Tag Archives: hearthealth

More Health Benefits of Tea

April 21st is designated National Tea Day in the UK, and in recognition of this our posts today will address some of the possible health benefits of tea.

Tea is derived from the leaves and buds of the evergreen shrub Camellia sinensis. It is the most widely consumed drink in the world, other than water.

Chinese researchers recently published results of a meta-analysis of several prospective cohort studies, examining the relationship between tea consumption and mortality of all cancers, as well as tea consumption and cardiovascular disease.

The researchers identified 62 published articles, and then narrowed this down to 18 studies. These studies involved thousands of subjects, with a follow-up period ranging from 3 to 28 years. The studies encompassed both black and green tea.

A dose-response analysis was performed which showed that a one cup unit of green tea per day was associated with a 5% lower risk of cardiovascular disease, while a one cup per day increment of black tea was associated with a 8% lower risk of cardiovascular mortality.

The inverse association between green tea consumption and cardiovascular mortality was more apparent in women than men. The reason for this is not clear.

In looking at tea consumption and all-cause mortality the dose-response analysis showed that a one cup per day increment of black tea was associated with a 3% lower risk of all-cause mortality, whereas a one cup per day unit of green tea consumption was associated with a 4% lower risk of all-cause mortality.

Given these possible health benefits of both black and green tea, let’s have a cup in honor of National Tea Day!

 

(Source- British Journal of Nutrition, 2015, 114)

This blog is a review of medical and scientific literature, and should only be used for informational purposes. It does not constitute medical or health advice, nor does it create a physician-patient relationship with anyone. Discuss any health concerns with your personal physician.

Black Cumin Helps With Symptoms of Metabolic Syndrome

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Today’s post is about metabolic syndrome and lipids, another in our series of blogs for Cholesterol Education Month.

Black cumin (Nigella Sativa) is an annual flowering plant found in southern Europe, southwest Asia and north Africa. The black cumin seeds have long been used as a spice in both Indian and Middle Eastern cuisines. Written references to black cumin appear in ancient texts, and the Book of Isaiah (28: 25,27) references cumin seeds. Modern research has focused on the pharmacologic properties of black cumin.

A group of researchers in Pakistan recently performed an interesting study in which they looked at black cumin to treat the symptoms of metabolic syndrome (also known as insulin resistance). There are five metabolic risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome, these include large waistline, high triglyceride level, low HDL (“good cholesterol”), high blood pressure, and high fasting blood sugar. Having at least three of these five symptoms is considered to be a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome. Recent data estimates from 2011-2012 show that 35% of all U.S. adults and 50% of those 60 years and older meet the criteria of metabolic syndrome. As metabolic syndrome is very often a precursor to diabetes this is a national health issue of first order.

The researchers enrolled 159 subjects into the study, of which there was a black cumin supplemented group, and a non-supplemented group. All subjects were recently diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, and the study included both men and women, ages 25-65 years.  All subjects were on a standard treatment regimen for metabolic syndrome, including pharmaceutical medicines such as atenolol, clopidogrel, enalapril, metformin, and simvastatin. In addition the black cumin group took Nigella seeds in a capsule form 250 mg twice daily. The study ran for six weeks.

Several clinical parameters of metabolic syndrome were measured, both at the start of the study and then again at conclusion. These included body mass index (BMI), circumference of the abdomen and hip, body weight, waist-hip ratio, blood pressure, blood glucose, total cholesterol, LDL (“bad cholesterol”), triglycerides, and HDL.

At the conclusion of the six-week trial the clinical parameters were again measured. There were improvements in all parameters, both in the standard treatment group as well as in the black cumin supplemented group, as one would expect. In addition, in the black cumin seed group, there was a statistically significant improvement in fasting blood sugar, LDL and HDL, over the standard treatment (non black cumin seed supplemented) group. To see a statistically significant improvement in just six weeks is profound.

Metabolic syndrome is a serious health issue, not only in the U.S., but world-wide. Proper diet and exercise are a mainstay of treatment, as well as medications. Part of the solution may well be use of ancient or traditional foods, such as black cumin.

(Source- African Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. 11948), June 2012).

This blog is a review of medical and scientific literature, and should only be used for informational purposes. It does not constitute medical or health advice, nor does it create a physician-patient relationship with anyone. Discuss any health concerns with your personal physician.

Pantothenic Acid Helps Lower Cholesterol

vitaminB

September is designated as Cholesterol Education Month. Several of our blogs this month will address issues related to cholesterol.

