Obese people are likely to be at high risk for heart disease and stroke as obesity could be a factor in delaying optimal control of blood pressure and cholesterol, a new research led by an Indian-origin scientist said.
"Patients taking medications to lower their blood pressure and cholesterol levels were less likely to attain recommended targets for these cardiovascular disease risk factors than their normal weight counterparts," a study, presented at the 2009 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, said.
Resident at the University of Toronto Dr Vineet Bhan, who led the research, examined a large number of people deemed to be at high risk for heart disease and stroke to find out if there were differences in achieving guideline-recommended targets for blood pressure and cholesterol levels according to body mass index
(BMI).
"This, to our knowledge, is the first study looking at patients with established cardiovascular disease who are on treatment to see how obesity relates to the control of these risk factors," Dr Bhan said.
The observational study was based on two outpatient registries led by senior co-author, Dr Shaun Goodman, and coordinated by the Canadian Heart Research Centre.
Senior author Dr Andrew Yan said: "Although a direct cause-and-effect relationship cannot be proven, our data would suggest that pharmacologic treatment alone without achieving optimal weight may not be adequate".
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Obese people likely to be at high risk for heart disease: Study
Monday, October 26, 2009
Aerobic exercise reduces heart disease risk among elderly
Three months of physical activity can improve elasticity in the arteries of older adults with Type 2 diabetes, cutting down the risk of heart disease and stroke, say researchers.
Kenneth Madden, geriatric specialist at the University of British Columbia (UBC), studied adults between 65 and 83 years with controlled Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high blood cholesterol to see how increased activity might ease their stiff arteries.
"The theory is that aerobic activity makes your arteries less stiff and makes artery walls more elastic," says Madden.
An improvement was seen in the elasticity of the arteries of the group that performed the activity compared to those who didn't exercise. "There was an impressive drop in arterial stiffness after just three months of exercise. In that time we saw a 15 to 20 percent reduction."
The subjects were divided into two groups to either receive three months of vigorous physical activity (one hour, three times per week) or to get no aerobic exercise at all.
Subjects were classified as sedentary at the beginning of the study but gradually increased their fitness levels until they were working at 70 percent of their maximum heart rate, using treadmills and cycling machines. They were supervised by a certified exercise trainer.
Beth Abramson, spokesperson for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, stresses the importance of lifestyle factors on heart health, especially with the ageing population.
"Almost everyone can benefit from active living," she says. "The foundation recommends that, like adults of any age, older adults -- with the consent of their physicians -- need 30 to 60 minutes of moderate activity most days of the week."
Abramson advises elders to choose activities they enjoy, such as walking, gardening, golfing, dancing, or joining a yoga or tai chi class. If weather is a barrier, she suggests climbing stairs at home, joining a mall-walking group, or strolling the halls of their apartment building or retirement residence.
These findings were presented at the 2009 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Depression leads to increased inflammatory protein linked to heart disease
Depression leads to elevated inflammatory proteins in the human body, according to researchers at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
depression-leads-to-increased-inflammatory-protein-linked-to-heart-disease
Led by Dr. Jesse Stewart, researchers found that depressive symptoms are associated with increases over time in interleukin-6, an inflammatory protein that predicts cardiovascular events.
On the other hand, levels of interleukin-6 were not linked to subsequent increases in depressive symptoms.
The new study is the first to examine both directions of the depression-inflammation connection and to measure the physical symptoms of depression, such as fatigue and sleep disturbance, in addition to the cognitive-emotional symptoms, such as pessimism and sadness.
While many previous studies have linked depression to increased inflammatory protein levels measured at the same time, but they couldn”t speak to which is the cause and which is the effect.
“There is two-way communication between the brain and the immune system, so we had to determine whether activation of the body’’s immune system sent a signal to the brain to affect mood and behavior or whether the depression activated the immune system,” said Dr. Stewart.
The participants in the study consisted of 263 healthy men and women aged 50-70 years at the start of the study.
They were tested at baseline and again six years later to determine their levels of depressive symptoms and interleukin-6.
Levels of C-reactive protein, another inflammatory protein, were also measured but were not related to depression.
Stewart said that the strength of the association of depression with future heart disease is similar to that of traditional risk factors like smoking, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol.
“Promotion of inflammation may be one pathway through which depression may ”get under the skin” to negatively influence cardiovascular health. The link to cardiovascular disease demonstrates that there may be physical as well as mental health reasons to treat depression,” said Stewart.
