Dr. John's Health Matters
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The articles posted here are from various sources who are duly acknowledged. I would appreciate being immediately notified, if any copywritten material needs to be removed. This blog is not intended to replace the qualified advice of a licensed health practitioner. Readers should exercise their own judgment. Enjoy, subscribe, participate and tell others :)
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Posts tagged "atherosclerosis"
Tuesday, Sep 1st, 2009 ↓How Much Omega-3 Fatty Acid Do We Need To Prevent Cardiovascular Disease? →
Sept 1, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—A team of French scientists have found the dose of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) that is “just right” for preventing cardiovascular disease in healthy men. In a research report appearing in the September 2009 print issue of The FASEB Journal, the scientists show that a 200 mg dose of DHA per day is enough to affect biochemical markers that reliably predict cardiovascular problems, such as those related to aging, atherosclerosis, and diabetes. This study is the first to identify how much DHA is necessary to promote optimal heart health.
“This study shows that regularly consuming small amounts of DHA is likely to improve the health status of people, especially in regards to cardiovascular function,” said Michel Lagarde, co-author of the study.
To determine the optimal dose of DHA, Lagarde and colleagues examined the effects of increasing doses of DHA on 12 healthy male volunteers between ages of 53 and 65. These men consumed doses of DHA at 200, 400, 800, and 1600 mg per day for two weeks for each dose amount, with DHA being the only omega-3 fatty acid in their diet. Blood and urine samples were collected before and after each dose and at eight weeks after DHA supplementation stopped. The researchers then examined these samples for biochemical markers indicating the effects of each dose on the volunteers.
“Now that we have a very good idea about how much DHA is just right, the next step is to try it out in an expanded clinical trial that involves many more people,” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “Until then, I’ll stick with tasty foods that contain DHA, like fish, rather than getting a quick fatty-acid fix at the local vitamin store.”
Journal reference:
- Nicolas Guillot, Emilie Caillet, Martine Laville, Catherine Calzada, Michel Lagarde, and Evelyne Véricel. Increasing intakes of the long-chain -3 docosahexaenoic acid: effects on platelet functions and redox status in healthy men. The FASEB Journal, 2009; 23 (9): 2909 DOI: 10.1096/fj.09-133421
Tags: omega fatty acid DHA heart cardiovascular supplement disease prevention atherosclerosis diabetes
Low-carb Diets Linked To Atherosclerosis And Impaired Blood Vessel Growth →
Aug 25, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Even as low-carbohydrate/high-protein diets have proven successful at helping individuals rapidly lose weight, little is known about the diets’ long-term effects on vascular health.
Now, a study led by a scientific team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) provides some of the first data on this subject, demonstrating that mice placed on a 12-week low carbohydrate/high-protein diet showed a significant increase in atherosclerosis, a buildup of plaque in the heart’s arteries and a leading cause of heart attack and stroke. The findings also showed that the diet led to an impaired ability to form new blood vessels in tissues deprived of blood flow, as might occur during a heart attack.
Described in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study also found that standard markers of cardiovascular risk, including cholesterol, were not changed in the animals fed the low-carb diet, despite the clear evidence of increased vascular disease.
“It’s very difficult to know in clinical studies how diets affect vascular health,” says senior author Anthony Rosenzweig, MD, Director of Cardiovascular Research in BIDMC’s CardioVascular Institute and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “We, therefore, tend to rely on easily measured serum markers [such as cholesterol], which have been surprisingly reassuring in individuals on low-carbohydrate/high-protein diets, who do typically lose weight. But our research suggests that, at least in animals, these diets could be having adverse cardiovascular effects that are not reflected in simple serum markers.”
For full article, see link above.
Tags: cardiovascualr diet long term weight loss carbohydrate high protein atherosclerosis blood vessel cholesterol disease
Why Low Vitamin D Raises Heart Disease Risks In Diabetics →
Aug 25, 2009 (sciencedaily.com)—Low levels of vitamin D are known to nearly double the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes, and researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis now think they know why.
