Tag Archives: LDL

How Does Nutrition Affect Heart Disease

Can nutrition play a role in heart health? How does nutrition affect heart disease? These are really good questions and some of the answers might really surprise you. So if you have a few minutes to spare why dont we jump right into our article about how does nutrition affect heart disease.

Nutrition has been much maligned in recent years due to the so called advances in cholesterol lowering medications. The most prominent of these are the statins which work by blocking the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme which is needed for the body to produce cholesterol. Because of their effectiveness it is my belief that a certain amount of complacency has crept into many medical professional. After all, why worry about something as arcane as nutrition when statin medications can lower cholesterol faster than a cowboy can say gettie up.

But what if there were other factors at work that contributed to heart disease besides cholesterol. What if I told you that there were over 15 studies linking a destructive amino acid called homocysteine to heart disease, and nutrition can play an important role in eliminating this risk.

No one would argue that managing cholesterol is an important piece of the puzzle but we might be looking at a disease which attacks our bodies on multiple fronts.

In order for cholesterol deposits to form in our arteries the surface of the arterial wall must be torn, damaged, or roughed up in some way otherwise dangerous LDL cholesterol would float right by and eventually be disposed of in the form of solid waste. What the latest studies suggest is that homocysteine amino acids chew up cells in the lining of your blood vessels creating a rough pitted surface conducive to triggering blood clots, and/or plaque deposits consisting of cholesterol, dead cells, and calcium.

The question as to how does nutrition affect heart disease is central to managing these harmful amino acids. There are currently three B vitamins which have been shown to reduce the risk of damage for homocysteines. They are folic acid, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12. When taken together recent research suggests they work to protect and heal the lining of the arteries, thus minimizing the damage of these hazardous homocysteine amino acids. While this may be the case, researchers have yet to prove that lowering homocysteine levels alone can actually reduce the incidence of heart disease. Nevertheless, until this risk factor can be discounted it should not be ignored. Lets take each one of these nutrients individually and see what foods contain high quantities of these B vitamins.

*Folic acid: beans, whole grain, fortified wheat flower, tomatoes, citrus fruits, and green leafy vegetables.

*Vitamin B6: Asparagus, bananas, beans, bok choy, cauliflower, grains, tuna, turkey, mustard greens, and turnip greens.

*Vitamin B12: Fish, milk, poultry, eggs, and red meat

As you can see B12 may prove to be the most problematic for those striving for a heart healthy nutrition due to the high cholesterol content in many of the best natural sources, with fish being the exception due to its high omega 3 fatty acid content. The good news is that B12 nutritional supplements are both affordable and readily available at your local supermarket or drugstore.

What else? Certainly we have answered many of the questions surrounding how does nutrition affect heart disease. While this may be the case homocysteine management alone will not carry the day prompting many to enlist the help of a natural cholesterol reduction supplement. Natural cholesterol supplements are very safe and have been found to be an excellent tool for lowering bad cholesterol (LDL) and triglyceride levels.

Effectively Managing Blood Lipid Levels

The term blood lipid is synonymous with fat, and in fact most blood lipid molecules found floating around in our blood stream are primarily fat. These molecules play an important role in providing us with energy and are the primary building blocks for a number of compounds including bile, vitamin D, testosterone, and estrogen.

As you can see managing blood lipid levels is not as much about doing away with them completely as it is finding a way to balance their benefits and risks.

What are the risks if we fail to manage blood lipid levels?

The most obvious one is high cholesterol leading to atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. Atherosclerosis is process where the smooth interior lining of the arteries and veins becomes damaged leading to the accumulation of plaque deposits. Over time blood lipid particles floating by in the blood start to accumulate eventually culminating when calcium and fibrous tissue start to form causing hardening and narrowing of the artery. When this happens in the arteries surrounding the heart it is known as coronary artery disease, which is single largest cause of heart attack.

Are there any genetic conditions that make managing blood lipid levels difficult?

