

Small Extracellular Vesicles From Infarcted and Failing Heart Accelerate Tumor Growth — Circulation

Deaths: Leading Causes for 2020 — National Vital Statistics Reports

Lifestyle Changes to Prevent a Heart Attack — American Heart Association

The post How heart disease fuels cancer growth appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But what if your heart isn’t healthy? Is yoga still a good fit for you?

Yoga has been tested in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), and it was found that doing yoga two times a week for eight weeks reduced edema and depressed mood and improved quality of life in those patients.

But it hasn’t been clear, is whether those effects would hold over a longer period of time — and what impact, if any, it would have on heart function…

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Yoga stands the test of time

In heart failure, the heart muscle is either too weak or too stiff to pump properly. This often leads to a buildup of fluid, shortness of breath and other complications.

Researchers studied 75 heart failure patients at a care center in South India who underwent coronary intervention, revascularization or device therapy within the previous six to 12 months.

All the patients were less than or equal to NYHA Class III (a measuring system of patients’ physical activity limitations, with Class I being the least severe and Class IV being the most) and had been on optimized therapy for at least six months to a year.

The patients were between the ages of 30 and 70 and had a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of less than 45 percent. Ejection fraction measures how effectively the heart is operating.

They were divided into two groups: an interventional group that received yoga therapy and guideline-directed medical therapy, and a non-interventional group that continued with standard guideline-directed medical therapy alone. The researchers then measured and compared echocardiographic parameters at various follow-ups.

Those in the yoga intervention group were taught techniques for pranayama (breathing), meditation and relaxation. Each session lasted around 60 minutes, and participants were supervised for one week before being asked to continue practicing yoga at home on their own. They were advised to perform yoga at least five days a week for 12 months.

Based on a questionnaire measuring the quality of life in four areas — physical, psychological, social and environmental health — completed at the start of the study, and reassessed at 24 and 48 weeks, participants in the yoga group had improvement in endurance, strength, balance, symptom stability and quality of life. While they improved physically and psychologically, there was no improvement in social and environmental health.

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But here’s where things get interesting…

Echocardiographic parameters for both groups were roughly the same at baseline. However, at the six- and 12-month follow-up, the yoga group showed improved biventricular systolic function compared with the non-interventional group. Functional outcomes under NHYA classification were also improved in the yoga group.

To put it more plainly, the yoga group saw an improvement in heart function over the group that didn’t practice yoga.

“Our patients observed improvement in systolic blood pressure and heart rate compared to patients who were on medication without yoga,” says lead author Dr. Ajit Singh, research scientist for the Indian Council for Medical Research at Kasturba Medical College & Hospital, Manipal Academy of Heart Education in Manipal, India.

How to get started

Dr. Singh noted that the study shows yoga therapy may improve physical well-being and left ventricular function among heart failure patients who are undergoing guideline-directed optimal medical therapy.

If you’re someone with heart failure and you want to try yoga, talk to your doctor first. They’ll be able to assess your physical condition and let you know if it’s safe for you to practice on your own, or if you need to work with a trained instructor that understands your condition.

Just remember that there are certain asanas (poses) you should avoid if you have heart failure. Don’t do asanas that work your heart too rigorously or those that cause your body to be inverted. Inverted poses cause your heart to have to work against gravity to supply blood to your legs and hands, exerting more pressure on the muscles. Your yoga teacher can help you figure out which asanas you need to skip during your practice.

Sources:

1. Yoga improves quality of life, cardiovascular function in heart failure patients — EurekAlert!

2. Which Asanas to Avoid if Suffering from Heart Disease — Max Healthcare

The post Yoga: Heart protective enough even for heart failure appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Not because it’s time to relax.

Nope, according to a brand-new study, the tongues of people with heart failure look totally different from those of healthy people.

Here’s what to look for when you stick out your tongue…

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The color and the coating count

The study, performed at the No.1 Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, set out to determine how the look of your tongue could be used as a diagnostic tool in heart failure.

Sounds strange, right?

But the truth is that previous research by the same group of scientists had already demonstrated that microorganisms in the tongue coating could help them distinguish patients with pancreatic cancer from healthy people.

Just by looking at patients’ tongues they could tell who had cancer and who didn’t… and determined that the test could be used as an early marker to diagnose cancer when it was still most treatable.

So how in the world are the microbes on your tongue linked to a disease like cancer (and now heart failure)?

Well, according to the researchers, since certain bacteria are associated with immunity, an imbalance in those microbes can also stimulate inflammation and disease.

And that’s exactly what got them wondering about heart failure and if signs could be visible on the tongue. So, they set out to test their theory…

The team recruited 42 patients in the hospital with chronic heart failure along with 28 healthy controls. To make sure the study was valid, the researchers also made sure that none of the participants had oral, tongue or dental diseases or even an upper respiratory tract infection or had used antibiotics in the past week that could affect the outcome of the test.

After observing and taking samples of the participants’ tongue coatings, they came to a few important conclusions:

• First, all of the heart failure patients shared the same types of microorganisms in their tongue coating.
• Healthy people also shared the same microbes among those within that group.
• There was no overlap in bacterial content between the two groups.

And here’s where it really gets good…

“The tongues of patients with chronic heart failure look totally different to those of healthy people,” said study author Dr. Tianhui Yuan. “Normal tongues are pale red with a pale white coating. Heart failure patients have a redder tongue with a yellow coating and the appearance changes as the disease becomes more advanced.”

Strange but true — if you have heart failure, your tongue is going to look different from if you’re healthy.

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The mirror test

Hopefully, you see a doctor regularly and practice a heart-healthy lifestyle. Because watching your tongue for signs of heart problems is no replacement for those things. But if you’re curious, try the mirror test…

Stand in front of a mirror and stick out your tongue. Is it a healthy pale red with a pale white coating or do you have signs of heart failure, with a darker red tongue and a yellow coating?

If you see the signs of heart failure, it’s time to see your doctor right away.

Other early signs of heart failure include:

• Shortness of breath
• Swelling in your lower extremities
• Reduced ability to exercise
• Fatigue
• Lack of appetite
• Poor concentration
• Irregular or rapid heartbeat

While the cause behind your heart failure can’t always be reversed, there are treatments available that can help protect your heart to help you live longer and better.

Sources:

Tongue microbes provide window to heart health — ScienceDaily

Heart Failure — Mayo Clinic

The post What your tongue can tell you about your heart appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

This simple test, designed by top researchers, that requires no equipment and that you can do it in the comfort of your own home, involves one task that they’ve found can reveal an awful lot about your future heart health. And it starts with one simple command…

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Drop and give me 40 pushups

That’s the exact test the researchers used to determine the risk of heart disease down the road for 37 middle-aged men.

If like me, you’re having flashbacks to the horrors of gym class, stick with me for just a moment. It turns out that the number of pushups participants in the study were capable of doing provided a window to heart disease risk, including conditions like heart failure.

The Harvard team found that middle-aged men who could crank out more than 40 push-ups in a single try experienced a whopping 96 percent reduced risk of developing heart disease and its related health conditions over the next 10 years, compared to men who could make it through no more than 10 push-ups.

The researchers combed through mountains of health data, including annual checkups, on over 1,100 men who were active-duty firefighters for over a decade from 2000 to 2010. They also asked each participant to complete a pushup test as well as spend time on a treadmill.

And while poor results on the treadmill test didn’t show a clear link to a later diagnosis of heart disease, the inability to blast through at least 40 pushups definitely put participants into the higher risk category.

“Our findings provide evidence that push-up capacity could be an easy, no-cost method to help assess cardiovascular disease risk in almost any setting,” said the study’s first author, Justin Yang, an occupational medicine resident at the school.

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How many pushups can you do?

So if you’re wondering how healthy your heart is, you might consider trying the pushup test.

And before you get too worried, the good news from the researchers is that since the original study was performed in men who were already extremely active, a lower number of pushups completed might still indicate heart disease protection for those of us who are less active or past middle age.

Just remember to use good body mechanics during your pushups to protect your shoulders. And if you have any joint injuries to your upper body, a different test might be the way to go.

Other at-home options that could reveal a higher risk of heart problems in your future include:

• Climbing stairs – A study out of Spain found that “If it takes you more than one-and-a-half minutes to ascend four flights of stairs, your health is suboptimal, and it would be a good idea to consult a doctor.”
• Looking in the mirror – Researchers from the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse in France found that people with deeper forehead wrinkles were more likely to succumb to heart disease.
• Taking note of shoulder pain – Shoulder pain can often be less about sore muscles and more about heart disease risk. So if you’re living with sore, tight or painful shoulders, it’s time to take a look at your heart disease risk factors with your doctor.

Remember, heart disease is the number one cause of death for both men and women in our country. So take note now of any heart troubles that may be in your future, so that you can practice prevention.

Sources:

Men Who Can Do More Than 40 Push-Ups Far Less Likely To Develop Heart Disease­­ — Study Finds

Test your heart health by climbing stairs — ScienceDaily

The post What the number of pushups a man can do reveals about his health appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

If you get no other dietary advice, you’ll get that one, no doubt about it.

That’s because for the past hundred years or more the standard of care for people with weak hearts or high blood pressure has been sodium reduction.

Yet, the history of salt and its effects on the cardiovascular system has been anything but clear-cut.

While one widely touted study found that one in 10 Americans dies from too much salt, there’s not been any scientific evidence to clarify just how much salt is too much for people struggling with heart problems.

So, researchers at the University of Alberta set out to find the answer, along with exactly what benefits passing on the salt could offer if you have heart failure.

