Heart Disease Threats Can Cut Lifespan?

Smoking, high cholesterol and hypertension (high blood pressure) are 3 risk factors that can lead to heart disease. This statement can hardly arouse any objection.

In fact, many studies have confirmed that people, who do not smoke, eat healthily, and exercise, can cut their risk of developing heart disease. However, very few of these studies actually tackled and answered the question: ‘to what extend does having these heart disease risk factors shorten life expectancy?’

In order to seek the answer, researchers from the University of Oxford analyzed the data of 19,000 male British civil servants who were examined in the late 1960s when they were between 40 and 69 years old.

They found out that those male smokers with high cholesterol and hypertension die, on average, a decade sooner than those without any of these risk factors for heart disease. The findings were published on September 18, 2009 in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

The detailed information on medical history, lifestyle and smoking habits were provided by the participants at the outset of the study. Their weight, blood pressure, cholesterol level, blood sugar level and lung function were recorded by the doctors.

In 1997, or 28 years after the initial examination, more than 7,000 of those surviving participants were re-evaluated. It was found that those men who had a triple risk threat at the beginning of the study were 2 to 3 times more likely to have died of heart disease than men who were free from all the 3 risk factors. In other words, their lives were shortened, on average, by a decade.

According to health experts, the percentage of people having fatal stroke or heart attack does decline by about a quarter in many rich countries over the last decade. However, similar downtrend is not seen in many known risk factors for heart disease.

In the United States, the American Heart Association revealed that uncontrolled hypertension has fallen by only 16 percent, high blood cholesterol by 19 percent, and smoking by just over 15 percent since 1999.

Meanwhile, other risk factors of heart disease have remained either constant or even increased. For example, the number of people who exercise does not exceed than that more than 10 years ago. On the other hand, obesity rate have increased tremendously, especially among younger generation.

Why Should People Walk or Bike to Work?

Exercise forms an integral part in the prevention of heart disease and many other ailments. However, many of the working people are being pressured by heave workload that they can hardly find time to engage in any form of exercises or physical activities.

A large study in United States for health and commuting found that walking or biking to work, even partway, can boost physical fitness but sadly, very few Americans actually do it. In fact, only about 17 percent of workers walked or bicycled any portion of their commute.

According to experts, things like crumbling sidewalks, lack of bike paths and long distances have prevented American commuters from walking or biking to work.

Researchers from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill examined the tests and questionnaires from 2,364 workers (middle-aged city dwellers) who were part of a larger federally funded study on heart disease risk. These participants, who lived in Chicago; Minneapolis; Birmingham, Alabama; and Oakland, California, were asked in 2005-2006 about their commuting habits in the past 12 months

It was found that those active commuters did better on treadmill tests of fitness, even after accounting for their leisure-time physical activity levels. This indeed suggested that commuter choices do make a difference.

In the study, the male active commuters also had healthier numbers for body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, insulin and blood fats (known as triglycerides). On the other hand, the researchers speculated that women walked or biked shorter distances and they may have done so less vigorously

The researchers acknowledged that the study has a chicken-and-egg problem. People, who are already active, could be the ones who walk or bike to work. In other words, fitness contributes to wanting to walk to work; nevertheless, the reverse might also be true.

Prior research has found that those countries having the highest levels of walking and biking also have the lowest levels of obesity. Nevertheless, little research has done to examine the health of Americans who walk or bike to work. The new study may be the first large US study of health and commuting.

Many cities in United States, workplaces are separated from homes that lengthen commutes. However, cities like Portland, Oregon, that build bike paths have higher rates of cycling. Meanwhile, companies can provide showers, changing areas and secure bike parking to encourage active commuting.

Can Exercise Alone Prevent Heart Disease for Overweight?

When one is overweight or obese, the risk of developing many health problems also raises. These include diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), stroke, heart disease, etc. Some health experts even link certain types of cancer to obesity.