The answer is yes, and if you have any of these three genetic condition such as hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipidemia, or hypertriglyceridemia your blood lipid levels will be dangerously high primarily due to the overproduction of cholesterol by the liver. These conditions are very dangerous requiring more aggressive blood lipid management methods often including prescription medications such as statins or prescription strength niacin.

How do lipoproteins factor into my management plan?

Blood fats, including cholesterol, are transported through the blood stream by the lipoproteins HDL and LDL. HDL molecules are lean, being composed of primarily protein whereas LDL molecules are primarily fat. It just makes sense that finding ways to keep LDL low and HDL high would be one of the best ways to manage blood lipid levels.

Three helpful management tools for blood lipid levels

*Stay active: As the aging process takes hold and aches and pains become more severe it is easy to fall into a state of semi inactivity. But if you are really serious about lowering blood lipid levels and thus reducing your chances of atherosclerosis and heart disease then you must find creative ways around your maladies. Your doctor is one of the best resources you have to accomplish this. Examples he might suggest are pool aerobics, walking, or even something as simple as gardening.

*Watch your diet: Many blood fats such as triglycerides are very sensitive to diet. Be sure to eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables all the while keeping saturated fat and cholesterol to a minimum. One last important point is that some research suggests that increasing the consumption of polyunsaturated fat foods such as fish and avocados are essential to lowering triglyceride levels.

*Supplements can help: The latest research continues to support the idea that supplements can play a pivotal role in lowering blood fat levels. Three that have been getting a lot of press recently are vitamins B12 and B6, omega 3 rich fish oil, and of course safe and effective natural cholesterol reduction supplements.

Acai Berry With Heart Medications

Can acai berry mend a broken heart? If the broken heart pertains to a heart disease that continues to be one of the leading causes of deaths, acai may help tame it before it becomes a full blown killer.

Heart diseases encompass a variety of conditions relating to the cardiovascular system. It may involve the ability of your heart to pump out blood, its valves, your blood vessels, and more instances that compromise the function of your heart.

Below are some of the most common heart conditions that warrant urgent attention:

Myocardial Infarction or heart attack
It happens when the cells of the heart die due to the disruption of its blood supply. The formation of cholesterol plaques contributes a great deal to the blockage of the coronary blood vessels. When the blood flow is compromised, there is no delivery of oxygen to the tissues, leading to cell death.

Hypertension or high blood pressure
When it requires more force to get the blood flowing, you get a high blood pressure. It makes the heart work harder to pump blood effectively to all organs in the body. Hypertension can be due to other coexisting diseases such as diabetes, kidney problems, arteriosclerosis, etc. Genetics play a significant role in primary hypertension.

Arteriosclerosis
It involves the blood vessels, particularly the arteries, and its ability to deliver blood to the organs. The arteries in this case have hardened due to the build up of plaques from fatty substances. This makes the vessels less flexible which makes it harder for blood to flow. When the plaques break apart, they travel in the bloodstream towards smaller arteries, where they may cause a complete blockage. This is how it contributes to heart attacks, stroke, and common heart conditions.

High Cholesterol
Chlolesterol makes up a part of the bodys lipids. It is vital to the structure of cells, and in the production of hormones and energy. When the levels go up, it creates problems in the blood vessels. The arteries are hardened and blocked. In turn, the blood pressure rises just to be able to push adequate blood for delivery to the organs. When the heart doesnt receive adequate amount of blood supply, heart attack can occur.

Heart Failure
The heart functions to pump blood into the body. When it fails, it doesnt mean that it has stopped beating. It just lost its ability to function efficiently, affecting all organs in the long run. The blood goes back to the lungs instead of pushing it forward. Breathing becomes laborious. Fluid accumulates in the dependent portions of the body like the feet.

How Can Acai Save You From A Broken Heart?

Acai berry (Euterpe oleracea), a superfood from the Amazon, offers hope for those with heart problems.