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Improving quality of life by giving up a quarter teaspoon

The largest randomized clinical trial of its kind, the study followed 806 patients at 26 medical centers across six countries. Every patient suffered from heart failure, a condition in which their hearts are too weak to pump their blood effectively.

Prior to the study, all participants consumed an average of 2,217 mg per day (or slightly less than one teaspoon). They were then assigned either to the “usual care group,” taking in an average of 2,072 mg of sodium daily, or a “nutritional guidance group,” consuming just 1,658 mg per day.

This was a reduction of just under a quarter teaspoon.

Not much, right?

So, how did the results stack up?

Let’s take a look…

While this slight reduction in sodium intake did not result in a statistically significant difference in rates of death from any cause, cardiovascular hospitalization or heart-related emergency department visits — the researchers did note big benefits in other areas…

They found consistent improvements for the low-sodium group using three different quality of life assessment tools, as well as the New York Heart Association heart failure classification — a measure of heart failure severity.

In fact, reducing salt intake resulted in improvements in symptoms such as swelling, fatigue and coughing, as well as better overall quality of life.

In other words, less salt meant less strain on the heart and a better life, if not a longer one.

“We can no longer put a blanket recommendation across all patients and say that limiting sodium intake is going to reduce your chances of either dying or being in hospital, but I can say comfortably that it could improve people’s quality of life overall,” said lead author Justin Ezekowitz, professor in the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry and co-director of the Canadian VIGOUR Centre.

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The easiest way to reduce your salt intake

So, if you’re living with heart failure, limiting your salt intake to ¾ teaspoon per day could be an important step in controlling your symptoms.

And the easiest way to do that is to avoid hidden sources of sodium including processed foods and restaurant meals.

“The broad rule that I’ve learned from dietitians is that anything in a bag, a box or a can generally has more salt in it than you would think,” said Ezekowitz.

Instead, cook at home whenever possible, using spices and herbs for added flavor.

And when you do need a bit of salt, stick with sea salt or Himalayan pink salt rather than traditional table salt, which lacks healthy trace minerals such as phosphorus and silicon.

Now if you don’t have heart failure and want to do whatever you can to avoid it, be sure to read about coffee’s secret but powerful impact on heart failure risk.

Sources:

Hold the salt: Study reveals how reducing sodium intake can help patients with heart failure – ScienceDaily

The post Heart failure: A little less salt, a lot more relief appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In fact, according to a survey commissioned by Sprouts Farmers Market, more than half of Americans between the ages of 24-39 are adding more plant-based foods to their diet in an effort to strengthen their immune system and stay fit.

Now, there’s more reason to consider joining the movement if you haven’t already taken your diet plant-based…

The heart-healthy powers that come with saying yes to plant-based eating.

Here are the numbers…

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Less heart disease and fewer heart attacks

So what can a plant-based diet do for your heart?

Well, two separate studies analyzing healthy plant food consumption have now found that eating more plant foods leads to fewer heart attacks and a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.

The research studies were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association and we’re going to break down their most important points.

Study 1: 32-year follow-up reveals 52 percent risk reduction

The first study evaluated whether long-term consumption of a plant-centered diet starting in young adulthood could heart disease risk in midlife.

The researchers followed close to 5,000 participants for a whopping 32 years and here’s what they found:

• Participants with the most nutritious plant-based diets, including fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts and whole grains, were 52 percent less likely to develop cardiovascular disease.
• People who improved their diet during the study, eating more plant foods and fewer animal products, were 61 percent less likely to develop heart disease down the road, compared to those whose diet quality declined the most during that time.

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Study 2: The “Portfolio Diet” lowers heart failure risk by 17 percent

The next study specifically delved into the possible benefits to your heart that you could achieve from a diet known as the “Portfolio Diet”.

This diet is recommended by the FDA for lowering “bad” LDL cholesterol. Previous research has shown that embracing the Portfolio diet can be as effective as taking a cholesterol-lowering statin medication (without any of the nasty statin risks, like dementia).

The Portfolio Diet includes healthy plant protein from soy, beans or tofu. Plus you get plenty of fiber from plants like barley or fruits and veggies such as okra, eggplant, oranges, apples and berries (like this one that improved heart ad blood vessel function in just 30 days!).

Additionally, the diet includes heart-healthy fats such as olive oil and avocado.

Sounds pretty good, right? Well, it gets better…

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This second study, which followed 123,330 women in the U.S.  for an average of 15.3 years, found that, compared to women who followed the Portfolio Diet less frequently, those with the closest adherence to the diet were:

• 11 percent less likely to develop any type of heart disease;
• 14 percent less likely to develop coronary heart disease;
• And 17 percent less likely to develop heart failure.

Now those are impressive numbers!

Is it all or nothing?

And there’s more good news…

Eating plant-based foods has also been found to give your metabolism a boost. And studies have shown that going plant-based can lower your stroke risk and even decrease your chances of prostate cancer.

So why not try a plant-centered diet?

It doesn’t have to mean giving up all meat. Instead, researchers say to simply choose plant foods that are “as close to nature as possible” and then include animal products, like poultry, fish, eggs and low-fat dairy in moderation.

Sources:

Eating more plant foods may lower heart disease risk in young adults, older women – EurekAlert!

HOW HEALTHY ARE PLANT-BASED DIETS AS THEY GROW IN POPULARITY? – The Food Institute

The post How much do plant-based foods protect your heart? Here are the numbers appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

For instance, periodontal (or gum) disease can lead to inflammation and degeneration in the brain.

It can trigger inflammatory bowel diseases like ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

It can increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

It can make you more likely to contract severe COVID-19 or die from the illness.

And it’s even been linked to rheumatoid arthritis, lung infections, obesity, prostate inflammation and erectile dysfunction.

Gum disease also can influence cardiovascular health. Studies have linked gum disease to heart disease. And research shows people with periodontitis, a severe gum infection, are more likely to have high blood pressure.

Now, there’s new research that expands the list of ways gum disease may influence the heart….

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Heart failure and your gums

A team of U.S.-based researchers analyzed long-term data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study that included 7,514 people who averaged 63 years of age.

Periodontal disease was found in 59 percent of the participants, while 23 percent had healthy gums. Another 18 percent were in edentulism, meaning they no longer had their natural teeth.

While there have been many studies that found links between periodontal status and coronary artery disease, stroke or diabetes, few have focused on heart failure.

Among the participants, those with periodontal disease were much more likely to experience heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) over an estimated 13 years of follow-up. In this type of heart failure, the left ventricle isn’t pumping blood to the body as well as it should.

There was also a nonsignificant trend of excess heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) in those with periodontal disease. In HFpEF, ejection fraction may be within a normal range, but often the heart muscle has thickened or stiffened to the point where the ventricle holds a smaller amount of blood than usual — meaning there’s not enough blood being pumped to meet the body’s needs.

But the people whose gum health had deteriorated to the point of edentulism had roughly double the risk of both HFrEF and HFpEF.

All of these results remained significant even after adjusting for sociodemographic, behavioral and heart failure risk biomarkers, as well as other pre-existing health conditions and coronary heart disease.

Gum disease is triggered by an inflammatory response to bacteria under the gums. Chronic systemic inflammation is also believed to be directly related to heart failure’s pathogenesis.

Some scientists believe the link between the two could be because periodontitis influences the amount of inflammation in the membrane lining the inside of the heart and blood vessels.

Previous research suggests acute heart failure patients could benefit from intravenous corticosteroids if they have elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker of systemic inflammation.

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It takes more than brushing

The investigators say these findings support the need for more research exploring the potential for using anti-infective periodontal therapies to minimize heart failure burden.

While they work on that, there are a few things you can do…

If you’re a smoker or have diabetes, you’re at increased risk for periodontal disease. That means quitting the habit and staying on top of diabetes management.

And of course, the best defense against gum disease is a good offense. To start with, make sure your oral hygiene is impeccable. To avoid heart failure, it’s worth the time and effort.

But when it comes to the health of your mouth, good oral hygiene is really only half the battle. Like your gut, your mouth has its own microbiome. And just skipping brushing for one day has been shown to promote changes in the oral microbiome that kick off periodontitis.

As for supplements that might help, one study suggests that melatonin may help reduce gum tissue inflammation. Another links low levels of vitamin D3 to periodontitis, which is not surprising for several reasons…

• Of all the vitamins, it’s probably the strongest at quelling inflammation
• A study published in the Frontiers of Immunology confirmed that vitamin D3 could balance people’s immune systems and help strengthen defenses against infections. The same could not be said for vitamin D2.

And my colleague, Margaret Cantwell, recommends these four supplements specifically that fight aging and gum disease.

If you’re already dealing with HFpEF, find out why you should add olive oil to your diet, pronto, here.

Sources:

People With Gum Disease Are More Prone to Heart Failure — MedPage Today

Periodontal Status, C-Reactive Protein, NT-proBNP, and Incident Heart Failure: The ARIC Study — JACC: Heart Failure

Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction (Systolic Heart Failure) — MyHealth.Alberta.ca

Ejection Fraction Heart Failure Measurement — American Heart Association

The post The strong link between gum disease and heart failure appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Being obese will cause your aging brain to become smaller and less cognitively flexible.

It also promotes a chronic inflammatory state that leaves your immune system weakened.

Now, a new study demonstrates that being obese is directly linked to changes in the heart’s structure that result in heart failure.

A direct cause of heart failure

A study by researchers at Queen Mary University in Great Britain has shown that excess fat is a direct cause of heart failure.