Research shows that fat cells produce chemicals that can speed up hardening of the arteries and increase inflammation thus harming blood vessels. Meanwhile, physical activity can make for healthier blood vessels and reduce the risk of blood clots.

However, researchers from Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center found that exercise would not reduce the risk of heart disease for those who are overweight or obese unless they slim down too. The findings, which were published on April 28, 2008 in the Archives of Internal Medicine, argued that even high quantities of physical activity are highly impossible to reverse the risk of coronary heart disease in overweight or obese women unless they also lose weight.

Basing on information from a study of nearly 39,000 women that began in 1992, the study traced a number of health issues. In the study, 34 percent of the women were physically activity based on government guidelines, 31 percent were overweight and 18 percent were obese.

The researchers found that 948 women were diagnosed with heart disease. Those active women with normal weight had the lowest risk but those with normal weight and not active at all had a slightly higher risk of developing heart disease. The risk rises for those active women who were either overweight or obese. People with the highest risk of getting heart disease are those who were overweight or obese and physically inactive.

In conclusion, the researchers stressed that it is important to counseling all women to participate in increasing amounts of regular physical activity and maintaining a healthy weight in order to lower the risk of coronary heart disease.

Is Risk of Death Raised by Eating More Red Meat?

Is eating red meat bad for health? This highly controversial question has been debated between various groups of people for years.

Eating too much meat would probably cause people to put on weight. Being overweight or obese, one will have a much higher chance of getting many medical complications like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and even certain types of cancer.

In order to find out answer pertaining to this question, the National Cancer Institute in United States carried out one of the largest study.

The researchers reported that people who eat the most red meat as well as processed meat have the highest overall risk of death from all causes, including heart disease and cancer. Their findings appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine on March 23, 2009.

More than 500,000 people aged between 50 and 71 were involved in the study. They filled out questionnaires on their diet and other health habits. Their records were later examined by the researchers.

It was found that people who ate meat heavily were more likely to die over the next 10 years than those who ate the least amount of meat, even when other factors such as eating fresh fruits and vegetables, exercise, obesity and smoking were accounted for.

The researchers found that the consumption of red and processed meat were associated with modest increases in total mortality, cancer mortality, and cardiovascular mortality.

The volunteers participated in the study were divided into 5 groups, called quintiles. There were 47,976 men and 23,276 women died during the period between 1995 and 2005.

People in the quintile that ate the most red meat had a higher risk for overall death, death from heart disease and cancer than the men and women who ate the least red meat.

If people could eat less meat, thousands of deaths could just be prevented. For overall mortality, 11 percent of deaths in men and 16 percent of deaths in women could be prevented should people reduced their red meat intake to the level in the first quintile.

Youth Studying Closed to Fast Food Restaurants Tend to be Obese!

Fast food has been accused as the culprit responsible for the prevailing obesity epidemic among the youngsters. Evidence has already shown that obese people have higher chance of getting heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and many other medical disorders.

Consumer groups have actively pushed for laws on new fast food restaurants in certain Los Angeles neighborhoods, and the food industry often responds and maintains that a lack of exercise is more to blame.

The youth obesity rates in United States have tripled since 1980, although they did level off this decade. According to the figures from government, 32 percent of United States children are overweight and 16 percent are obese.

Published on December 23, 2008 in the American Journal of Public Health, researchers from Azusa Pacific University in California reported that youth who study near a fast-food outlet eat fewer servings of fruit and vegetables, drink more soda, and they are more likely to be obese or overweight than students at other schools are.

Involving more than 500,000 adolescents at middle schools and high schools in California, the study examined the relationship between obesity among these students and fast food restaurants located within half a mile (0.8 km) of schools.

The weight and dietary information from a statewide school survey between 2002 and 2005 were recorded and the data was cross-referenced with a database of top fast food chains located near each school.

The researchers discovered that fast food outlets near schools did affect students’ eating habits, and hence overweight and obesity. Results clearly showed that students, who were exposed to nearby fast food, have a higher level of body mass index. In other words, they just weighed more. However, they could not determine the exact rationale why fast food restaurants near schools have such an impact.