Acai is rich in fatty acids, giving it the oily feel. It contains 2 essential fatty acids called Omega 6 (Linoleic acid) and Omega 9 (Oleic acid). The Omega 6 is a polyunsaturated essential fatty acid that lowers both LDL (bad cholesterol) and HDL (good cholesterol) levels. The Omega 9, which is a monounsaturated, essential fatty acid, helps lower only the LDL, while maintaining a good level of HDL.

Acai is also unusually rich in beta-sitosterol, which is a phytosterol that competes with dietary cholesterol for absorption, hence reducing blood cholesterol. The high fiber content of acai berries may likewise reduce bad cholesterol levels.

The dark pigmentation of acai is attributed to anthocyanins, which are potent antioxidants. Even in trace amounts, anthocyanins effectively protect against LDL oxidation. The anti-oxidant properties of acai help heal the cell membranes and linings of arterial wall and help protect the integrity of smaller blood vessels. This prevents the development of arteriosclerosis and the subsequent increase in blood pressure.

Free radicals can speed up the process of arteriosclerosis and aggravate ischemia (the lack of oxygen supply to an organ). With the rich anti-oxidant content of acai, the damaging effects of the free radicals are taken cared of.

Be careful when choosing among the many acai supplements available in the market. The juice form uses other ingredients and preservatives, with only little concentration of acai. It has undergone the irradiation which is something you may want to avoid. The pill form, on the other hand, contains 100% acai, without preservatives. It has not undergone any procedures known to harm your health.

Can I Take Acai Together with my Heart Medications?

With early prevention, acai can lessen your need for expensive heart medications. However, if maintenance drugs should be used, no data has been found as to the drug-drug or drug-food interactions with acai and the common heart conditions.

Be cautious when taking medications containing anti-coagulants or blood thinners because acai contains vitamin k, which exerts the opposite effect.

Potassium is abundant in acai, so you might as well be careful with drugs reacting to potassium:
ACE-inhibitors which are used for the treatment of hypertension. Examples are captopril, enalapril, lisinopril. Potassium levels may increase further with ACE inhibitors especially those with diminished kidney function.
Potassium-sparing diuretics like spironolactone, triamterene, or amiloride may increase potassium levels in the blood.
Heparin which is a blood thinner, used for the prevention of heart attacks. Potassium levels may be further increased with concomitant use of acai, aside from with the antagonistic effect of vitamin K present in acai.
Beta blockers such as metoprolol and propranolol that are used to treat high blood pressure can potentially increase blood potassium levels when mixed with acai.

The high amount of calcium in acai may create potential reactions with certain medications:
Beta-blockers. Calcium may interfere with the blood levels of beta-blockers and vice versa.
Calcium-channel blockers are a class of anti-hypertensives. Calcium may reverse the therapeutic effects of calcium-channel blockers, although studies are conflicting.
Digoxin is used to treat irregular heart rhythms. Calcium may make this drug ineffective.
Anti-cholesterol drug, particularly bile acid sequestrants such as cholestyramine, colestipol, and colesevelam, may interfere with calcium absorption and increase loss of calcium in the urine.

Anti-oxidants in general, are not advised to be taken along with most chemotherapeutic agents that act by producing free radicals to kill the tumor.

There are no documented effects of the above drugs interacting with acai berry supplements, only possible risks. Nonetheless, caution must be taken to avoid untoward reactions.

Seven Safe Steps To Avoid Heart Disease

You have already heard the term you are what you eat. It’s been around forever. It’s also common knowledge that eating certain foods increases your risk for heart disease. But despite that fact we continue to consume more and more foods that we know is bad for us. This is often because changing your eating habits is one of the hardest lifestyle changes you can make. Or so it seems. But take it from me, someone who has 31 years of unhealthy eating attached to my name and frame, there are things you can do to make a change and turn back the hands of time. In this article you’ll find eight different ways you can make a change and lower your risks for heart disease.

Meal Planning

When you are planning a meal, or a snack, remember the heart healthy meal plate released by Harvard’s School of Public Health. When you’re choosing the foods make sure to portion your plate with mostly vegetables, then fruit, then whole grains, and finally a source of low fat low sodium protein. An important thing to do when planning is add some variety to your food choices. Don’t get hung up on a certain food for too long or you’ll risk burning yourself out. Plus changing up the menu often makes sure your body gets the necessary nutrients on top of spicing up your meals!