“We already know obesity increases the risk of heart and circulatory diseases that can go on to cause heart failure. But now we have revealed obesity itself could be a driver of hearts starting to fail.”

This statement by Dr. Zahra Raisi-Estabragh, who supervised the study, sums up the importance of these findings. It’s not just the diseases that obesity contributes to that lead to heart failure; it’s the excess body fat itself.

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Changes to heart structure

The research stemmed from an analysis of nearly 490,000 people, which showed that adults with a higher body mass index (BMI) and a high waist-to-hip ratio had a thirty percent greater risk of heart failure, even after accounting for other risk factors like diabetes and hypertension.

Dr. Raisi-Estabragh’s follow-up study showed why this was true…

In comparing cardiac scans of people with obese BMIs (above 25) with people in the healthy range, it became apparent that obese people were more likely to have thicker heart muscles, more signs of scarring and weaker pumping chambers.

These changes make it more difficult for the heart to pump blood to all parts of the body effectively, which in turn could lead to heart failure.

Professor James Leiper, associate medical director of the British Heart Foundation (similar to the American Heart Association) says that this research “provides new evidence of the link between obesity and heart failure and forms the basis of further research to understand the mechanisms underpinning the connection between obesity and changes to the heart’s anatomy.”

In other words, this research opens the door to more studies on exactly how obesity impacts physical changes to the heart and causes it to fail.

Weigh the heart benefits of weight loss

You certainly don’t need to wait for more research. Take steps now towards maintaining a healthy weight to drastically cut your risks for heart failure.

If you are obese or overweight, there’s plenty of help available if you need a plan to lose weight.

Getting involved with others working towards the same goal can lend tremendous support. Weight Watchers is a great example. Their tips have helped thousands lose weight and keep it off.

For some people, the answer may lie in surgery. And there’s good news on that front. Research has found that the metabolic benefits from weight loss surgery may outweigh natural weight loss.

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If you’re more of a “do it on my own” type of person, here are some pointers to help you succeed.

It’s no surprise that exercise has got to be part of your plan to lose weight. But don’t think it’s just about burning calories. Exercising does three other things that are crucial to losing weight.

Starvation is never an appropriate or effective way to lose weight. In fact, there’s one diet that lets you eat a wide range of foods (and even the occasional treat) and still see the pounds come off.

Use nutrients that help. Some weight loss supplements really work, without dangerous side effects. Fiber is just one of them.

And guess what? You can eat out with your friends or family and still lose weight if you follow these eight important tips.

Sources:

Obesity can drive hearts to fail and weaken their structure, study finds — Daily Mail

The post How obesity can lead straight to heart failure appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Heart failure is frequently accompanied by gout, a painful type of inflammatory arthritis caused when uric acid crystals build up in the joints. One link between these two conditions is high levels of uric acid, which can increase the risk of coronary artery disease and heart-associated death.

However, another common thread that’s sometimes overlooked is chronic inflammation.

“Heart failure is more than just a failure of the pumping function of the heart,” says Dr. Sula Mazimba, a UVA School of Medicine researcher and cardiologist specializing in heart failure. “There are other processes that are involved, especially during an acute hospitalization phase such as elevated inflammation and neuro-hormonal process.

“Many of the therapeutic agents for heart failure target neuro-hormonal pathways, but few if any target inflammatory pathways,” Mazimba added.

The paradox here is that drugs like steroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin and ibuprofen, while often used to treat gout, aren’t typically given to heart failure patients. This is because these medications can worsen heart failure symptoms like fluid retention.

But there is one medicine used for gout that may have potential for heart failure as well…

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The dual power of colchicine

UVA Health researchers examined the records of more than 1,000 patients who were admitted to University of Virginia Medical Center over a nine-year period for worsening heart failure. Some of these heart failure patients were also experiencing an acute gout flare, while others were not. And some of those experiencing gout flare were treated with a well-established gout therapy known as colchicine.

They discovered that heart failure patients experiencing a gout flare who received colchicine had a survival rate of 97.9 percent, compared with a 93.5 percent survival rate for those who didn’t receive the medication.

“Colchicine is a medication that has anti-inflammatory properties that could potentially attenuate the heightened inflammation that we see in patients who are hospitalized with heart failure,” Mazimba says.

The researchers believe that by moderating inflammation in the heart and blood vessels, colchicine may improve outcomes, especially in the acute phase of heart failure hospitalizations.

“These results highlight the importance of novel inflammatory mechanisms in heart failure,” says Dr. Kenneth Bilchick, professor of cardiovascular medicine and a clinical investigator at UVA. “The signal for benefit with colchicine in these patients was very impressive, and I expect that these findings will have quite a significant impact on clinical care in heart failure and future research for patients with this condition.”

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Plucking out the root cause

It may be years before colchicine is cleared for use in heart failure. Until then, the best thing you can do for your heart and overall health is to take steps to block chronic inflammation.

For instance, exercise has been shown to act as a sort of sentry that blocks a pro-inflammatory molecule, keeping damaging chronic inflammation at bay. You don’t even need to go hardcore; just taking a walk, doing household chores or working in your garden can help lower inflammation levels.

A clean, healthy diet is absolutely key to fighting chronic inflammation. If you eat a lot of fat and cholesterol, refined flour and sugar, beverages containing caffeine (however, with both gout and heart failure, coffee has shown beneficial) and alcohol, nightshades and allergens like nuts, it can spark chronic inflammation that can damage your heart health over the long term.

Instead, try to avoid processed foods that are often acidic to the body and eat more alkalizing foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains. A regimen like the green Mediterranean diet includes all of those healthy foods.

Also, make sure you’re getting plenty of anti-inflammatory nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins A, C, D3 and E. You can get these nutrients from foods like fruits, vegetables and fish, but supplements can help boost your levels quickly if you’re deficient in any of them. For example, vitamin D deficiency is common among Americans, so it may be wise to take a good quality vitamin D3 supplement daily.

Finally, there are other supplements that can help tame chronic inflammation, including turmeric, ginger and black cumin seed oil. Adding one (or all) of these to your daily regimen will give you an added boost of inflammatory-fighting power.

Sources:

Gout Medicine Improves Survival for Heart Failure Patients, Study Finds — UVA Health

Association of colchicine use for acute gout with clinical outcomes in acute decompensated heart failure — Clinical Cardiology

The post What gout and heart failure have in common appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Most people take it literally. They think it means that the heart has literally failed, or stopped working.

This is not the case.

But heart failure is nothing to take lightly.

It can get worse over time if left untreated and can set off a cascade of other serious health issues — or worsen those that already exist.

Knowing the risk factors for heart disease, as well as the warning signs and symptoms you need to take seriously, could save your life.

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Types of heart failure, and symptoms you should never ignore

Heart failure occurs when the heart muscle has become weak and can’t pump blood well enough to meet the body’s needs.

There are actually two types of heart failure:

• Reduced ejection fraction, where the heart doesn’t pump well
• Preserved ejection fraction, where the pump works, but the heart has trouble relaxing

Heart failure creates two problems in the body, known as congestion and perfusion.

There are classic symptoms that are brought about by each of these two problems. If you experience any of these, DO NOT ignore them.

Too many people understandably assume that these symptoms are caused by other things. But ignoring them for too long could be fatal.

The symptoms of congestion, also known as congestive heart failure, are:

• Shortness of breath
• Discomfort while lying flat and needing extra pillows
• Gasping for air in the middle of the night
• Edema, or swelling, in the legs and belly
• “Pitting” in the areas of swelling

Pitting refers to what happens when you press down on the skin in an area that’s swollen from heart failure.

“If you remove your thumb and you can still see that indentation, that’s heart failure,” says Dr. Satjit Bhusri, a cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.

Perfusion, on the other hand, refers to the amount of blood that’s getting to your organs. All organs, including the brain, can be affected by poor perfusion because they’re receiving enough oxygen to function properly.

So it makes sense that the typical symptoms of poor perfusion from heart failure are fatigue, dizziness and fainting.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to write off fatigue and shortness of breath as being caused by exhaustion or other minor ailments.

“Shortness of breath and fatigue are the two most important symptoms that I don’t want patients to ignore,” says Dr. Bhusri of Lenox Hill Hospital. “They are very non-specific symptoms, but they can be the first signs and symptoms of heart failure and even heart attack.”

Prevention is the best treatment

“Heart failure” isn’t a standalone diagnosis. Rather, it’s usually caused by other related health problems. Often, treating the underlying cause can help improve symptoms and even prevent heart failure from progressing.

Here are eight common risk factors for heart failure:

• High blood pressure. The heart has to work harder, and when it can no longer keep up, heart failure can be the result
• Heart disease (coronary artery disease). Arteries that are clogged block adequate oxygen from reaching the heart, which also weakens heart function
• Heart attack. Part of the heart muscle dies, and the resulting scar tissue can damage the heart pump
• Cardiomyopathy. A weakened heart muscle caused by a viral infection.
• Heart valve damage. This may be either congenital (from birth) or damaged during the aging process (degenerative)
• Endocarditis. If this infection of the heart valve is detected early enough, heart failure may be prevented from occurring
• Chemotherapy.
• Alcoholic cardiomyopathy.

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4 behaviors you can change now to lower your risk

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are four behaviors that increase the risk of heart failure:

• Tobacco use. Nicotine raises blood pressure, and carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke reduces the amount of oxygen your blood can carry
• Too much alcohol. Also raises blood pressure, as well as triglycerides
• Lack of physical activity. Increases the chances of obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes
• Diet.  Lots of  saturated and trans fat has been linked to heart disease, and too much salt contributes to high blood pressure

If you practice any of these, it’s definitely time to make some healthy lifestyle change. There are also some science-backed ways to make improvements if you’ve been diagnosed:

Consider the Mediterranean diet. The diet makes good use of olive oil, which has been shown to improve cardiorespiratory fitness in heart failure patients.

