Carotenoids protect your heart health
Carotenoids are the pigments found naturally in many fruits and vegetables that give them the distinctive yellow, orange and scarlet red colouring. Chefs have long utilised this colourful combination to spice up the appearance of their culinary creations. All richly coloured red orange and yellow vegetables contain generous quantities of these natural healing compounds. They are also found in some green vegetables such as spinach, lettuce and Kale.
Significantly lower risk of heart disease and cancer
However the chemicals that cause this rich colour to form in carotenoid-rich natural foods such as tomatoes, capsicums, and carrots could save your life, as research has shown that people who eat the most of these types of food have been shown to have significantly lower risk of dying from heart disease and cancer.
Best dietary sources of Carotenoids
Here is a list of the best natural food sources of Carotenoids. These are the foods with the highest quantities and concentrations of the compounds :-
- Tomatoes
- Cantaloupe melons
- Spinach
- Carrots
- Sweet Potatoes
- Kale
- Leafy Green Vegetables
- Oranges
- Peaches
- Pumpkin
Body under attack from free radicals
Our bodies are constantly under attack from alien invaders known as free radicals, which are depleted oxygen molecules (missing one electron from the molecule). These can damage the body’s internal cells and DNA structure because they attempt to replace the missing electron from the oxygen molecule by stealing it from a neighbouring healthy body cell. This continual process can damage the cells and contribute to the underlying causes of heart disease and other dread diseases such as cancer, and eye disease such as macular degeneration.
So how can a humble vegetable help to counteract this threat ? Scientific research has proven that the high Carotenoid content of certain vegetables can counteract the damaging effect of the free radicals by assisting with halting the cell damage, and therefore increasing the body’s protection. A significant study conducted at John Hopkins Universaity in Baltimore, MD discovered that smokers who were heart attack victims were found to be less likely to suffer a second heart attack if they had high levels of four particular high carotenoid compounds – beta-carotene, lutein, lycopene and zeaxanthin.
Carotenoids reduce bad LDL Cholesterol
There are more than 500 different types of Carotenoids, although the majority of common foods contain only about 60 of these. The most critical of these precious compounds are alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, gamma-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein, lycopene and Zexanthin. The way in which these carotenoid rich compounds can help to prevent heart disease and stroke is by preventing the ‘bad’ (LDL) cholesterol in the blood from attaching itself to the walls of the arteries. This is a major cause of atherosclerosis and hardening of the arteries due to the build up of this arterial plaque. If the LDL cholesterol molecule cannot oxidise, then it cannot stick to the wall of the artery.
Artificial supplements cannot replace natural food based Carotenoids
Artificial food supplements that attempt to reproduce the beneficial effects of naturally occurring Carotenoids are less successful. In fact they may possibly be harmful to health, according to Doctor Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. His advice is that the most effective way to get Carotenoids is from natural foods rather than supplements.
Eggs cleared of causing high cholesterol
Historical Suspicion of Eggs
Poultry eggs have long been regarded with suspicion and labelled as high cholesterol foods due to their association with raising levels of blood cholesterol, leading to heart disease and heart attacks. This dates back many years, due in part to decades old advice from the British Heart Foundation (revised in 2005) that egg consumption should be limited to two or three eggs per person per week because they increase cholesterol. Now experts have proven that very little of the cholesterol in eggs actually finds it way into the bloodstream.
Previous egg cholesterol research was mis-interpreted
A new report from the British Nutrition Foundation seems to indicate that conclusions drawn from this earlier research on eggs and diet may have been incorrect, due to it’s inability to differentiate between dietary cholesterol and dietary saturated fat. So, in other words poultry eggs may have been the fall guy for the real bad guy – saturated fat, which is found in great quantities in so many of the foods that we often eat every day without necessarily checking what we are eating contains.
It is still correct that high levels of blood cholesterol can increase the risk of coronary heart disease, but it has now been discovered due to improved testing science that most of the blood cholesterol in our blood actually comes from non-dietary sources – typically obesity, lack of exercise and smoking cigarettes, and dietary staurated fat. The new research concludes that this is the primary cause, not eggs, of more than two thirds of the cholesterol in our blood.