Possible explanation should go beyond than easy accessing to burgers, fries and tacos. Perhaps, ‘a nearby fast food restaurant is a perfect location for people to socialize’ might be the reason.

Can Nutrigenetic Diets Help Overweight Individuals Lose Weight?

When an individual becomes overweight or obese, he or she becomes a likely candidate for many medical disorders including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure (or hypertension). Therefore, he or she will always be advised to trim the weight by appropriate weight management program.

A finding, which appeared at the online journal BioMed Central: Nutrition Journal in November 2007, indicated that overweight individuals might lose weight and keep it off through personalized diets, based on an individual’s genetic makeup. The researchers also found that people on nutrigenetically tailored diets were more likely to stick to the diet, which means they had greater success in the long term.

Cheek cells were used to screen DNA for 24 variations in 19 genes known to affect nutrient metabolism. The researchers then compared the case histories of 50 individuals who were on nutrigenetic diets with those of 43 patients who did not receive a nutrigenetically tailored diet.

The patients participated in the study were attending a weight loss clinic in Athens, Greece. All of them followed a traditional weight management program that involved a Mediterranean diet, together with exercise and regular follow-up clinic visits. Nevertheless, the researchers modify the diet of the nutrigenetic group based on the genetic results of each individual in the group.

During the first few months, there was no difference was noticed in weight loss between the 2 groups. After about one year, however, the traditional diet group showed a slight average weight gain while the group on nutrigenetic diet continued to lose weight. 300 days later, individuals in the group on nutrigenetic diet were about 5-times more likely to have maintained their weight loss than that in the traditional diet group. Improvement in blood sugar levels was also noted in those in the nutrigenetic diet group.

The researchers believe that by adding a genetic, personalized component to a weight loss program may actually improve motivation and compliance. Meanwhile, the personalized diet might well optimize the content of macro- and micro-nutrients for the individual during a period when overall food consumption is reduced and energy expenditure is increased.

Can Risk of Early Death from Heart Disease or Cancer Be Reduced?

“One should adopt healthy lifestyle” in order to prevent from heart disease, and other medical disorders such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), stroke, and so on and so forth. Nevertheless, how many of us will really take this seriously and keep that in mind?

Based on the data provided by 80,000 women in the United States who were between 34 and 59 years old, a long-term study by the Harvard School of Public Health began in 1980. The findings, which were published on September 17, 2008 online by the British Medical Journal (BMJ), indicated that women who eat right, exercise and never smoke tobacco were more than halve the risk of dying from heart disease or cancer.

During a period of 24 years, the volunteers participated in the study filled out detailed questionnaires regarding their physical activity, diet, weight, alcohol intake, and disease history. At the end of 2004, 8,882 of the women in the group had died. Record showed that 1,790 and 4,527 of these women died from heart disease and cancer respectively.

According to the calculation made by the researchers, smoking alone accounted for more than a quarter of the deaths. In fact, 55 percent of the death figure could have been avoided if these women had maintained slim, avoided fatty foods and exercised regularly, in addition to not smoking.

The study also found that a glass of wine or beer with dinner every night would offer some help in heart disease prevention. This confirmed earlier research.

Based on the results from the study, the researchers concluded that even small changes in the lifestyle could have a substantial impact on the reduction of mortality rates. Perhaps, people should start changing their lifestyle right away.

Can Living Near Green Space Prevent Heart Disease?

Some earlier studies had already shown that living near green space would improve people’s states of health. However, a new report released on November 7, 2008 by the University of Glasgow indicated that some of the impacts are bigger than thought.

According to the study, parks, forests and playing fields could greatly narrow the health gaps between the rich and poor. In fact, the size of the difference in the health gap is surprising and represented a much bigger effect than what the researchers had been expecting.

In the study, the health impact of parks, forests, and playing fields were examined by dividing England into 5 sectors based on the amount of adjacent green areas and then death rates between rich and poor were compared. It was found that the health gap in the greenest areas between the richest and poorest people as measured by death rates was about half as big as that in the least green areas.