Take up juicing. Drinking beetroot juice before exercise helped heart failure patients exercise longer and stronger and take in more oxygen.

And research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology focused on patients suffering from heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) and learned that a daily dose of juiced beets created astounding improvements: just 2.4 ounces of beet juice daily for a week packed a 24 percent boost in the patients’ abilities to perform aerobic exercise.

Sources:

Textbook Signs of Heart Failure You Should Never Ignore — healthination.com

8 Common Risk Factors of Heart Failure to Be Aware Of — healthination.com

Know Your Risk for Heart Disease — cdc.gov

The post 4 behaviors that put you in line for heart failure appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Water is essential for protecting the spinal cord, removing waste through urination and sweat, regulating temperature and lubricating joints.

Some of your most vital organs are composed of up to 80 percent water.

Your heart is one of those vital organs, and it is particularly vulnerable to dehydration. In fact, being even mildly dehydrated can affect your heart as much as smoking a cigarette can.

But you might be shocked to learn just how much being poorly hydrated, especially during middle age, can increase your risk for heart failure later in life.

Two recent studies spell the risks out pretty clearly…

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Blood sodium predicts heart failure and poor blood pumping

Heart failure is a chronic condition that develops when the heart does not pump enough blood for the body’s needs. It is more common in adults aged 65 and older.

Two recent studies highlight the crucial link between consistent hydration and preventing heart failure.

Both studies were led by Dr. Natalia Dmitrieva, a researcher in the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health.

The first study, presented to the European Society of Cardiology in August 2021, examined two things:

• Whether the concentration of sodium in the blood at middle age predicts the onset of heart failure 25 years later
• The connection between levels of hydration and left ventricular hypertrophy, a thickening of the left ventricle (the heart’s main pumping chamber). Left ventricle thickening often precedes a diagnosis of heart failure.

A group of nearly 16,000 adults ranging in age from 44 to 66 were divided into four groups based on their average blood sodium concentration. Over five visits, they were evaluated until they reached an age range of between 70 and 90 years old.

Two patterns emerged:

• Higher blood sodium levels were associated with both heart failure and left ventricular hypertrophy 25 years later.
• When blood sodium was more than 142mmol/l (millimoles per liter), the risk of both conditions began to increase

High sodium levels indicate dehydration and heart failure risk

You may be thinking, well, that makes sense. They tell us to watch our sodium intake to control blood pressure.

But eating too much salt isn’t the only way you end up with too much sodium in your blood. As fluid levels decrease, your sodium levels also go up.

In March of this year, Dr. Dmitrieva and three other scientists from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (part of the National Institutes of Health) published another  study.

This time, they assessed the hydration status of nearly 12,000 healthy adults by looking at their levels of serum sodium. Because high serum sodium is paired with low hydration, this helped identify a group that was at risk of developing both heart failure and left ventricular hypertrophy.

“Serum sodium and fluid intake can easily be assessed in clinical exams and help doctors identify patients who may benefit from learning about ways to stay hydrated,” says study co-author Dr. Manfred Boehm, who leads the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine.

In other words, assessing levels of sodium in the blood is a good way for doctors to identify patients who are at risk of dehydration and heart failure.

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How to stay hydrated

You would think it would be easy to tell if you’re hydrated or not. But the truth is it’s easy for dehydration to sneak up on you.

Being thirsty is an obvious sign, but you might not realize that being irritable, constipated or suffering from headaches can also signal dehydration.

Drinking water is the obvious way to stay hydrated.

But it’s not the only way. In fact, there’s evidence that milk may be even better than water or sports drinks at rehydrating your body after a workout session.

And don’t forget that many fruits, vegetables, and other foods are naturally full of water. Here are eight of them.

In case you’re wondering how much is enough, the authors of the studies discussed here recommend 6-8 cups a day for women and 8-12 cups a day for men.

Sources:

Good hydration may reduce long-term risks for heart failure — Science Daily

Middle age serum sodium levels in the upper part of normal range and risk of heart failure — European Heart Journal

Drinking sufficient water could prevent heart failure — Eureka Alert

The post Avoiding heart failure is the best reason to stay hydrated appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Water is essential for protecting the spinal cord, removing waste through urination and sweat, regulating temperature and lubricating joints.

However, if you don’t drink enough water, over time you actually become less thirsty.

If you don’t drink enough water regularly, some troublesome symptoms begin to appear. Allergies, digestive problems and other conditions show up to let you know your body is drying up.

Your heart is one of those vital organs that are mostly water, and it is particularly vulnerable to dehydration. In fact, being even mildly dehydrated can affect your heart as much as smoking a cigarette can.

But you might be shocked at just how much your hydration levels, especially during middle age, can impact your risk for heart failure…

Dehydration is a predictor of heart failure

According to a study presented this summer to the European Society of Cardiology, staying well hydrated throughout life could reduce the risk of developing heart failure.

The study examined two things:

• Whether serum sodium concentration (the concentration of sodium in the blood) at middle age predicts the development of heart failure 25 years later
• The connection between hydration and left ventricular hypertrophy, a thickening of the heart’s main pumping chamber (the left ventricle), which often precedes a diagnosis of heart failure.

A group of 15,792 adult participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study were the subjects of this study. They ranged in age from 44 to 66 when first recruited.

By dividing participants into four groups based on their average blood sodium concentration and evaluating them over five visits until age 70 to 90, some clear patterns emerged.

• Higher serum sodium concentration in midlife was associated with both heart failure and left ventricular hypertrophy 25 years later.
• The risks of both left ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure at age 70 to 90 began to increase when serum sodium exceeded 142 mmol/l in midlife.

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What does this mean for you

The conclusion of this study states: “The data suggested that a small degree of hypohydration induced by moderate exercise and fluid restriction significantly impaired endothelial function.”

Translation: even a mildly sweaty exercise session, and forgetting to drink afterward, could harm your heart.

And here’s something else that may surprise you.

Dr. Natalia Dmitrieva of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and author of this study, says:

“It is natural to think that hydration and serum sodium should change day to day depending on how much we drink on each day. However, serum sodium concentration remains within a narrow range over long periods, which is likely related to habitual fluid consumption.”

Translation: You can’t make up for a week of poor hydration by drinking more water the following week. Your blood sodium is tied to your hydration habits in general, so it’s important that you’re consistent in drinking enough water — if you want to save your heart.

If the thought of guzzling water all day doesn’t appeal to you, fear not. Research has shown that milk is an ideal drink for replacing lost fluids.

And many healthy foods are largely composed of water: watermelon (92%), strawberries (91%), grapefruit (88%), and bell peppers (92%) are just a few examples.

Instead of sports drinks that are often loaded with sugar, try potassium-rich coconut water as an alternative to plain water.

Unfortunately, if you’ve already been diagnosed with heart failure, drinking more water won’t help, as more water in the bloodstream makes it harder for the heart to pump. Heart failure patients have to practice fluid restriction to avoid overloading the heart.

The takeaway: Stay hydrated now, and your heart will thank you when you’re older.

Sources:

Drinking sufficient water could prevent heart failure — Eureka Alert

The effect of hypohydration on endothelial function in young healthy adults — European Journal of Nutrition

What is the average percentage of water in the human body? — Medical News Today

Hydrating foods: The top 20 and their benefits — Medical News Today

The post The drink that slashes your risk of heart failure appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In fact, if you’re a woman over 50, you might be doing everything else right but still doubling your risk of heart failure if you sit even what most of us would consider a short amount of time each day.

Lower time on your seat to lower heart failure risk

The study, lead by researchers at the University at Buffalo in Buffalo, New York, examined the health records of almost 81,000 healthy postmenopausal women (average age of 63 years) from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study.

At the end of 9-years of follow-up, 1,402 of those women were living with heart failure.

And guess what the deciding factor in who was hospitalized with heart failure and whose ticker was still healthy seemed to be?

How much time they spent sitting!

The researchers determined that:

• Women who sat more than 8 ½ hours a day had a whopping 54 percent higher risk for a heart attack than those who reported sitting less than 4.5 hours per day.
• And women who reported sitting or lying down for more than 9 ½ hours a day had a 42 percent higher risk than those who spent less than 6.5 hours per day sitting or lying down.

Stay on your feet to stay healthy

But here’s where it gets really good…

The study revealed that women who kept their sedentary activities to less than 4 ½ hours per day slashed their heart failure risk in half!

The researchers say that not only are these findings consistent with previous research that has shown a sedentary lifestyle can lead to chronic health conditions, like cancer. And the results could also be why a sedentary lifestyle could be the difference in whether you survive a heart attack (or not).

They also come down to one message…

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Sit less, move more

 “For heart failure prevention, we need to promote taking frequent breaks from prolonged sitting or lying down, in addition to trying to achieve guideline levels of physical activity, such as those recommended by the American Heart Association,” said Dr. Michael LaMonte, research associate professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Health Professions at the University of Buffalo.

Basically, anything you can do to interrupt your sedentary time and can help.  Whether you simply stand up for five minutes, move your feet in place or take a break from sitting to do some household chores, getting up and getting moving can pay off.

And even when you do have to sit, there are exercises you can do to stay at your healthiest.