Portion Sizes

You always need to watch what you eat. But you also need to watch how much you eat. Filling that plate up, or going for seconds, and especially eating until you feel so stuffed your about to bust is awful for you. It HAS to be stopped! When you eat like that you are taking in way to many calories, carbs, fat, and cholesterol than you should. This WILL lead to you becoming overweight and worse it can lead to numerous diseases such as heart attacks and possibly strokes. So make sure to keep an eye on the number of servings you eat as well as the sizes of those servings.

Scale Back On Sodium

Sodium can cause high blood pressure which causes you to face the risk of heart disease. So scaling back on the amount of sodium you intake is part of a heart conscious diet. In fact a healthy adult shouldn’t take in more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day. So walk into your kitchen and look down at the teaspoon. 2,300 milligrams is about as big as a teaspoon. But we’re not talking just table salt. Remember that every food you eat already has a certain amount of natural sodium in it. So check the nutritional labels before you go adding salt to a dish. Another important fact is if you are over 51, an African-American, or have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease your sodium intake should me 1,500 milligrams of sodium or less per day! A great way to reduce the amount of sodium you intake though is just to stop adding salt to meals. Once you do that you should also consider eating only fresh foods. These usually have way less sodium than canned or processed foods. But if you’re like me and just need the easy route sometimes because of a hectic schedule make sure to get them with reduced sodium.

Eat Only Whole Grains.

Whole grains are the greatest source of fiber and other required nutrients. These nutrients help regulate blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and promote good heart health. So forget the refined grains such as white bread and go for whole grains only. Eating these whole grains instead of refined grains substantially lowers total cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides, insulin levels, offers modest protection against colorectal cancer, prevents diverticular disease, and it also helps lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. So make sure to include whole grains as a part of every meal!

Eat Your Fruits and Vegetables.

Fruits and veggies are a major staple of every balanced diet. This is because they are great sources of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and they also make a great low calorie low carbohydrate snack. As such they are one of the best ways to eat healthy and lower your risk for heart disease. A holdup for some people is figuring out how they can add these fruits and veggies into their diets. Well for snacks that’s easy. Find some things you like and eat it. I tend to snack on broccoli, carrots, or celery with a small dribble of hidden valley ranch dressing or even some fresh cut cucumbers. These snacks are much better for you then meat, or cheese, or chips and a soda. For a meal I would typically eat some fruit for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and green beans, or broccoli and cheese, or a side salad, or even grilled red peppers, green peppers, and onions. It all depends on the rest of the meal. For fruits I’m not very picky. There are plenty of fresh fruits I enjoy such as apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, strawberries, peaches, grapefruit, lemons, limes, and much more. Just take a stop in your local produce section or your local farmers market and you’ll be able to easily spice up your meals while lowering your risk of heart problems!

Choose Protein That’s Good For You.

The best sources of protein are the leaner meats. Fish, Shellfish, Chicken, Pork Tenderloin, and similar meats are going to be your best sources of protein. When choosing protein it’s all about going as low fat as possible. Such as eating a grilled skinless chicken breast over the country fried steak. For me I tend to gravitate towards seafood as my main source of protein. The oceans and rivers are endless in providing us with great tasting sources of healthy protein. The best thing about fish is that they are super heart healthy. Fish and seafood from colder deep sea’s water are the highest in omega-3 fatty acids. These acids help protect against many diseases such as; Alzheimer’s, cancers, arthritis, high blood pressure, inflammations, depression, strokes, and heart disease. So make sure to include some seafood in your diet plan at least twice per week. Some seafood I tend to eat is shrimp, crab, crawfish, scallops, mussels, tilapia, salmon, and even canned light tuna.