Saturated fat mainly to blame, not poultry eggs
Almost half of the people polled in a recent United Kingdom survey still thought they should eat a maximum of three eggs a week, due to the information which has been propagated by health organisations over the years. But the evidence now indicates that there is no reason to limit the weekly consumption of eggs for most people, as there is no evidence to suggest that they cause an increased risk of coronary heart disease.
A respected UK Doctor – Dr Hilary Jones, MD, has highlighted the confusion surrounding dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol. He said that many people think by reducing dietary cholesterol – for example avoiding food like eggs will reduce their risk of heart disease. But he points out that the most important dietary risk factor comes from consumption of saturated fat.
New advice about egg consumption from health organisations
The British Heart Foundation as well as other health organisations have responded to this new research by issuing their own statements. A BHF spokesperson, Victoria Taylor, Senior Dietician, responded by stating :-
“We recommend that eggs can be eaten as part of a balanced diet. There is cholesterol present in eggs but this does not usually make a great contribution to your level of blood cholesterol. She continues ”If you need to reduce your cholesterol level it is more important that you cut down on the amount of saturated fat in your diet from foods like fatty meat, full fat dairy products and cakes, biscuits [cookies] and pastries.”
The American Heart Association has also removed their previous recommendations regarding eggs and heart health.
special advice for people who suffer from familial hypercholesterolaemia
The exception to the above advice is that people suffering from the genetic disorder that causes high cholesterol levels – familial hypercholesterolaemia. If you are one of the one in five hundred of the population who suffer from this condition, then the advice to restrict your dietary intake of cholesterol still applies.
Two eggs a day can reduce cholesterol and help you lose weight!
The most amazing aspect of this latest research is that a study published by in 2008 in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition has shown that eating two eggs per day, as part of a calorie controlled diet, can actually reduce your blood cholesterol level, and help you to lose weight. So if youe have a favourite recipe with eggs, you may be able to enjoy it once again without worrying about your heart health. It just goes to show you that the old expression that you probably heard from your parents is probably good advice – ‘everything in moderation’.
Daylight Savings Time Increases Heart Attack Risk !
Daylight Savings Time – March 8th 2009
With the end of the winter rapidly approaching, we all look forward to lighter evenings, and the additional daylight that the start of Daylight Savings Time, which begins in the United States on March 8th 2009, brings. Around the world an additional 1.5 billion people experience the same seasonal time adjustment each year.
However, a recent scientific study conducted in Sweden, based on nearly twenty years of heart attack data from 1987 to 2006, indicates that when the clocks ‘spring forward’ each year, this increases the risk of heart attack for many of us.
The research was carried out by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and the results were then published in the New England Journal of Medicine. These show that there is an amazing five percent increase in the heart attack statistics in the week after Daylight Savings Time begins.
Sleep Deprivation
The theory for this increase is that during the week after the time changes, most people suffer from sleep deprivation. This is compounded by the effect that a sudden time change has on the body’s sleeping patterns and daily biological rhythms.
With this in mind, you may expect a corresponding reduction in the number of heart attacks suffered during the weeks when the clocks ‘fall back’ in the autumn. However, this was not found to be the case, as the researchers discovered that a reduction in heart attacks also of five percent, only occurred on the first day following the end of daylight savings time.
DST results in reduction of sleep quality and duration
Many people find the bi-annual shift in time zones difficult to adjust to, and suffer a reduction in sleep quality and sleep duration, similar to that experienced with jet lag, only semi-permanent. There is a growing volume of evidence that suggests that this may have detrimental effects on our cardiovascular health.
However in the spring, the time change usually results in an hour of missed sleep, and also disrupts the body’s biological rhythms. Contrast this with the fall, when the end of Daylight savings Time combines a biological disruption, with an opportunity to GAIN some sleep, and this may counter the negative effects of the transition.
Monday most dangerous day of the week for heart attacks
It is also interesting to note that Monday is the day of the week that has been proven to be the most dangerous day of the week, and the most likely for suffering from a heart attack. This is most likely to be a combination of two factors – during Friday and Saturday nights most people tend to go to sleep later, and get up later the following morning. However this means that often they will go to sleep later on Sunday as well, but have to rise earlier on the Monday morning to go to work. This causes them to suffer from sleep deprivation. This is combined on Monday morning with a sudden increase in activity and stress related to the week ahead. This is made even worse during the week of the Daylight Savings Time change, and may account for the statistical increase in the heart attack rate.