Although this analysis only included postmenopausal women, the findings are similar to those reported in a multiethnic study of men in California.

So if you want to keep your heart healthy, no matter your sex, spend as much time on your feet as possible. If you’re working on your computer, try a standing desk. For TV time, try walking in place rather than relaxing on the couch. And be sure to take frequent breaks when you are sitting.

Sources:

Older women can cut heart failure risk in half by reducing time spent sitting — Study Finds

Less sedentary time reduces heart failure risk for older women — Heart.org

The post Cut heart failure risk in half just by sitting less appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Now a new study has discovered what could be the secret to reducing the severity of heart failure and even stopping the development of heart rhythm abnormalities — and it’s going to surprise you.

The harder the heart has to work

You see, as the Mayo Clinic points out, one of the complications that comes with heart failure is a “reduced ability to exercise.”

After all, it makes sense that if your heart isn’t pumping as well as it should, it would be harder to go for a run, spend time on your exercise bike or even take a walk.

However, according to the results of new research from a team of scientists at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, more exercise is exactly what your heart may need if you’re living with heart failure.

In fact, lead researcher, Thomas Stølen says of the research performed on rats, “Our research on rats with heart failure shows that exercise reduces the severity of the disease, improves heart function and increases work capacity. And the intensity of the training is really important to achieve this effect.”

I told you it would surprise you — and there’s more… including results with a study on human patients.

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Exercise turned the heart’s health around

Here’s why the researchers say it works…

Their study on rats with heart failure found that after six to eight weeks of almost daily interval training:

• Their ejection fraction (the percentage of blood pumped out of their heart with each beat) increased from 20 percent to 35 percent.
• The interval training also significantly improved the rats’ conditioning. In fact, after the training period, their fitness level was actually better than that of untrained rats that hadn’t had a heart attack.
• Calcium was pumped out of their heart cells and stored inside cells more efficiently, without the leakage common in heart failure. This helps to prevent the heart from contracting when it should be at rest — to avoid ventricular fibrillation which is fatal and a common cause of cardiac arrest.
• The training also made the electrical wiring system of the rat’s hearts more functional.
• Exercise counteracted the processes that cause the heart to become big and stiff after heart failure.

Overall, the researchers say that these improvements show that interval training could help make each heartbeat more powerful and reduce the severity of heart failure, as well as the risk of dangerous ventricular fibrillation.

Types of exercise studied

So what type of interval training was used for the study?

The rats did four-minute intervals at about 90 percent of their maximum capacity. This means exercising hard for four minutes and then resting or walking for four minutes and repeating the process.

This study also had a group of rats participate in a more sedate style of exercise. This group ran the same distance as the rats in the interval group, but at a lower intensity that took a longer amount of time. This exercise also showed several health improvements.

This is great news for rats, but is exercise safe for a person with heart failure?

Certainly, any exercise should be discussed with your doctor when you have a heart condition. But the findings of a 2018 study on high intensity interval training for patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) found a relatively low rate of major adverse cardiovascular events for patients with coronary artery disease or heart failure when applied in a cardiac rehabilitation setting.

The researchers in that study felt that considering the now robust evidence of high‐intensity interval training (HIIT) efficacy for improving a range of cardiovascular‐related health and fitness measures, the role of HIIT within cardiac rehabilitation settings can be further considered.

But they add that HIIT would be most appropriate for those patients who are younger, have less complex CVD, and stable symptoms, have a relatively high baseline level of aerobic fitness and a recent history of vigorous physical activity.

So, don’t rule it out — but talk with your doctor, who knows your specific CVD status, about getting started safely and under guidance.

Sources:

After Heart Attack, New Threat: Heart Failure — WebMD

Heart failure — Mayo Clinic

Why failing hearts love hard workouts — EurekAlert!

The post Can heart failure really be turned around with exercise? appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In 2017, Emily A. Fletcher, deputy pharmacy flight commander from the David Grant U.S. Air Force Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base in California, decided to investigate the health effects of energy drinks.

Why?

Data showed that 75 percent of the base’s military personnel had consumed an energy drink and that nearly fifteen percent of military personnel drank three cans per day when deployed.

Fletcher was concerned about the potential blood pressure and heart health effects this type of consumption might have on the personnel under her care. Here’s what she found…

Milliseconds that add up to arrhythmia

The subjects of her study were eighteen men and women who were randomly assigned to two groups.

The first group was given 32 ounces of a popular energy drink that contained 108g of sugar, 320mg of caffeine, and an assortment of other compounds.

The second group received a drink with the same amount of caffeine, plus 40ml of lime juice, 140ml of cherry syrup, and carbonated water.

Six days later, the two groups returned for a second trial where the two drinks were switched.

Results of electrocardiograms revealed that members of the energy drink group had a QT interval that was ten milliseconds higher than the control group.

The QT interval is a measure of the pause between the end of one electrical impulse, one heartbeat, and the start of the next. If this gap is too short or too long, it can produce an irregular heartbeat or arrhythmia.

Now, ten milliseconds may not sound like a big deal. But, to put the number into perspective for you, medications that affect the heart’s QT interval by just six milliseconds are required to carry a warning label.

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More than just caffeine and sugar

Caffeine makes you feel more energized by affecting your brain, while sugar refuels your body’s cells and helps keep you physically active longer.

But what about the other ingredients in energy drinks?

A recently published study seems to confirm the implications of the 2017 study, namely that it’s something other than caffeine and sugar that’s causing harm. 

Led by Dr.Ivan Rusyn, researchers at Texas A&M University evaluated the ingredients of seventeen different popular energy drinks, then treated cardiomyocytes — human heart cells grown in a laboratory — with each drink.

They observed an increased beat rate in these heart cells, one which would cause cardiomyopathy (disease of the heart muscle which makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood), increased blood pressure and other heart conditions if it occurred in an actual human heart.

Through their analysis, the researchers were able to pinpoint three ingredients in energy drinks that were associated with prolonged QT intervals.

One is theophylline, a bronchodilator that is used to treat symptoms of asthma, bronchitis, emphysema and other breathing problems. This ingredient is found in some stimulating compounds like guarana, which is used in certain energy drinks.

Adenine and azelate are the other two compounds linked to changes in heart muscle behavior and blood pressure.

Other reasons to avoid energy drinks

Energy drinks don’t just harm the heart. They’re linked to other health problems, including kidney problems.

Not only are sugar-sweetened beverages linked to kidney damage, but theophylline is known to increase output of uric acid, which can build up in the kidneys undetected, and cause or worsen kidney disease.

Also, drinking high-sugar energy drinks on a regular basis sets you up for obesity, diabetes, and dental problems.

Finally, as if all that weren’t enough, studies show that energy drinks are tied to an increased risk of stress, anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. They’re also tied to an increased likelihood of substance abuse.

Looking for some natural energy-boosters? Start here and here.

Sources:

Energy Drinks’ Harmful Effects on Heart Neuroscience News

Relationships between constituents of energy drinks and beating parameters in human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-Derived cardiomyocytes Food and Chemical Toxicology

Energy Drinks’ Potential Effects on the Heart Healthline

Theophylline increases serum uric acid levels The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

The post What energy drinks do to your heart muscle appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But while one day you may read that coffee has a newly discovered health benefit you can’t pass up, the following week you may read warnings about caffeine.

So, which is it?

As long as you don’t over-do it, coffee lovers can rejoice and savor the aroma of your favorite liquid in a cup. That’s because the results of three major long-term studies indicate that, for your heart at least, it’s a good idea to drink up…

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Coffee’s impact on heart failure

Across the U.S., fifty percent of us drink coffee daily. It’s a love affair that likely has a lot to do with energy-boosting caffeine. Too much, and coffee can make you feel jittery and nervous. But a cup or two and you’re good to go, right? Some seasoned coffee drinkers can drink even more without any ill effects.

Well, it looks like coffee’s benefits go far beyond energizing…

Data from three large and well-known heart disease studies suggest that drinking one or more cups of caffeinated coffee a day may reduce the risk of heart failure, according to research published recently in Circulation: Heart Failure Journal Report. 

What makes these recent findings different from all the previous research on coffee? Most studies have been limited by diet inconsistencies and inherent problems with relying on self-reported dietary intake from participants.

For this study, the researchers used machine learning through the American Heart Association’s Precision Medicine Platform to examine data from the original cohort of the Framingham Heart Study and referenced it against data from both the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study and the Cardiovascular Health Study to help confirm their findings.

These studies included 10 years of follow-up and provided information on more than 21,000 adult participants. That’s a lot of data that not only revealed coffee was heart-protective but that caffeine may be part of the reason why.

The heart health potential of coffee

Researchers categorized the data on coffee drinkers to those who drank either zero cups per day, 1 cup per day, 2 cups per day, and more than 3 cups daily. Coffee consumption across the three studies was self-reported without using standardized units of measure.

The results of the analysis revealed:

• In all three studies, people who reported drinking one or more cups of caffeinated coffee had an associated decreased long-term heart failure risk.
• In the Framingham Heart and the Cardiovascular Health studies, the risk of heart failure over the course of decades decreased by 5-to-12 percent per cup per day of coffee, compared with no coffee consumption.
• In the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, the risk of heart failure did not change between 0 to 1 cup per day of coffee; however, it was about 30 percent lower in people who drank at least 2 cups a day.
• Drinking decaffeinated coffee appeared to have an opposite effect on heart failure risk — significantly increasing the risk of heart failure in the Framingham Heart Study. In the Cardiovascular Health Study, however, there was no increase or decrease in risk of heart failure associated with drinking decaffeinated coffee. When the researchers examined this further, they found caffeine consumption from any source appeared to be associated with decreased heart failure risk, and caffeine was at least part of the reason for the apparent benefit from drinking more coffee.