The study has been published in the latest issue of the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Avoid heart disease by following healthy diet: Expert
t least 80 per cent of deaths due to heart disease and stroke could be avoided by following a healthy diet, a renowned cardiac consultant said.
"By 2015 almost 20 million people in the world will die due to cardiovascular disease. At least 80 per cent of premature deaths from heart disease and stroke could be avoided through a healthy diet and a change in lifestyle," Dr Rony Mathew, Consultant and Head of Department of Interventioal Cardiology, Lisie Heart Institute and Hospital here said.
"Most people spend about 60 per cent of their day at work, so health choices in the workplace are critical for overall wellness," Dr Jacob Joseph, a Cardiac Consultant, said.
"A diet low in saturated fat and rich in fruits and vegetables combined with regular physical activity can lower the risk of heart disease," Dr Jabir Abdullah Kutty, a Cardiac Consultant, Lisie Heart Institute said.
Creating awareness among the people on the need of a "healthy heart", various programmes were planned by hospitals in the city on the 'World Heart Day', which is annually held on the last Sunday in September.
The advances in treatment methods in cardiology are worth appreciated, but equal importance should be given to the preventive aspects too, Dr Jose Chacko, Chairman, Heart Care Foundation, said.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Thunder thighs' may help beat heart disease
The thinner your thighs, the greater your risk of heart disease - that's the conclusion of a new study.
According to the research, which looked at more than 2800 men and women with an average age of around 50, thigh circumference is linked to the risk of heart disease and premature death.
The study has been published in today's edition of the British Medical Journal.
It found that heart disease risk more than doubled for both men and women who had a thigh circumference of less than 55 centimetres. Those volunteers with thighs between 55 and 60 centimetres received a protective effect against heart disease. However, that protective effect reduced for people with thighs above 60 centimetres in circumference, reports ABC Science.
According to associate Professor David Cameron-Smith, of Deakin University in Melbourne, thigh circumference is a broad indicator of physical activity and muscle mass is related to how much exercise you do.
"[If] you don't use it, you lose it," he said.
Cameron-Smith says using muscles has a very strong protective effect against heart disease and diabetes.
"It's been known for a long time that muscle mass and strength are important determinants of longevity and health. Even moving from no activity to some activity has a dramatic effect," he said.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
British girl's, Heals itself after transplant
British doctors designed a radical solution to save a girl with major heart problems in 1995: they implanted a donor heart directly onto her own failing heart.
After 10 years with two blood pumping organs, Hannah Clark's faulty one did what many experts had thought impossible: it healed itself enough so that doctors could remove the donated heart.
But she also had a price to pay: the drugs Clark took to prevent her body from rejecting the donated heart led to malignant cancer that required chemotherapy.
Details of Clark's revolutionary transplant and follow-up care were published online Tuesday in the medical journal Lancet.
"This shows that the heart can indeed repair itself if given the opportunity," said Dr. Douglas Zipes, a past president of the American College of Cardiology. Zipes was not linked to Clark's treatment or to the Lancet paper. "The heart apparently has major regenerative powers, and it is now key to find out how they work."
In 1994, when Clark was eight months old, she developed severe heart failure and doctors put her on a waiting list to get a new heart. But Clark's heart difficulties caused problems with her lungs, meaning she also needed a lung transplant.
To avoid doing a risky heart and lung transplant, doctors decided to try something completely different.
Sir Magdi Yacoub of Imperial College London, one of the world's top heart surgeons, said that if Clark's heart was given a time-out, it might be able to recover on its own. So in 1995 Yacoub and others grafted a donor heart from a 5-month-old directly onto Clark's own heart.
After four and a half years, both hearts were working fine, so Yacoub and colleagues decided not to take out the extra heart.
The powerful drugs Clark was taking to prevent her from rejecting the donor heart then caused cancer, which led to chemotherapy. Even when doctors lowered the doses of drugs to suppress Clark's immune system, the cancer spread, and Clark's body eventually rejected the donor heart.
Luckily, by that time, Clark's own heart seemed to have fully recovered. In February 2006, Dr. Victor Tsang of Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, Yacoub and other doctors removed Clark's donor heart.
Since then, Clark — now 16 years old — has started playing sports, gotten a part-time job, and plans to go back to school in September.
"Thanks to this operation, I've now got a normal life just like all of my friends," said Clark, who lives near Cardiff.
Her parents marveled at her recovery, and said that at one point during Clark's illness, they were told she would be dead within 12 hours.