They have found that diabetics deficient in vitamin D can’t process cholesterol normally, so it builds up in their blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. The new research has identified a mechanism linking low vitamin D levels to heart disease risk and may lead to ways to fix the problem, simply by increasing levels of vitamin D.
“Vitamin D inhibits the uptake of cholesterol by cells called macrophages,” says principal investigator Carlos Bernal-Mizrachi, M.D., a Washington University endocrinologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. “When people are deficient in vitamin D, the macrophage cells eat more cholesterol, and they can’t get rid of it. The macrophages get clogged with cholesterol and become what scientists call foam cells, which are one of the earliest markers of atherosclerosis.”
Macrophages are dispatched by the immune system in response to inflammation and often are activated by diseases such as diabetes. Bernal-Mizrachi and his colleagues believe that in diabetic patients with inadequate vitamin D, macrophages become loaded with cholesterol and eventually stiffen blood vessels and block blood flow.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: vitamin d diet nutrition diabetes deficient blood vessel heart attack stroke danger rosk cholesterol atherosclerosis immunity disease
‘Unknown’ cholesterol in processed food poses big heart health risk →
Aug 20, 2009 (Foodnavigator.com)—With all the focus on LDL (bad) cholesterol, a ‘virtually unknown’ form called oxycholesterol may pose the biggest heart health threat, say Chinese scientists.
Scientists from the Chinese University of Hong Kong identified fried and processed food as the main sources of oxycholesterol in the diet, statements that may lead to louder calls to reformulate towards ‘healthier’ foods.
“Total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), and the heart-healthy high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) are still important health issues,” said lead researcher Zhen-Yu Chen, PhD.
“Our work demonstrated that oxycholesterol boosts total cholesterol levels and promotes atherosclerosis [“hardening of the arteries”] more than non-oxidized cholesterol.”
For full article see link above.
Tags: fast food processed food heart cholesterol LDL oxyxholesterol heart cardiovascualt diet nutrition dna damage atherosclerosis
Tags: AMD age-related macular degeneration elderly aging eyesight seeing exercise prevention diet nutrition omega-fatty acids fish salmon blindness antioxidant zinc atherosclerosis alzheimer's flaxseed oil inflammation
Mounting Evidence Of Fish Oil's Heart Health Benefits →
Aug 5, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—There is mounting evidence that omega-3 fatty acids from fish or fish oil supplements not only help prevent cardiovascular diseases in healthy individuals, but also reduce the incidence of cardiac events and mortality in patients with existing heart disease. A new study, published in the August 11, 2009, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, extensively reviews data from a broad range of studies in tens of thousands of patients and sets forth suggested daily targets for omega-3 consumption.
“This isn’t just hype; we now have tremendous and compelling evidence from very large studies, some dating back 20 and 30 years, that demonstrate the protective benefits of omega-3 fish oil in multiple aspects of preventive cardiology,” said Carl Lavie, M.D., F.A.C.C., medical director of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention, Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans, LA, and lead author of the article. “The strongest evidence of a cardioprotective effect of omega-3s appears in patients with established cardiovascular disease and following a heart attack with up to a 30 percent reduction in CV-related death.”
Dietary intake of fish oil can also decrease the risk of atherosclerosis, arrhythmias, heart attack, sudden cardiac death and even health failure. Dr. Lavie adds that although there is a smaller benefit in reducing heart failure death—9 percent mortality benefit in a major recent randomized controlled trial—this is still very impressive given patients’ grave prognosis.
For full article see link above.
Tags: fish oil supplement omega fatty acid 3 cardiovascular diet atherosclerosis arrhythmia heart attack failure dha epa prevention
Heart Disease Patients With Previous Blockages More Likely To Die →
Aug 5, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Heart disease patients with previous atherosclerosis (fat deposits in the walls of the arteries) are more likely to die in the hospital and less likely to be treated with recommended therapies, researchers report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Researchers analyzed data from the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines - Coronary Artery Disease database to determine whether compliance with quality of care treatment for heart disease was associated with the extent of prior vascular disease. They examined records from 143,999 patients hospitalized in 438 facilities between 2000 and 2008. Overall in-hospital mortality for all patients was 5.3 percent, but those who had previous artery blockages were more likely to die while hospitalized than those who had no prior vascular disease.