“The association between caffeine and heart failure risk reduction was surprising. Coffee and caffeine are often considered by the general population to be ‘bad’ for the heart because people associate them with palpitations, high blood pressure, etc. The consistent relationship between increasing caffeine consumption and decreasing heart failure risk turns that assumption on its head,” said David P. Kao, M.D., senior author of the study, assistant professor of cardiology and medical director at the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, Colorado.

But before the researchers feel comfortable recommending increased coffee consumption as wholeheartedly as stopping smoking, losing weight or exercising to decrease the risk of heart disease, more research may be needed.

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Making coffee’s heart health benefits work for you

Heart failure, along with coronary artery disease and stroke are among the top causes of heart disease-related deaths in the U.S. Every small step we can take towards taking that threat down is exciting.

Just remember to keep your coffee healthy…

“While unable to prove causality, it is intriguing that these three studies suggest that drinking coffee is associated with a decreased risk of heart failure and that coffee can be part of a healthy dietary pattern if consumed plain, without added sugar and high-fat dairy products such as cream,” said Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Ph.D., R.D.N., immediate past chairperson of the American Heart Association’s Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Council Leadership Committee, Evan Pugh University Professor of Nutritional Sciences and distinguished professor of nutrition at The Pennsylvania State University, College of Health and Human Development in University Park.

“The bottom line: enjoy coffee in moderation as part of an overall heart-healthy dietary pattern that meets recommendations for fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat/non-fat dairy products, and that also is low in sodium, saturated fat and added sugars. Also, it is important to be mindful that caffeine is a stimulant and consuming too much may be problematic — causing jitteriness and sleep problems.”

Source:

Coffee lovers, rejoice! Drinking more coffee associated with decreased heart failure risk – EurekAlert!

The post Coffee’s secret power: Taking down heart failure risk appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In fact, PQQ may do more than improve the function of mitochondria — it may actually replenish mitochondria, which begin to dwindle in number as we age. That decline is believed to be connected with a number of diseases caused by aging.

We’ve written about the specific health benefits of PQQ in the past, such as its potential to protect against fatty liver disease and enhance cognitive function. Now, according to a study conducted in China, PQQ has shown another potential benefit — this time for the heart…

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PQQ may lower heart failure risk

Researchers found that PQQ reduced the risk of chronic heart failure (CHF) in rats, in part by preventing mitochondrial dysfunction. The leading cause of CHF is dysfunction of the heart mitochondria, which is caused by increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and disruption of mitochondrial creation and maintenance.

The Chinese study, conducted by a hospital affiliated with Nantong University, subjected 42 rats to transaortic constriction (TAC) and 20 to a sham surgery. After the procedures, 30 of those rats were selected at random to receive PQQ at low, medium or high daily doses for 12 weeks, while the rest received saline injections.

According to the results, TAC caused significant ventricle thickening and enlargement of the heart muscle in the rats, as well as increased heart and bodyweight ratios. When treated with PQQ, the rats experienced improved pressure overload-induced cardiac remodeling and cell enlargement, which prevented CHF occurrence. PQQ also prevented mitochondrial damage.

“The researchers at Nantong University were specifically looking for treatment options to target mitochondrial function in the heart and have now found conclusive evidence that PQQ’s ability to stimulate mitochondrial biogenesis can prevent cardiac damage and promote heart health,” says Thomas Schrier, vice president of sales at Nascent Health Sciences, the company that provided the PQQ for testing.

Finding PQQ in nature

Understanding how PQQ is made in nature can help clarify the molecular basis of its beneficial effects, as well as lead to other potential applications. PQQ is a quinone-class cofactor produced by bacteria for metabolizing alcohol and sugar to generate energy under certain circumstances. PQQ also helps bacteria produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), an organic compound crucial to their survival.

Plants and animals do not use PQQ in the same way as bacteria. However, PQQ can be found in plant and animal tissues, and research has shown the cofactor promotes plant growth and improves mitochondrial function and memory learning ability in animals. This is important because, as mentioned earlier, many diseases related to aging can be traced to mitochondrial dysfunction.

Since PQQ is important for mitochondrial function, it’s important for us to keep our PQQ levels up. You can do that by consuming fruits and vegetables containing PQQ, including kiwi, green peppers, parsley, papaya, spinach and celery. PQQ can also be found in tofu and in organ meats like kidney and liver. However, it’s difficult to get a sufficient amount of PQQ through diet alone, so supplements are a good alternative. Start with a daily dose of 5 mg to 20 mg.

Sources:

Pyrroloquinoline quinone can prevent chronic heart failure by regulating mitochondrial function — Cardiovascular Diagnosis & Therapy

New rat study highlights heart benefits of nutrient PQQ — NUTRAingredients-USA.com

A behind-the-scenes look at the longevity vitamin PQQ — Berkeley College of Chemistry

The Drive to Make Things Happen: Redox Reactions and Electrochemical Potential — University of Oxford

2 Steps to Start Lowering Your Alzheimer’s Risk Today — Easy Health Options

The post PQQ: The ‘longevity’ nutrient with big heart benefits appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In fact, women face a 20 percent higher risk than men of developing heart failure or dying within five years after their first severe heart attack. Researchers are diving into why and what we can do about it…

Research proves that women are at greater risk

Researchers at the University of Alberta analyzed data from more than 45,000 patients hospitalized for a first heart attack between 2002 to 2016 in Alberta, Canada.

The study focused on two types of heart attacks: a severe, life-threatening heart attack called ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and a less severe type called Non-STEMI, which is more common.

Patients were followed for an average of six years, and more than 30 percent of the group were women.

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In addition to the elevated risk for heart failure among women, researchers found:

• A total of 24,737 patients had the less severe form of heart attack (NSTEMI); among this group, 34.3 percent were women and 65.7 percent were men.
  
• A total of 20,327 patients experienced STEMI, the more severe heart attack; among this group, 26.5 percent were women and 73.5 percent were men.
  
• The development of heart failure either in the hospital or after discharge remained higher for women than men for both types of heart attack, even after adjusting for certain confounders.
  
• Women had a higher unadjusted rate of death in the hospital than men in both the STEMI (9.4 percent vs. 4.5 percent) and NSTEMI (4.7 percent vs, 2.9 percent) groups. However, the gap narrowed considerably for NSTEMI after confounder adjustments.
  
• Women were more likely to be an average of 10 years older than men at the time of their heart attack, usually an average age of 72 years versus 61 for the men.
  
• Women also had more complicated medical histories at the time of their heart attacks, including high blood pressure, diabetes, atrial fibrillation and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, risk factors that may contribute to heart failure.
  
• Women were seen less frequently in the hospital by a cardiovascular specialist: 72.8 percent versus 84 percent for men.
  
• Regardless of whether their heart attacks were the severe or less severe type, fewer women were prescribed medications such as beta-blockers or cholesterol-lowering drugs. Women also had slightly lower rates of revascularization procedures to restore blood flow, such as surgical angioplasty.

What women need to know

According to Dr. Eugenia Gianos, director of the women’s heart program at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, there are social as well as physiological factors that contribute to the higher death rate for women.

“Women, being care providers, tend to be more likely to put the health of their children, their families, before theirs and not be as aggressive about their own health in terms of seeing physicians and also in terms of taking the time for the more heart-healthy behaviors like exercise,” Gianos said.

At the same time, clinicians are less likely to look for early risk factors, since most women present symptoms of heart disease later in life. In the Canadian study, women were more likely on average to be 10 years older than men at the time of their first heart attack.

Women found to be at higher risk for heart failure and heart attack death than men — Eureka Alert

Women are more likely than men to develop heart failure or die after a heart attack, study says — msn.com

The post Women are more likely to die from heart attack and heart failure than men appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

More and more research is linking unhealthy or poor-quality sleep to your chances of ending up with heart failure.

And a brand-new study has just come to a ground-breaking conclusion.

Simply improving your sleep could lower your risk of heart failure by a whopping 42%.

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5 factors that determine your sleep score

The research, published in the American Heart Association’s flagship journal Circulation, set out to follow over 408,000 participants in the UK for an average of 10 years.

The researchers delved into each participant’s sleep quality as well as overall sleep patterns, which they used to give each person an overall “Sleep Score.” They then compared this score and individual sleep issues to whether or not that person developed heart failure during the follow-up period.

Sleep behaviors scored included:

• Sleep duration (how long they slept each night)
• Insomnia
• Snoring
• Other sleep-related features, such as whether the participant was an early bird or night owl
• The presence of daytime sleepiness (being likely to unintentionally doze off or fall asleep during the daytime).

And here’s what they found…

After adjusting for diabetes, hypertension, medication use, genetic variations and other factors that could skew results, the researchers determined that participants with the healthiest sleep pattern had an amazing 42 percent reduction in the risk of heart failure compared to people with an unhealthy sleep pattern.

That’s right — a 42 percent lower risk of heart failure just by sleeping more and better, which is something we all would love to do anyway.

After breaking down their findings, the team was also able to determine that heart failure risk was:

• 8 percent  lower in early risers
• 12 percent lower in those who slept 7 to 8 hours daily
• 17 percent lower in those who did not have frequent insomnia
• 34 percent lower in those reporting no daytime sleepiness

This means that even if you can’t improve all of your sleep issues, improving even a single one can substantially reduce your risk of suffering from heart failure.