Alcohol and Heart Health
Alcohol – a balanced point of view
Alcohol statisics for the United States make for sobering reading – each year more than 100,000 people die from alcohol related conditions and the effects of alcohol consumption. But is it all bad news where alcohol and heart disease is concerned ?
Every one in the adult population has different alcohol consumption habits and patterns, ranging from those who drink no alcohol at all, to those who are classed as chronic alcoholics. Alcohol can be both good and bad for our health, and our heart health, and the main difference between the two is the amount consumed.
After many years of alcohol statistics research involving nearly one million people, it would appear that many people who drink moderately, which is classed as not more than one or two drinks per day, live longer lives than either heavy drinkers, or those who are teetotal. (A drink is defined as one 12 oz. glass of beer, 4 oz. of wine, 1.5 oz. of 80-proof spirits, or 1 oz. of 100-proof spirits.)
Alcohol heart health problems
Heavy drinking has been proven to have a directly negative effect on heart health. Ethanol is the active ingredient in alcoholic beverages, and it is this chemical that can wreak havoc on the body’s internal organs when consumed in excessive quantities. There are a number of different illnesses that can result from alcohol abuse :-
- Drinking too much alcohol can raise the levels of some types of fat known as triglycerides in the blood
- Alcohol consumption increases the body’s calorie intake, and has very little nutritional value. Regular excess calorie intake can in turn lead to obesity and consequently a greater risk of developing diabetes
- Excessive alcohol consumption on a regular basis can lead to high blood pressure, enlargement of the heart which is known as dilated cardiomyopathy, and heart failure, which is the inability of the heart to pump sufficient blood around the body
- Binge drinking where vast amounts of alcohol are consumed, for example twenty drinks in one evening, can lead to abnormal heart rhythms know as arrhythmia, stroke or even sudden cardiac death
- Drinking too much alcohol also increases the risk of non-heart related illness such as alcoholism and breast cancer, and also death by misadventure due to alcohol-related accidents and even suicide
It is important to note that heart problems in women may be caused by less alcohol consumption than men – the recommended daily alcohol intake for women is approximately one quarter less than that for men.
Potential benefits of moderate alcohol consumption to health
There have been many studies that have concluded that small amounts of alcohol could help to protect the heart against the causes of coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke, specifically in men over 40 years of age and postmenopausal women. This may be due to a combination of factors including :-
- Increased levels of High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol which is the ‘good’ cholesterol, although regular exercise, and dietary niacin supplements can also produce this increase
- Reduced ‘stickiness’ of the blood, due to the presence of resveratrol (an anti-clotting agent) which may help to prevent platelets from forming which could turn into blood clots, increasing the risk of heart attack or stroke
- Potential benefits of certain compounds such as flavonoids and other antioxidants in reducing heart disease risk. Red wine has been singled out as a particularly rich source of these compounds, although they can be obtained from other natural non-alcoholic food sources such as fruit and vegetables
- Most sensible drinkers tend to have healthy lifestyles in other areas of their lives. For instance they are more likely to eat a healthy diet, maintain a healthy weight, take regular heart exercise and get sufficient sleep. They are also more likely to have more relaxed lifestyles, better social lives and increased emotional and physical happiness.
Serious immediate warnings concerning alcohol and heart health
You should not drink any alcohol whatsoever if you are pregnant, as this can seriously harm your unborn baby, and may potentially cause birth defects.
According to advice published by the American Heart Association, if you are taking long term aspirin medication (prescribed by your physician) to reduce the possibility of blood clotting, you should not be drinking any alcohol, and should continue to take your prescribed aspirin dosage.
Alcohol Advice for newly diagnosed Heart Disease patients
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advice is that If you have been newly diagnosed with a heart disease condition you should stop drinking alcohol.
Best advice is not to drink alcohol to achieve health goals
According to advice from the British Heart Foundation it is not advisable for anyone to target drinking alcohol specifically to protect against heart disease. Their advice is that there are better options – starting with taking more physical heart exercise, stopping smoking, consulting with your physician about lowering your cholesterol and blood pressure, controlling your weight, and following a healthy diet.
This is reinforced by the fact that there is currently no scientific proof that drinking red wine or any other alcoholic beverage can replace these more traditional health measures.