They were also less likely to undergo surgery to clear their new blockages, had longer hospital stays and received cholesterol-lowering drugs, counseling to stop smoking and angiotensin-coverting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors for left ventricular dysfunction less often.
“The results are surprising,” said Emmanouil S. Brilakis, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study and director of cardiac catheterization laboratories at Veterans Administration North Texas Healthcare System. “Patients with prior atherosclerosis have a higher risk for complications compared to those without prior atherosclerosis. Therefore, one would expect them to be more likely to receive these evidence-based treatments.”
For full article see link above.
Tags: heart disease cardiovascular coronary artery blockage death die hospitalization surgery cholesterol smoking counseling atherosclerosis risk
Cornflakes linked to heart disease →
June 13, 2009 (Presstv.com) —Adopting a diet rich in carbohydrates interferes with the function of blood vessels, placing the individual at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Previous studies had considered high blood sugar levels after meals as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, not only in patients with diabetes but also in the general population.
High-glycemic meals, such as white bread, cornflakes and instant potatoes, are reported to increase blood sugar levels more than foods with low-glycemic index — oatmeal, most fruits and vegetables, legumes and nuts.
According to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, a diet rich in high-glycemic food is linked to higher risk of heart disease.
High-glycemic foods not only increase postprandial blood sugar levels but also interfere with the function of blood vessels, a key variable in the development of hardening of the arteries and heart disease increasing the cardiac events.
“The main take-home message is that high-glycemic index carbs are dangerous since they reduce or inhibit endothelial function, which is the ‘risk of the risk factors,’ leading to atherosclerosis and potentially leading to heart disease,” said Michael Shechter, the leader of the research team.
For full article see link above.
Tags: cardiovascular, heart blood glucose vessel sugar High-glycemic carbohydrate atherosclerosis risk diet nutrition prevention
Sex Hormone Levels Predict Atherosclerosis Progression in Women →
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Feb 27 08 - Elevated levels of estrogen and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) are associated with reduced progression of carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) in postmenopausal women, according to a report in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism for January.
For full medical article, see link above.
Hormone Replacement Promotes Plaque in Diabetic Women
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jun 28 04 - When treated with postmenopausal hormone therapy (HRT), women with abnormal glucose tolerance (AGT) experience greater atherosclerotic progression than healthy women, new research suggests.
“This study provides evidence that hormone therapy should not be used to reduce cardiovascular disease risk in women with diabetes or pre-diabetes,” lead author Dr. Barbara Howard, from MedStar Research Institute in Hyattsville, Maryland, said in a statement.
The current report is the most recent to cast doubt on the safety and benefits of hormone replacement therapy. The most damning evidence to date came in 2002 when the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) trial was stopped early after such therapy was linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, thromboembolic events, and stroke.
“The present study is the first to examine the effect of hormone therapy on coronary atherosclerosis in AGT women,” the researchers point out.
In the study, Dr. Howard’s team evaluated the effect of treatment with estrogen, estrogen plus progestin, or placebo in 423 women who participated in the Women’s Angiographic Vitamin and Estrogen trial. Of the 321 women with exit angiograms, 140 had AGT and 181 did not. The average treatment period was 2.8 years.
The researchers’ findings are published in the June 29th rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
In both groups of women, hormone therapy was tied to a drop in LDL cholesterol levels and a rise in HDL cholesterol levels. However, AGT women were more likely to experience adverse changes in C-reactive protein and fibrinogen levels.
Hormone therapy did not seem to affect glucose metabolism in women without AGT. In women with AGT, a slight lowering in fasting glucose levels, insulin concentration, and insulin resistance was observed.
As noted, the atherosclerotic progression seen with hormone therapy was greater in AGT women than in healthy controls. In particular, the effect of such therapy on previously nondiseased segments was more pronounced in AGT women.
HRT “is associated with a worsening of coronary atherosclerosis and exacerbation of the profile of inflammatory markers in women with AGT” and, therefore, should not be used in diabetic women, the authors conclude.
Circulation 2004.
