ProActive Chiropractic Health and Wellness Blog » Heart Health

Is Sugar So Bad?

andrew — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:10:46 +0000

This is an must watch video on sugar.

Robert H. Lustig, MD, UC San Francisco Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin.

Too Much Screen Time Can Be Deadly

andrew — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:29:26 +0000

Childhood infections may prevent heart disease; ‘Hygiene hypothesis’ helps explain decrease in risk, researchers say

andrew — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 18:02:08 +0000

(This article was originally published in 2005 after the IV World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery. For some reason it’s no longer available online). Here it is from a cached version:

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Early childhood viral infections might reduce the risk of developing heart disease later in life by as much as 90 percent, researchers from Sweden and Finland reported at the IV World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery.

According to the investigators, “improved hygiene in early childhood might partially explain the greatest epidemic of the 20th century — coronary heart disease.”

It is the first time that the so-called “hygiene hypothesis” has been linked to the development of heart disease. The hypothesis proposes that reduced microbial exposure because of improved sanitation and cleaner lifestyles has facilitated the rise in asthma, allergic disease and multiple sclerosis in the Western world.

Researchers led by Dr. Erkki Pesonen, from the University Hospital in Lund, Sweden, compared 350 patients who had unstable angina or a heart attack with 350 subjects without coronary heart disease (control subjects). The study participants answered a questionnaire about their childhood experience with contagious diseases, specifically whether they had ever had chickenpox, scarlet fever, measles, German measles, mononucleosis, or infection of the parotid salivary glands.

Childhood contagious diseases were more frequent in the controls, researchers noted. Furthermore, they found a consistent trend between the number of childhood infections and the reduction in coronary risk. For instance, having two childhood viral infections reduced the coronary risk by 40 percent; four infections was associated with a 60-percent decreased risk; and six infections lowered the risk by 90 percent.

Dr. Horacio Faella, a pediatric cardiologist at the Garrahan Hospital, Buenos Aires, and member of the Organizing Committee of the meeting, considered these findings to be interesting but preliminary. “We need to do more studies about the influence of the immune system on the cardiovascular system,” he said.

via msnbc.msn.com

Posted via email from ProActive Chiropractic in San Francisco, California

Blood Pressure and Resveratrol (Another Reason Why Red Grapes and Red Wine are Good for You)

andrew — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:44:56 +0000

In previous blog posts, I have mentioned resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red grapes and red wine. A recent study suggests that resveratrol also can reverse damage to a small part of the brain stem from excess estrogen and oxidative stress, as well as lower blood pressure:
A small part of the brain stem called the Rostral Ventrolateral Medulla is responsible for controlling heart and blood pressure. This region of the brain can be adversely affected by excessive oxidative stress, which is sometimes caused by excess estrogen. Blood pressure can increase when the RVLM is under oxidative stress.
Resveratrol was shown to not only counteract the damage in the RVLM area of the brainstem caused by the excess superoxide production, but also lower blood pressure.

Pomegranate Juice and High Blood Pressure

andrew — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 18:57:23 +0000

Hypertension helper.

About 1 in 3 adults suffer with hypertension or high blood pressure. They are major risk factors for heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, and kidney disease.

Consumption of pomegranate juice has been shown to reduce systolic blood pressure as it acts as an ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitor. Angiotensin acts to increase blood pressure by allowing the body to retain water and salt and also acts as a vasoconstrictor. Pomegranate contains potent polyphenols that possess many health benefits – they can protect the heart and have anti-cancer properties.

To learn more about the study, click here.

Cardiovascular risks of NSAIDs (including ibuprofen, aspirin, etc)

andrew — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 19:46:56 +0000

I’ve written in a previous post about the cardiovascular risks of painkillers such as ibuprofen, aspirin, naproxen, etc. Here’s a little more information about that study:

In a study published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) in January 2011, researchers analyzed the available evidence on the cardiovascular safety of NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), and found that “[a]lthough uncertainty remains, little evidence exists to suggest that any of the investigated drugs are safe in cardiovascular terms. Naproxen seemed least harmful. Cardiovascular risk needs to be taken into account when prescribing any non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.”

Talk to me in my Downtown San Francisco office about alternatives to prescription painkillers.

This will upset your stomach.

andrew — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:33:20 +0000

Do you use heartburn medication? You may want to read this before committing to long term use of PPI’s. Proton pump inhibitors (PPI) such as Prilosec and Prevacid reduce the production of gastric acid – this helps to alleviate symptoms of gastric esophageal reflux disease (GERD). However, researchers have found that long term use of these medications may have serious side effects. PPI’s may lead to a significant decrease in gallbladder motility (the ability to move spontaneously and actively) and therefore can lead to negative biliary symptoms such as gallstones and other issues. The FDA now reports that PPI’s are also associated with severe magnesium deficiency, which can lead to increased risk of leg spasms, arrhythmias, and seizures.

Talk to Dr. Cohen at his San Francisco office to explore alternative options to PPI’s.

NSAIDs and your heart

andrew — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:05:45 +0000

NSAIDs, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, as well as COX-2 inhibitors, are suggested to put patients at increased risk of cardiovascular events when compared to placebo results. Naproxen, researchers note, seems to be the least potentially harmful drug of those analyzed in the study. The researchers caution that more studies are needed, but that doctors should take cardiovascular risk into account when prescribing painkillers.

Read the Med Page Today article or the Reuters article for more detailed information. Talk to Dr. Cohen at his San Francisco Financial District office about safer alternatives to painkillers.

Teamcare and Mediterranean diet improve outcomes for those with diabetes, heart disease, depression.

andrew — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 21:04:49 +0000

According to an article from Food Consumer, patients who have diabetes mellitus and/or heart disease are at a higher risk of depression, which can decrease the effectiveness of the medications they take.

“The trial reported in the Dec 30, 2010 issue of New England Journal of Medicine compared two groups of patients, one received the standard care without any so called Teamcare, while the other received a Teamcare intervention.

In the teamcare intervention, a nurse helped monitor disease control like cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar and depression and worked closely with each patient’s primary physicians to help patients use medications effectively.”

A study published in the October 2001 issue of Diabetes Care suggests eating a Mediterranean diet could decrease the risk of developing diabetes significantly. The Mediterranean diet has been mentioned in Proactive Chiropractic’s Health blog previously — it includes olive oil, nuts, fish, lots of fruits and vegetables, and more. Vitamin D, which is an antidepressant, is found in fish oil.

Bottom line: the Mediterranean diet is good for your heart as well as your mind. Talk to Dr. Cohen in his San Francisco office if you have questions about nutritional supplements.

Could statins be over-prescribed? What they don’t say on the commercials.

andrew — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 23:30:37 +0000

A new study questions whether statins, a cholesterol reducing drug, are over-prescribed. The study indicated that measuring calcium levels (via CT scan) instead of CRP (C-reactive protein) levels may be a better way of understanding whether a patient needs a statin treatment. However, CRP tests are much cheaper than CT scans, and CT scans increase exposure to radiation, so more research and testing is needed. Read more from the MSNBC Health article here.