Helping people get rid of stress and allowing them to have more physical activity would naturally help them reduce the risk of heart disease. This is exactly what the parkland and open space could offer and make a difference.

For the very first time, research had shown that physical environment could create such an impact in such a good way with a combination of exercise and restoration. As such, the governments are urged to promote and invest in green areas.

The researchers believe that green spaces are other viable tools for governments to narrow the health gap between the rich and the poor. This is because over long term, government could have a substantial saving on the health care spending if they promote outdoors recreation and hence boost health for their people.

Healthy Elderly Lifestyle is the Key to Long Life!

Aging population is an impending phenomenon not only in United States but also in many other countries. If one wants to live longer in good health with good physical function, he or she has to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

For 25 years, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston tracked about 2,400 male doctors whose average age was 72 when they took part in the study in the early 1980s.

Published on February 11, 2008 in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the study found that those, who exercised 2 to 4 times a week, did not smoke, maintained normal body weight and blood pressure, and avoided diabetes, had a 54 percent chance of living to 90. People having at least one or any combination of these factors were also beneficial, but those who did nothing had only a 4 percent chance of reaching the age of 90.

According to the researchers, people who lived to at least 90 enjoyed better physical function and mental well-being late in their lives than those who died at a younger age. In fact, genetics accounts for only about 25 to 30 percent in determining how long people can live, with other factors playing a bigger role.

In another study appearing in the same journal by Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, the researchers looked at 523 women and 216 men age 97 or older. They found that about a third of these participants lived to this advanced age despite having developed age-associated disease before age 85 such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dementia, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, Parkinson's disease or stroke.

In quantifying how certain behaviors affect longevity, another British study, which tracked 20,000 people, revealed in January 2008 that those who exercised, avoided smoking, drank moderately and ate many fruit and vegetables lived 14 years longer on average than people who did none of these things.

It is rather difficult for an individual to initiate lifestyle changes. He or she may prefer to take a pill, which is much easier. Therefore, the onus is on an individual! If there were anything that one could do for a healthy lifestyle, then it would be ‘do not smoke and do exercise’!

Can Alcohol Really Help Prevent Heart Disease?

People who have never drunk alcohol may wish to consider picking up this habit. Does this contradict to the advices that we used to get: drinking alcohol is bad for our health?

In fact, a recent study conducted by the researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston showed non-drinkers who begin the occasional drinking live longer and are less likely to develop heart disease.

The researchers reported on March 7, 2008 in the “American Journal of Medicine” that people who commenced their drinking in middle age were 38 percent less likely to get a heart attack or other serious heart problem than abstainers were, even if they were overweight, had diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure) or other heart risks.

In the study, medical records of 7,697 people, between 45 and 64, who began as non-drinkers as part of a larger study were studied. Over a period of 10 years, 6 percent of these volunteers began drinking, though the reason for them to start drinking was unknown.

Over the next 4 years, the new drinkers were tracked and when compared them to the persistent non-drinkers, it showed that there was a 38 percent drop in new cardiovascular disease. Even after factoring in heart disease risks like cholesterol, education levels, exercise, high blood pressure, obesity, race and smoking, the findings still held. In fact, some volunteers who had more than one risk factor still benefited from adding alcohol.

Findings also showed that less than one percent of people drank more than what is recommended, a drink or 2 a day by most guidelines. Meanwhile, the researchers also noted that half of these drinkers were wine drinkers only. Actually, wine-only drinkers showed that they received a much bigger benefit.

The same research team has also started a new study in which non-drinkers would be randomly assigned to start either having a glass of wine a day, a glass of grape juice, or grape juice spiked with antioxidants, compounds believed to help prevent heart disease.

Nevertheless, people are advised not take the findings as an excuse for them to drink freely.

Where You Live May Just Determine Your Blood Pressure Level!