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How to improve sleep patterns

So, what’s the secret to sleep better each night? Here’s what the Mayo Clinic has to say:

#1 — Schedule your sleep

To improve your sleep, you should set a sleep schedule and stick to it. This means going to bed and getting up at the same time each day. Plan on setting aside eight hours each day for sleep.

And if you have a hard time falling asleep, don’t stay in bed tossing and turning. Get up, do something else and then return to bed when you’re tired.

#2 — Watch your diet and eating patterns

Banish sleep disruptors like nicotine, caffeine and alcohol before bed. And avoid going to bed hungry or eating too large or heavy of a meal before bed.

#3 — Create your sleep space

You’ll get the best sleep in a cool, dark room. Additionally, avoiding light-emitting screens and devices before bedtime can help, as well as earplugs, room-darkening shades or even a fan.

If sleep is still a struggle, try doing something relaxing before you turn in, like taking a soothing bath or meditating.

#4 — Limit naptime

If you’re a daytime napper, be sure to limit your rest to 30 minutes early in the day to avoid interfering with your sleep.

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#5 — Stay active

Getting plenty of regular physical activity can also improve your sleep. However, it’s important to limit high-intensity activity close to bedtime.

#6 — Calm your stress

 Stress management is a big part of boosting your sleep score. To better manage your worries or a racing mind, write down anything that’s keeping you up so that you can work on it tomorrow.

If we’ve learned anything from this latest study, it’s that sleep and your heart health go hand-in-hand. So take steps now to rest better each night and improve your sleep score to lower your risk of heart failure.

Sources:

Heart Failure — CDC

Heart Failure — Mayo Clinic

Healthy sleep habits help lower risk of heart failure — ScienceDaily

The post How to reduce heart failure risk by 42 percent appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

The ketogenic diet has been used since the 1920s to help control seizures in many children with epilepsy. Higher ketone levels which can be detected in the blood, urine, and breath often lead to improved seizure control. This diet has been recommended by physicians and carefully monitored by a dietician for children specifically who have not responded to medications.

If you’re not familiar, the ketogenic diet is low in carbohydrates and rich in proteins and fats. Ketones are formed when the body uses fat as its primary source of energy. Our body typically uses carbohydrates for its fuel and because the diet is very low in carbohydrates, fats become the primary fuel.

When your body lacks glucose from food it starts breaking down stored fat into ketone bodies, which is called ketosis. Ketosis can typically happen in two to four days of eating less than 50 grams of carbohydrates daily for most people.

The keto diet lacks a substantial amount of carbohydrates, however, includes plenty of meats, eggs, sausages, cheese, butter, oils and certain vegetables. The main reason many people use this diet is fast weight loss, but it is very restrictive allowing very few fruits and vegetables, and hard to stick to.

It appears a ketogenic diet could be an alternative to treat certain conditions and accelerate weight loss, but with so much emphasis on fat is it heart healthy? Let’s dig in…

The Ketogenic Diet in Heart Failure

Kyle McCommis, Ph.D., an assistant professor in Biochemistry who leads a research team from Saint Louis University thinks so.

In fact, his research team believes a high fat or ketogenic diet could prevent — possibly even reverse — heart failure.

In an animal model, drastic heart failure in mice was bypassed by switching to high fat or “ketogenic” diets.

“Thus, these studies suggest that consumption of higher fat and lower carbohydrate diets may be a nutritional therapeutic intervention to treat heart failure,” McCommis said.

According to their research findings:

• Diets with high levels of fat and enough carbs and protein to limit ketosis were able to significantly improve or prevent cardiac remodeling and dysfunction in a mouse model.
• Higher fat and low carb diets could become a therapeutic intervention to treat heart failure
• Prolonged fasting reduces the ketolytic flux and increases cardiac reliance on fatty acid oxidation. A 24-hour fast reduced blood glucose levels and enhanced plasma concentrations of non-esterified fatty acids and ketone bodies.
• A three-week ketogenic diet and fat metabolism increase were associated with reverse remodeling of the failing hearts to normal size.
• These results suggest that ketogenic diets do not enhance cardiac ketone body metabolism, but rather stimulates fatty acid oxidation, which may be responsible for improved cardiac remodeling and performance.

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Pros and cons

Based on the available research, a ketogenic diet may be associated with some improvements in some cardiovascular risk factors, such as type 2 diabetes and HDL cholesterol levels. And it certainly looks promising as a nutritional intervention for heart failure.

But more studies are warranted to better assess the effects of long-term use of ketogenic diets and cardiovascular risk factors.

In the long term, be mindful of extreme and aggressive diet programs that may not be practical or sustainable. It’s more important to embrace a lifestyle that includes a well-balanced diet high in vegetables and lower in processed foods. Cardiologist and Easy Health Options ® contributor, Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, warns that what you’re not eating could kill you.

However, if you want to try a keto diet, these are the foods to avoid:

• Low-fat dairy
• Grain products such as pasta, bread, cereal
• Root vegetables including potatoes
• All grains and starches
• Fruit
• Legumes such as beans and chickpeas

A few caveats…

• Individuals who have kidney disease should talk to their doctors before starting this type of diet because it could make their condition worse.
• Quality of fat matters. Poor quality fats could lead to poor heart health, whereas good fats can ultimately reduce risk factors for heart disease.
• Some people may also feel fatigued, experience bad breath, sleep issues, and constipation at the start of a keto diet.

Sources:

High fat or ‘ketogenic’ diets could prevent, reverse heart failure — EurekAlert

Ketogenic Diet  — Epilepsy Foundation

Ketogenic Diet: Is the ultimate Low carb diet good for you? — Harvard Health Publishing

Is Keto Bad for your Heart? — Hakensack Meridian Health

Effects of Ketogenic Diets on Cardiovascular Risk Factors:  Evidence from Animal and Human Studies — Nutrients

The post Can diet reverse heart failure? Keto might appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

When a person develops heart failure, it means their heart muscle is no longer able to pump enough blood to meet the nutritional and oxygen needs of their body. Ejection fraction is used to gauge the heart’s pumping function; it represents the percentage of blood pumped per beat from the left ventricle, or main pumping chamber. A measurement of 50 percent or greater is considered a normal ejection fraction.

There are two types of heart failure: one in which the heart muscle is too weak to pump normally, which is referred to as heart failure with a reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF); and one in which the heart pumps normally but is too stiff to fill appropriately, which is called heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about half of the estimated 6.5 million adults in the U.S. with heart failure present with HFpEF. Of those with HFpEF, more than 80 percent are overweight or obese.

To date, there are no FDA-approved drugs to improve clinical outcomes in HFpEF. However, a common household pantry item might be key to enhancing the quality of life for HFpEF sufferers…

Add some extra-virgin olive oil

A recent study found that adding extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) to the diets of nine obese study subjects with HFpEF helped improve their cardiorespiratory fitness upon cardiopulmonary exercise testing.

The participants, who had a median age of 56 years, were supplemented with unsaturated fatty acid-rich foods and had their EVOO intake estimated over 12 weeks according to their dietary recall. Five of the nine study participants were women, and six of the nine were black.

The participants were asked to recall their diets at the study’s beginning and at their four-, eight-, and 12-week visits. They also underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing at the start of the study and at the 12-week mark.

Daily EVOO intake increased from zero at the beginning of the study to 23.6 grams (about 1.5 tablespoons) on average during the study. Statistically, a 40-gram increase (about three tablespoons) in EVOO intake was shown to lead to a 6 percent improvement in peak oxygen intake (VO2) compared with predictions. Oxygen efficiency slope, a measure of cardiorespiratory function that does not require maximal exercise, also increased by about 0.1.

“Further studies are warranted to confirm this finding and establish a basis for testing the effect of EVOO on cardiorespiratory fitness as well as major cardiovascular outcomes and to explore these effects across differing baseline intakes of EVOO,” says study lead Hayley Billingsley, RD, of Virginia Commonwealth University.

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Ways to keep your heart beating strong

Doctors have long recommended people follow a Mediterranean-style diet for peak heart health. This type of diet is rich in healthy fats like EVOO, as well as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fish, poultry, beans and eggs. Dairy is consumed in moderation, and red meat intake is limited.

There are also natural supplements you can take to help support your heart against damage that could lead to heart failure. Here are some suggestions…

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). Your body produces CoQ10, which cells use to produce the energy needed for growth and maintenance. It protects the heart and skeletal muscles and functions as an antioxidant, defending your body from cellular damage caused by harmful substances. CoQ10 can be found in organ meats like heart, liver and kidney; beef; soy oil; fish like sardines and mackerel; and peanuts.

As a supplement, CoQ10 can help lower blood pressure and protect the body from the side effects of statins, a commonly prescribed type of cholesterol-lowering drug. Statins tend to reduce the amount of CoQ10 in the body, so doctors often advise patients on these drugs to take a CoQ10 supplement to counteract this effect.

Omega-3 fatty acids. Usually consumed through fish oil, omega-3 fatty acids have numerous heart benefits. They have been shown to reduce the level of triglycerides by up to 30 percent. High levels of this unhealthy fat in the blood can lead to coronary artery disease, heart disease and stroke. Omega-3s have also shown potential for reducing blood pressure.

In one study of patients with chronic heart failure, fish oil supplementation resulted in a small but significant decrease in the number of deaths and hospitalizations for cardiovascular reasons. And another study showed that supplementation improved heart function and decreased hospitalizations in some patients.

You can get omega-3s by consuming at least two 3.5-oz servings of fish a week, as recommended by the American Heart Association. Or you can take omega-3 supplements.