Watch the Fat and Cholesterol

This is the last section but definitely not the least! Out of all the changes you can make this is probably the most important section when it comes to lowering your risk for heart attacks and heart disease. High cholesterol will lead to plaque building up in your arteries which is what causes you to have a heart attack or stroke. To reduce this risk it’s important to limit the amount of fats and cholesterol included in your diet. The best way to do that is cut out the lard. Cut the butter, the margarine, and the shortening out of the food you cook. Start to trim the fat off of all the meat you get. Watch your sugar intake by using natural low sugar jellies and jams instead of the others. That also means trying to cut the cookies and cakes, the snack foods, and mostly everything that’s high in saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol. If you have to use some sort of fat for cooking make sure to use canola oil, extra virgin olive oil, or even a nut or seed oil. If you start to adjust your diet around these principals you’ll be on your way to a heart healthy diet!

Natural Heart Disease Risk Reduction, Weight Loss

You can group cardiovascular disease into diverse groups.Some of these elements are not variant, like the inherited factors, as well as the factors connected to age and gender. There are other elements which are just as noteworthy, and perhaps more self-destructive, and these factors can interpose in the process of ameliorating your health.I am here accosting lifestyle factors, smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, a lack of exercise and obesity, as well as others..

Prior to starting up any diet or exercise syllabus, and I demand to be clear here, everyone needs to consult a physician, in order to ensure their capacities for physical exertion, and set up demarcations thereto.In addition, in order to find a fitting diet for your body type, I must accent the importance of the advice of a nutritionist. So, the message is established, think of your wellness now, do not forget to see your doctor. We are approaching obesity as a disease, as played off to a aesthetic circumstance, it is a global problem with people today. The presence of obesity leads in a more size able chance of heart disease or stroke, even given the absence of other risk elements. Obesity pressures the heart to run harder, as well as being identified in affiliation to coronary disease, high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure.

What can a person do, to counterbalance the position, when obesity is existing situation?As previously mentioned we should cover obesity as a disease and as one of the components that step-up the number of deaths from cardiovascular diseases. The same as any other disease, the original step towards remedy is the admittance of illness, look for medical care. After this gear up your life for a heartily diet, in conjunction with a daily routine of physical exercises that will render physical well being and augmented emotional balance on a daily basis.

And what is the solution? The first course of action is to combat risk factors with all plausible exertion.

I recommend following these 4 tips put forward by Isabel De Los Rios.

1. Quit Smoking. The practice of tobacco for smoking has been celebrated as a fundamental factor in heart disease, to a large extent due to chemical additives (not that I am suggesting the use of tobacco).The peril of a heart attack in a smoker is two times steeper than in a non-smoker. The presence of passive inhalation of tobacco also exposes individuals to a higher relative incidence of cardiovascular disease.There is evidence that smoking increases the levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) and depresses HDL (good cholesterol), accelerating the onset of atherosclerosis. That is, smoking is also directly contributing for the accumulation of fat in the walls of coronary arteries, bearing on the heart and blood vessels. The evidence has demonstrated that a person who is already inclined to high rates of cholesterol is increasing his/her risk of heart disease by smoking.

2. Walk, walk, walk. If getting time for a integrated exercise curriculum is just too much of a challenge right now, just start by walking. I have known many people who Have strengthened and reversed their severe heart conditions by getting outside and walking. If you can, find a scenic route there’s nothing more quieting than the outdoors. (I highly advocate whistling and singing while you walk. It creates for happy thoughts).

3. Calm down. By this I mean, do not stress about matters you do not Have to, or have command over.The most affirmative thing I did, other than eat healthy food, was to relax, and increase the playfulness.

4. Don’t start, again, don’t start a low fat diet.You can exacerbate a bad condition with misguided effort.Get rid of the saturated fats (hydrogenated oil and the like problematic oil in French fries and donuts) and eat heart-healthy fat, like coconut oil, olive oil, walnuts and whole eggs. And at the risk of sounding redundant, before you begin any program, consult your dietitian, and your MD. Good health! For further information on our programs, please Visit Us @ EliKen Health,.