If you live in a neighborhood where harmony exists, you will tend to be happy most of the time. On the other hand, if your neighborhood is one in which frequent collision between residents persists, I am sure you can hardly have good mood. Nevertheless, do you know that the state of your neighborhood will also determine the level of your blood pressure?

A study published in journal “Epidemiology” in July 2008 indicated that people who lived in neighborhoods with less crime, better grocery stores, a closer sense of community and more opportunities for exercise, would have a lower risk of high blood pressure, irrespective of the income and education level. Therefore, the researchers from the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor suggest that building better neighborhoods might also improve residents’ cardiovascular health. High blood pressure is known to be a risk factor for heart disease.

In area where walking in streets is safe and with recreational facilities and better access to healthy foods, people can exercise and maintain a healthy diet easier. In addition, stress may play a role because if people find their living conditions hard to relax and recover from daily stresses from work or elsewhere, their blood pressure might well be affected.

A large survey of cardiovascular health on 2,612 adults ages 45 to 85, lived either in New York City, Baltimore or Forsyth County in North Carolina, was used as the basis for the findings. In the survey, conditions in the mile surrounding the participants’ home, including things like whether they felt safe, whether nearby markets had a good selection of fruits and vegetables, and whether it was easy to walk in the neighborhood were asked.
The participants were also questioned about their neighborhood’s 'social cohesion', including if their neighbors were generally friendly and willing to help each other.

People who lived in the most walkable neighborhoods were found to be about one quarter less likely to have high blood pressure than those in the least pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods. Similar differences were also revealed when neighborhood safety, availability of healthy foods and social cohesion were being looked into. However, when participants' race and ethnicity were factored in, the links did diminish.

In conclusion, the researchers suggest that the characteristics of the neighborhood do play some role in the risk of high blood pressure. This also means that policies, which could improve communities (from fewer crime to more parks and better food choices), might just help improve people’s health.

Perhaps, you may want to access the state of your neighborhood should you intend to locate a new house in future.

Is Reducing Diabetes Risk That Hard for Men?

As we know, people with diabetes are exposed to a higher risk of developing heart disease and other medical complications, regardless of whether their diabetes is of Type-1 or Type-2.

For Type-2 diabetics, whether they are male or female, losing weight through diet and exercise are one of the alternatives that might just lower their risk of getting it. Nevertheless, men may have to work harder in order to have the same benefit.

Researchers at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Aurora studied more than 1,100 adults at risk of Type-2 diabetes and found that those who aggressively perform calorie-cutting and exercise did lower their risk of getting diabetes over the next year. However, although men lost more weight and exercised more than women did, their diabetes risk was not greatly reduced by doing so. These findings were published in July 2008 in the Journal “Diabetes Care”.

In the study, participants were randomly assigned to either an intensive program of lifestyle changes or standard lifestyle advice. People in the former group had to lose 7 percent of their body weight by cutting calories and fat from their diet and exercising for at least 2.5 hours per week. Both men and women were 58 percent less likely to develop diabetes over the next year when they were put in the intensive group.

According to the researchers’ observation, men generally exercised more and were more successful at losing weight: 47 percent reached the 7-percent target compared with 37 percent in women. It is known that weight loss can actually be translated into a reduction in triglycerides (a kind of blood fat) and hence blood sugar could be better controlled. For male participants, the decrease in these 2 factors was greater than the female participants.

Interestingly, there was in fact no additional benefit for men when it was related to diabetes risk. The rates of return to normal glucose tolerance levels and the development of diabetes did not differ very much for both sexes.

One possible reason for such phenomenon is perhaps men had more diabetes risk factors to begin with. Therefore, the researchers suggested carrying out further studies to discover whether and how various diabetes prevention tactics would affect men and women differently.

Don’t Overlook Pre-Diabetes Stage!

When one is diagnosed with Type-2 diabetes, it is often too late to reverse the condition. According to health experts, early detection and intervention in the pre-diabetes stage may help prevent or delay Type-2 diabetes.

