Category: Women's cardiac risk factors

– posts here focus on how to address your risk factors to help prevent heart disease

Heart disease: which countries have the highest and lowest rates?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 62 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

Prepare to scratch your head in confusion as we consider the subject of geography for a moment.

In the U.K., the Brits’ high daily consumption of saturated and trans fats – chief suspects among risk factors for heart disease – is actually topped by those living in Germany, Belgium and France. Yet these three salami-eating countries boast fewer heart disease deaths than the U.K., according to the British Heart Foundation.

Even more confusing are the people of France. Although the French smoke more, eat more fat, and consume only slightly more fruit and vegetables than the British do, the French have the lowest heart death rate in the European Union – only about one-quarter of the British rate. This is the notorious “French Paradox“, which epidemiologists have puzzled over for decades.

Although French hearts appear to be the healthiest and best preserved in Europe, they are certainly among the worst on the risk factors of diet and smoking.

The Spaniards, Finns, Italians, and Portuguese all eat less harmful fat and consume more fruit and vegetables than the French – yet die in greater numbers from heart disease.

How can this be?  Continue reading “Heart disease: which countries have the highest and lowest rates?” →

Four questions about heart disease you’ve always wanted to ask

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 4 Comments

Dr. Marvin Lipman and the editors of Consumer Reports on Health have come out with a useful little book called The Best of Health: 275 Questions You’ve Always Wanted To Ask Your Doctor.

Let’s take a look at their Q&A page about cardiovascular disorders.

Q:  Are my heart palpitations a sign of heart disease?

 A:  “Palpitations” is a non-medical term for any heart rhythm that feels abnormal. This can include extra beats, dropped beats, forceful beats, rapid beats, or irregular beats.  For proper diagnosis, the abnormality must first be captured on an EKG test or on a 24-hour heartbeat recording called a Holter monitor. Heart palpitations can be caused by:

  • emotional stress
  • an overactive thyroid
  • certain medications
  • diseases of the coronary arteries, heart muscle, or heart valves

Sometimes there is no detectable cause. First, try eliminating a few things on your own: caffeine (coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, soda), nasal decongestants, appetite suppressants – and see if that makes a difference.  Continue reading “Four questions about heart disease you’ve always wanted to ask” →

Your daily planner for heart health

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 3 Comments

 

I loved Megan Griffith-Greene’s ‘dawn to dusk’ daily planner piece in Chatelaine recently listing small ways during your average day that you can improve your heart health – many of which I’ve already written about here. Hour by hour, Megan shows you how these small ways can all add up:

7 a.m. – BRUSH YOUR TEETH: Good oral hygiene is not only good for your social health – gum disease increases your chances of heart disease. Researchers think that when bacteria run amok in your mouth, they can travel through the body and cause inflammation elsewhere too.  See also:  Flossing, Brushing and Heart Disease

8 a.m. – EAT YOUR BREAKFAST:  Start the day off properly with some fibre-rich oatmeal topped with antioxidant-packed blueberries, both of which are associated with heart health.  See also:  Why A Good Breakfast is Good For Your Brain – And Your Heart

9 a.m. – POP A PILL:  Take a capsule of fish oil for its heart-smart omega-3s, but skip the daily low-dose Aspirin unless you are over age 65.  It’s not advised for healthy premenopausal women and can increase your risk of internal bleeding. See also:  Should Women Take A Daily Low-Dose Aspirin to Prevent Heart Attack?   Check out the rest of the day’s heart-smart activities!

How eating simple carbs raises heart risks for women – but not for men

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 5 Comments

Do you love a flaky croissant along with your morning coffee? A diet that’s rich in simple carbohydrates like that croissant (quickly transformed into sugar in your bloodstream) raises the risk of heart disease for women, a new Italian study has found.

The same effect, however, is not seen in men, according to the report, published April 12, 2010 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The study, by researchers at Italy’s National Cancer Institute, looked not only at total carbohydrate intake but also at what is known as the glycemic index of those carbohydrates — a measure of how quickly and to what extent blood sugar rises after intake of specific carbohydrates.

Dr. Victoria Drake, director of the Micronutrient Information Center at the Linus Pauling Institute of Oregon State University explains:

“A high glycemic index is known to increase the concentration of triglycerides in the blood and lower the concentration of HDL (good) cholesterol. Those adverse effects make it a stronger risk factor for heart disease.”

Surprisingly, no effect from total carbohydrate consumption or consumption of foods with a high-glycemic index was seen in men in the Italian study, a pattern also seen in other studies, Dr. Drake added.  “There is definitely a gender difference.”  Continue reading “How eating simple carbs raises heart risks for women – but not for men” →