Miguel Uva, chairman of the European Society of Cardiology's group on cardiovascular surgery, called Clark's case "a miracle," adding that it was rare for patients' hearts to simply get better on their own.
"We have no way of knowing which patients will recover and which ones won't," Uva said.
Still, transplants like Clark's won't be widely available to others due to a shortage of donor hearts and because the necessary surgeries are very complicated. In the last few years, artificial hearts also have been developed that can buy patients the time needed to get a transplant or even for their own heart to recover.
Zipes said if doctors can figure out how Clark's heart healed itself and develop a treatment from that mechanism, many other cardiac patients could benefit.
At the moment, doctors aren't sure how that regeneration happens. Some think there are a small number of stem cells in the heart, which may somehow be triggered in crisis situations to heal damaged tissue.
Experts said Clark's example is encouraging both to doctors and patients.
"It reminds us that not all heart failure is lethal," said Dr. Ileana Pina, a heart failure expert at Case Western Reserve University and spokeswoman for the American Heart Association. "Some heart failure patients have a greater chance of recovery than we thought."
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Monday, June 29, 2009
Sex can stop a cold & Diabetes
A healthy sex drive will leave you peaking in more ways than one. People who have a lot of nookie experience health benefits which can leave them in much better physical form than those who don't. Sex can help fight flab, ward off colds and make you live longer, as reported in The Sun.
According to Jennifer Bass, of sex research centre The Kinsey Institute, "There is definitely a correlation between health and sex. If you are healthier, you are going to have more sex. "Making love provides a cardiovascular workout and floods the body with feel-good chemicals."
Longer life
Sex is associated with good health and a longer life, a survey by the American Association of Retired Persons reveals.
Almost half of over-50s - 44 per cent - who described their health as excellent or very good had intercourse at least once a week.
But just 20 per cent of those with only fair or poor health made love this often.
It could be due to dehydroepiandrosterone - DHEA - which floods the body during sex and surges on orgasm.
Bloodstream levels of this hormone are five times higher than normal when sexual pleasure peaks. DHEA has been shown to be beneficial in fighting reduced insulin response and middle-age spread.
Blood pressure
In the heat of the hump, sex increases blood pressure but in the long run it reduces it - cutting the risk of stroke, says The Sun.
A study in Biological Psychology says regular sex lowers diastolic blood pressure - the lower number that shows the reading when your heart is resting.
Satisfying sex also increases output of the chemical transmitter dopamine, which improves relaxation and counteracts stress hormones associated with hypertension.
Low libido can also be an early warning of blood pressure problems. Doctors know that men who have hypertension are likely to have erectile dysfunction.
And Greek researchers recently discovered it has an even greater impact on women.
Four out of ten with high blood pressure go off sex, compared to three in ten men.
Combats diabetes
The exercise and calorie burning benefits of sex help reduce Type 2 diabetes risk.
A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that DHEA, released when we orgasm, improves insulin action. It also combats central obesity.
Carrying weight around the stomach is a known risk factor for diabetes because the flab releases hormones called adipokines that seem to impair the body's glucose tolerance. Animal studies show DHEA protects against this damage too.
Heart boost
Men who have sex less than once a month are twice as likely to have a fatal heart attack than men who make love at least twice a week.
Sun GP Dr Carol Cooper says: "Sex is great for the cardiovascular system but how much you get out depends on how much effort you put in.
Bonking three times a week could halve the risk of stroke
"If it's not getting your heart racing, you're doing it wrong.
"Patients with heart problems sometimes worry about dying on the job, but that's very rare. If you can manage two flights of stairs you are probably fit enough for sex."
Because it boosts circulation, sex increases the supply of oxygen to cells and stimulates the activity of various organs and systems within the body.
Erectile dysfunction can also indicate cardiovascular problems.
Weight control
Sun fitness expert Nicki Waterman says: "Just 30 minutes of sex will burn around 200 calories, so if you have sex five days a week, that's equivalent to two-and-a-half hours in the gym.
"For best results, women can hop on top because this will help firm their thighs and tone their belly."
An orgasm can burn 60-100 calories, 30 minutes of snogging will blitz 90 calories.
And orgasms release both enkephalins and dopamine. These feel-good body chemicals help to reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol which is associated with weight gain, particularly around the tummy.
They also flood the body with DHEA, which attacks belly fat, according to researchers at Washington Univeristy School of Medicine. Volunteers were given 50mg of DHEA and a second group took a dummy pill.
Women lost 10.2 per cent of their abdominal fat and men lost 7.4 per cent.
(As reported in The Sun)
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