So, what exactly is pre-diabetes stage? Pre-diabetes refers to a state when a person’s blood sugar is slightly higher but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Clinically, it is known as Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) or Impaired Fasting Glucose (IFG).

People with pre-diabetes not only have a higher chance of becoming Type-2 diabetes, but also have a higher risk of developing other medical complications such as heart disease and stroke.

A person having pre-diabetes stage is very likely to progress to diabetes, if nothing is done. However, this may be delayed or even prevented with correct lifestyle modification. In fact, studies have shown that up to a third of people with pre-diabetes may be able to bring their blood glucose levels back to normal over time. Weight loss, regular exercise and medication can correct a key defect in pre-diabetes (namely the hormone insulin, which is ineffective in controlling blood sugar). These three measures help body becomes more sensitive to the action of insulin so that insulin works better in controlling blood sugar, and sometimes, diabetes can be prevented in the pre-diabetes stage.

Unfortunately, pre-diabetes stage does not have significant signs and may just be undetected. The fastest and surest way to find out if one has pre-diabetes is to go for a blood test. IFG can be detected by an early morning blood sample after an overnight fast, while IGT can be detected using an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT). This involves taking a glucose drink and a second blood sample 2 hours after the first blood test. For people who are diagnosed with either IFG or IGT, the most important thing for them to do is to relook their lifestyles and modify accordingly. Some medications may also help.

Exercise Is Necessary Even If You Are Old!

Exercise seems to be a routine that you cannot afford to miss, whether you are a healthy person or a person with some kind of medical disorder. Especially when you land into the category of overweight or even obese, exercise is even more important as it will somehow assist you manage your body weight.

Recently, a study had found that a week of exercise significantly improved the function of insulin-making beta cells for a group of sedentary older people who are at risk of developing diabetes. The researchers from University of Michigan published their findings during March 2008 in Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. Although the study showed that short-term exercise boosts insulin sensitivity, how it might affect beta cell function remains a mystery.

Beta cell function is known to decline with age though the cause is not clear. Ageing may also make people less sensitive to the blood sugar-regulating effects of insulin and impaired insulin secretion may be developed.

There are 12 sedentary individuals aged 60 and above were examined in the study. They were asked to perform an hour-long workout every day for a week. Stints on a treadmill, exercise bike and cross-training machine were included in the exercise sessions. The participants were required to work out at 60 percent to 70 percent of their maximum allowable heart rate capacity.

At the end of one week, the sensitivity to insulin showed an increase of 53 percent, on average, and the beta cell function (called the disposition index) had raised by 28 percent for the study participants. Meanwhile, the researchers could not find any changes in the fat mass, levels of fat in the blood, or any other factors that might explain the effect of exercise on beta cells.

As such, the researchers indicates that longer-term exercise training studies are required and are in fact in progress currently to evaluate further exercise training effects on beta cell function in age-related glucose intolerance.

Diabetes is a condition, if not managed well, that might lead to other complications like kidney failure, blindness, and neuropathy. Meanwhile, a diabetic may have a higher risk of getting heart disease.

Exercise Can Help You Stay Healthy!

No matter how, you need to allocate certain amount of time to exercise! This is a piece of advice commonly recommended by or heard from doctors and health experts. However, how many of us will actually take such advice.

Ask yourself this question: when is your last exercise? Most of us will just quote excuses like ‘too busy’, ‘too tire’, and so on and so forth to skip exercise. We rather spend the spare time for watching television, playing computer games, or any other activities that require minimal or no physical movements at all.

A recent report published by the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm) on April 1, 2008 revealed that moderate, frequent exercise could reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, respiratory disease and depression.

In the report, the French researchers set a benchmark for adults, at least 30 minutes of modest exercise, such as fast walking, at least 5 times a week; or 20 minutes of harder exercise, such as jogging, 3 times a week. Young people should do twice that of the adults.

Furthermore, Inserm also recommended 'muscular strengthening' at least twice a week, and advised the elderly to do stretching and balance exercises.