Editor’s Note: You’re invited to join a tiny handful of Americans who enjoy rare, fresh-pressed olive oil all year long. Take my word for it, there’s a difference in taste, quality and benefit! Try it for $1! Click here to learn more…

Sources:

Dietary Supplementation of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in Patients with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction is Associated with Increases in Cardiorespiratory Fitness — Journal of Cardiac Failure

Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF) — University of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Center

Is food the best medicine for heart failure? — VCU Health Pauley Heart Center

The Oxygen Uptake Efficiency Slope: WHAT DO WE KNOW? — Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention

Mediterranean diet: A heart-healthy eating plan — Mayo Clinic

8 heart health supplements to take – and one to avoid — PeaceHealth

6 Supplements for Heart Health — WebMD

The post Olive oil comes to the rescue for heart condition that drugs failed appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Yep, in the time it takes you to brush your teeth in the morning, three more people become a statistic.

A little over 10 years ago, my dad was one of them. And, his doctor told him, “What you did in the past got you here, but it’s what you do now that counts.”

Now, what my dad’s doctor said all those years ago has been proven again by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who found that if you’re eating a certain type of diet following a heart attack, you’re also significantly increasing your risk of heart failure, especially if you’re not as young as you used to be.

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The Obesogenic Diet

In the study, researchers fed both young mice and aged mice a diet they’re calling the Obesity-Generating Diet or Obesogenic Diet for short — basically a high-fat diet with lots of omega-6s. This may sound familiar to you because it mimics the standard-American diet (appropriately abbreviated SAD), aptly named because too many of us eat this way.

It’s a diet that’s been linked to a laundry list of risks from colon cancer and Alzheimer’s to liver damage and sepsis. And, if you’re leading a fast-food lifestyle, you’re on the Obesogenic Diet and don’t even know it.

The diet has also been associated with a higher risk of heart failure — but until this study, the link had not been well-understood.

The missing link

The team found that the Obesogenic Diet disrupted the composition of the gut microbiome, resulting in system-wide non-resolving inflammation such as seen in acute heart failure, along with immune system disruption.

However, there was one more factor that played a role… age.

Only the older mice experienced inflammation that would not resolve and increased their risk of heart failure.

And, to top it off, they found that in the aged mice, the Obesogenic Diet resulted in deformities of the spleen and kept cells known as leukocytes from doing a very important job… and that is to repair the heart following a heart attack and to protect it from future damage.

“Thus, the data strongly indicate that the obesity-generating diet develops an inflammatory microenvironment, even in young mice, that amplifies with aging,” said Ganesh Halade, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Disease, UAB Department of Medicine.

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The healthy heart diet

So, it looks like eating high fat when we’re young isn’t as big a deal, but if you don’t change it, it will catch up to you when you’re older — with a vengeance.

This means that if you want to protect your heart, skip the drive-thru and instead choose:

• Fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
• Plain, unsalted nuts and seeds
• Healthy fats and oils such as avocado and olive oil
• Fatty fish, including salmon, sardines, and mackerel
• Lean meats such as chicken without the skin
• Plenty of fresh, filtered water daily

This sounds an awful lot like the Mediterranean diet that’s full of heart-supporting omega-3s and healthy fats and fewer omega-6s.

The Heart Foundation also recommends that you avoid processed meats such as deli meats, sausage, and salami and eat legumes such as lentils, split peas, and black beans at least twice a week.

Remember, you may have already gone through a heart attack, but it’s what you do next that counts. Avoid a high-fat, high-omega-6 diet and follow the post-heart attack diet above to lower your inflammation and avoid heart failure.

Sources:

1. Heart Attack — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
2. The diet that makes you susceptible to sepsis — Easy Health Options®
3. High-fat diet and age alter microflora and cause inflammation in heart failure — EurekAlert!
4. Meals and food — The Heart Foundation

The post The diet that can cause your heart to fail after a heart attack appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Red like an apple but grown in the ground like a potato. Used in salads, but also in soups… and smoothies? I decided a long time ago to just avoid them.

Well, I’ve changed my mind…

So much research has been done recently on the health benefits of beets that to say they’re good for you is a huge understatement, especially if you believe that prevention is the best medicine.

You may have heard how great they are for your heart health, but you can add Alzheimer’s and cancer to the list of diseases beets can help you fight.

Read on and see what I mean, and why beets should be a part of any healthy living strategy…

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How beets protect against the Big 3

Beets support a healthy heart. Researchers at Indiana University wanted to see if the nitrate found in beet juice could improve muscle function in patients with heart failure.

They found that patients who drank beet juice had increases in breath nitric oxide of between 25 and 50 percent. This significantly improved both their endurance and oxygen uptake.

In a 2008 study, drinking 8 ounces of beet juice lowered subjects’ blood pressure by 10mm Hg (a ten-point drop in blood pressure). This is not surprising, since the dietary nitrate in beets breaks down into nitric oxide, which widens blood vessels and regulates blood pressure.

Beets fight cancer. In the 1950s, Hungarian doctor Alexander Ferenczi recorded astounding remissions in cancer patients after using raw beets. In one case, a lung tumor was dissolved within six weeks.

Studies in the United States, France and Denmark have supported the anti-cancer properties of betanin, the pigment that gives beets their color. An Italian study found the pigments in beets to be “a chemopreventive tool against colon cancer.”

Beets protect the brain from Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is thought to result from the formation of beta-amyloid plaque. When this plaque clumps together, it causes oxidation and inflammation.

Researchers at the University of South Florida wanted to see if betanin could slow down this rate of inflammation. It did indeed – by almost 90 percent!

Other health benefits of beets

Beets lighten the liver’s load. The pigment that produces that unique red color can prevent the accumulation of fat in the liver. Betanin has been shown to improve liver function and reduce liver size, as well as lower cholesterol.

Beets can keep you happy. A half-cup of beets has 17 percent of your daily requirement of folate, also called Vitamin B-9. Folate is crucial for brain health, and a folate deficiency can affect your emotional and mental health.

Beets keep your libido going. Nitrates and boron are two substances that work in the body to regulate the production of human sex hormones. Also, beets keep a healthy blood flow going to all parts of your body, including your reproductive organs.

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How to eat your beets

If you don’t want to eat your beets raw, it’s best to steam them for about 20 minutes or roast them for an hour or less. This will preserve their nutrient content.

If you’d rather drink your beets, try mixing a whole beet with half a green apple and two stalks of celery in a juicer.

Here and here are two great beet recipes. And, believe it or not, you can even use beets to make a luscious dessert!

One word of warning: when you start to eat beets regularly, your urine may become, well, beet-colored. This is no cause for alarm.

However, some research has shown this could happen if you are having trouble absorbing iron, so if you have concerns about your iron level or have been anemic, it’s best to check with your doctor.

Sources:

1. Beet juice helps heart failure patients improve quality of life — naturalhealth365.com
2. Benefits of beets documented to defeat cancer — naturalhealth365.com
3. Effect of a dietary fiber (beet fiber) on dimethylhydrazine-induced colon cancer in Wistar rats — Nutrition and Cancer
4. Cytotoxic effect of the red beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.) extract compared to doxorubicin (Adriamycin) in the human prostate (PC-3) and breast (MCF-7) cancer cell lines — Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry
5. Can beets tackle Alzheimer’s at its root? — medicalnewstoday.com

The post Beet benefits: A must-have for healthy living and disease prevention appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Doctors have long lauded beets for their ability to improve blood circulation. The secret to their circulation-boosting power is the massive concentration of natural nitrates found in the red root veggies. These nitrates perform a key role in helping your body produce extra nitric oxide molecules in the blood, which are extremely helpful in dilating blood vessels and helping more oxygen reach the muscles throughout your body.

Research just published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology-Heart Failure underscores just how beneficial beets can be to heart-disease patients…

Beets boost oxygen and exercise endurance

When they examined patients suffering from heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) — the most common and fasting growing cause of heart disease — researchers learned that a daily dose of juiced beets created astounding improvements.

Again, the results weren’t subtle. About 2.4 ounces of beet juice daily for a week packed a 24 percent boost in the patients’ abilities to perform aerobic exercise.

“These initial findings suggest that one week of daily beetroot juice could be a potential therapeutic option to improve aerobic endurance in patients with HFPEF, which has implications for improving everyday activities and quality of life,” said Dalane Kitzman, M.D., a researcher for the study.

HFPEF involves a weakening in the ability of the heart’s left ventricle to get oxygenated blood to the muscles. With one part of the heart struggling, other parts have to work harder. Picture a four-cylinder car with two damaged cylinders. It would probably start and go — but making it up a steep hill would be out of the question.

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Now suppose you wanted to drive the car to your mechanic to repair the damaged cylinders but his shop is just over a hill. You could try to force the remaining good cylinders to slowly get the car up the hill — but unassisted, you risk damaging them as well. Getting more oxygen to the good cylinders would improve their fuel-burning efficiency. So you might use an additive or make a minor mechanical adjustment to your air/fuel ratio, giving you a little boost to help with the climb.

That’s exactly how the beet juice works for heart health. It allows heart disease patients to get more oxygen throughout their bodies by increasing the efficiency of the well-functioning part of the heart, thus making the exercise vital to full heart recovery more bearable.

You can benefit from the heart-healing power of beets by simply working the root vegetables into your daily diet or juicing them for maximum absorption and convenience. Or, if you’re short on time, look for bottled beet juice or supplements at your local natural health store.

The post The ‘additive’ that gives your heart some get-up-and-go appeared first on Easy Health Options®.