Daily activities such as climbing up stairs with shopping bags or cleaning a bathroom can also be included in the exercise tally. However, Inserm cautioned that what the amount of exercise recommended would have only a minor effect on people who are obese.

When Does Heart Attack Occur Most?

People tend to eat and drink more during festive seasons like Christmas, New Year. It is, therefore, very common to see a surge in heart attack during such period.

In the United States, December and January are the deadliest months for heart attack when people consume rich food and extra alcohol, and at the same time, suffer seasonal stress. Nonetheless, the worst thing is that there would be a double dose of denial.

People may initially take chest pain as indigestion. Research shows that people who are possible candidates for heart attack are also more reluctant to rush to hospital when they feel that the holiday gathering is being disrupted or when they are in a city that they do not live in.

According to a study conducted in 2004, the seasoning swing in heart attack in the United States was noticed, with the peak in the number of deaths around the period of Christmas and New Year holidays.

Many factors can cause such phenomenon. For instance, people may just skip or forget to take their medications. Some people may put on weight especially when they skip exercising. As we know, digesting a particularly heavy and high-fat meal tends to pressure the heart, thus causing blood pressure and heart rate to increase. Heart will definitely have to pump harder.

For alcohol lovers, they may suffer 'holiday heart syndrome', which occurs when alcohol irritates the heart muscle, triggering an irregular heartbeat that can cause a stroke.

Furthermore, hospitals may be short of staffs during festive seasons, as most people would be taking their leaves as well. All this can cause a delay in treating a heart attack victim.

Heart Attack May Be Reduced With Arthritis Pill!

A generic drug, which has been used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, can significantly reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke for people with the painful joint condition. This is the findings reported by an international team of researchers in the journal Arthritis & Therapy on March 6, 2008. In the paper, the researchers also provide further evidence of the benefits of the generic drug, known as methotrexate, and emphasize the importance of prescribing it early on.

About 20 million people worldwide have rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune disease caused when the body confuses healthy tissue for foreign substances and attacks itself.

Several drugs are used to treat it: some reduce inflammation directly but others tone down immune system response. The later type of drugs may risk patients to infections and cancer.

Methotrexate was developed as a cancer drug. Its function is to alter the body’s use of folic acid, which is required for cell growth. It can start working as early as 3 to 6 weeks after commencement of treatment.

In order to examine the causes and effects of rheumatoid arthritis and the potential benefits of medications, the researchers from Spain, Argentina and the United States carried out a long-term study on more than 4,300 people in 15 countries. After adjusting for traditional risk factors such as exercise, smoking and diabetes, the researchers found potential health benefits for patients given methotrexate.

The study indicated that patients who used methotrexate for 1 year, their risk of heart attack was cut by 18 percent and that of stroke was cut by 11 percent. Moreover, results from the study also suggested that newer drugs that block an inflammatory protein called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) were also effective at reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke. Nevertheless, further research is necessary to gather more evidences.

Of course, methotrexate is not the only drug that can treat arthritis. There are other drugs with similar functions as methotrexate, for instance, Johnson & Johnson's Remicade, Amgen's Enbrel, and Abbott Laboratories's Humira. However, because they are expensive, patients often do not get them right away.

Think Before Going For Weight Loss Surgery!

A new research, published in the Archives of Surgery, had shown that people who have undergone so-called bariatric surgery for obesity have a higher death rate than other people of the same age. The cause of death is due to suicide and coronary heart disease, in particular.

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh studied the data for all Pennsylvania residents who underwent a bariatric operation such as stomach stapling or gastric bypass between 1995 and 2004. They then compared the number of death of these patients with that of those in the general population.

It was found that there were a total of 440 deaths after 16,683 weight loss procedures during the study period. Male gender and advancing age were both associated with the increased death rates.

For all age groups, the death rate was much higher in bariatric surgery patients than in the general population. But for patients between the age of 25 and 34, the difference was particularly pronounced. Their death rates for male and female patients were 13.8 and 5.0 per 1,000 persons per year, respectively. In comparison, the death rates in the general population were 1.3 and 0.6 per 1,000 persons per year.

Coronary heart disease was found to be the most common cause of death. 16 suicides were also found with 10 of them were women. Comparing with the data from the general population, researchers estimated that only 3 suicides deaths would have been expected in this number of people.

The researchers also suggested that a better control of high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and smoking, as well as efforts to prevent weight regain by diet and exercise, and psychological support to treat depression and prevent suicide could reduce the excess deaths after bariatric surgery.

How To Get People Exercising?

"You have to exercise in order to stay healthy!"

Have you ever been advised by friends, relatives or doctors? But frankly, how many of you will take this statement seriously and actually exercise regularly?

Now, there is a way to help you exercise on a regular basis!

A study of sedentary adults of age 55 and above revealed that telephone calls, whether from a person or a computer, may help motivate people to get some exercise. The study was published in the journal Health Psychology and was conducted by researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine in California.

218 healthy but sedentary adults were randomly assigned to one of 3 groups:

Group 1 - received periodic phone calls from a health counsellor to check on their exercise progress.

Group 2 - received similar calls from an automated phone system.
Group 3 - was a 'control' group that was offered weekly health education classes.

Participants in both group 1 and 2 first met with a health educator who helped them devise an exercise plan. They then received phone calls to monitor their progress and to assist them overcome any obstacles to stay active. The automated system used in group 2 was designed to be as 'human-friendly' as possible. Each study participant was called by name, and the system asked questions about exercise progress for participants to respond by phone keypad.

The initial aim of the study was to get people exercising for 150 minutes per week (or 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week). And what the researchers got after one year were:

- people in group 1 managed to exercise an average of 178 minutes per week.
- people in group 2 exercised an average of 157 minutes per week.

The results were very encouraging and suggested that automated phone systems might offer a more cost-efficient way to reach sedentary Americans than systems that rely on human callers. Organizations capable of running such phone-based programs include local colleges, health insurance companies, health clinics, American Heart Association, etc.

If people can have a good habit of exercising at least 150 minutes a week, together with adopting healthy diet, then it will definitely help in preventing heart disease and other related medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol level, etc.

Exercise May Reverse The Damage Caused By Heart Failure!

Not many people like to exercise. But whether you like it or not, it should be part of your lifestyle if you want to prevent heart disease, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, and many other diseases.

Two recent studies, presented on November 7, 2007 at a meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida, revealed that moderate exercise can help heart failure patients reverse some of the muscular damage (a hallmark of the condition).

According to the researchers of the University of Leipzig in Germany, regular exercise could promote the growth of new cells and blood vessels in muscles that may have become weak and shrunken as a result heart failure, a condition that cause the heart's inability to pump enough blood to the body's organs.

During the 6 months of trial, 50 men with an average age of 56 were divided into two groups: 25 men took part in the exercise experiment while 25 men who were taken as "control group" did no exercise. The group with daily exercise had their level of progenitor cells in the muscle tissue sharply raised but the levels of progenitor cells in the men from the "control group" stayed the same.

Progenitor cells make up a pool of immature cells found in skeletal muscle that can divide into various mature cells as needed for muscle repair. Heart failure patients normally have 50 percent fewer of these cells than healthy people.

The number of progenitor cells became almost normal with the help of exercise. The cells started to divide again and they began to differentiate into myocytes (muscle cells). This is exactly what the heart failure patient’s need - replacement of muscle cells.

The second study in men in their 60s with severe heart failure showed that exercise can also help with the damage to blood vessels that occur in patients with the condition. After 12 weeks of exercise training, the tissue samples and blood tests showed significantly higher levels of immature cells that were morphing into endolethial cells. The density of capillaries or tiny blood vessels also increased 17 percent over the course of the trial.

This shows that whether one has moderate or severe heart failure, exercise therapy will certainly help, and the benefits come from both the regeneration of muscle cells and the formation of blood vessels.

The researchers, however, do not sure whether physical activity can also induce similar changes in the heart muscle.