Pantothenic acid, also known as vitamin B5, is an essential nutrient and water-soluble vitamin. Pantothenic acid is found in many foods, including meats, nuts, whole grains and vegetables such as avocados and broccoli. Pantothenic acid is converted in the body into a related compound called pantethine, which is more biologically active.

A recent study by a multi-national research team looked at using pantethine in a group of subjects who were considered low to moderate risk for cardiovascular disease. This group would ordinarily be considered candidates for statin medications to lower their cholesterol.

This was a randomized placebo controlled trial. Both the placebo group and the pantethine treatment group started the study with four weeks of dietary therapies. After four weeks, patients were placed at random into either a placebo group or a pantethine treated group. Labs were checked at the start of the study, then at weeks 2, 4, 8, 12, and finally at week 16, at which time the study was concluded.

Participants in the pantethine group received 600 mg/day from week 1 through week 8, and then 900 mg/day from week 9 to week 16. Subjects received the pantethine in the form of a pharmaceutical grade proprietary product.

At conclusion, the participants who received pantethine had a 6% decrease in total cholesterol and a 11% drop in LDL, compared to baseline levels. In addition, hs-crp an inflammatory marker dropped over the 16 week study period. In general, there were few significant side effects with the pantethine therapy.

This study demonstrates that the commonly available substance pantethine present in a variety of food sources or as by supplement such as used in this study was helpful in lowering cholesterol and appears to be well tolerated.

(Source- Vascular Health and Risk Management 2014:10)

This blog is a review of medical and scientific literature, and should only be used for informational purposes. It does not constitute medical or health advice, nor does it create a physician-patient relationship with anyone. Discuss any health concerns with your personal physician.

Swimming Improves Cholesterol in Women

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As we say goodbye to the swimming events for the Rio Olympics we will have one more post on the benefits of swimming.

A group of researchers from Pusan National University in South Korea designed a study to examine the effect of swimming on physical strength as well as lipid profile. Participants were women, ages 40-60, who were either in a swimming group or a control group of non-swimmers.

The swimming group swam for sixty minutes, three times/week, for a total of 12 weeks. Physical composition, strength and blood lipid measurements were taken upon entry to the study as well as at the conclusion at 12 weeks.

At the end of the 12 week study the swimming group showed improvements in total cholesterol, HDL, and triglycerides. On the other hand, the control group (non-swimmers) showed no significant change.

This small study shows the possible benefits of a simple intervention, in this case swimming three times per week, may have upon lipids parameters. It would be interesting to see if these same results would be found in a group of men.

(Source- Journal of Exercise Rehabilitation 2015; 11(5); 266-271)

This blog is a review of medical and scientific literature, and should only be used for informational purposes. It does not constitute medical or health advice, nor does it create a physician-patient relationship with anyone. Discuss any health concerns with your personal physician.

Five Things Men Can Do To Help Prevent Heart Attacks

MHW_15

“The problem with heart disease is that the first symptom is often fatal.” 

Michael Phelps

June is Men’s Health Month, and this month I will write several articles about topics related to men’s health. In this post we will discuss five simple things men can do to help prevent a heart attack in the future.

A research group from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm Sweden enrolled nearly 21,000 men in a study which began in 1997 and ended in 2009. The men were of ages 45-79. In general this was a healthy group of men, with no history of cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol.

The researchers looked at five different factors felt to be important in preventing heart attacks- diet, alcohol intake, use of tobacco, exercise level, and waist size. The men were assessed for these five elements by the use of a food frequency questionnaire and a physical activity questionnaire.

Researchers discovered that by following the five healthy diet and lifestyle habits-  quality diet (more fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and fish), moderate alcohol consumption (3 or less drinks per day), no tobacco, exercise (walked/cycled 40 minutes/day with more formal exercise of one hour/week), and with waist size 37 inches or less could prevent 79% of the heart attacks in the study group. This is a profound drop in heart attack risk.

The total reduction in heart attack risk consisted of a 36% reduction in risk for not smoking, 18% reduction for a healthy diet, 12% reduction for a lower waist size, 11% reduction for moderate alcohol intake, and 3% reduction for being physically active.

The 79% risk reduction in heart attacks is substantial, particularly since the participants in the study were considered “healthy” (no cardiovascular disease) at time of enrollment in the study. These five elements of risk reduction would seem to be low impact, with few side effects. If you are a middle age male how many of these elements could you easily incorporate into your lifestyle, to help lower your risk of heart attack in the future?

(Source- Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Vol. 64, No. 13, 2014)

This blog is a review of medical and scientific literature, and should only be used for informational purposes. It does not constitute medical or health advice, nor does in create a physician-patient relationship with anyone. Discuss any health concerns with your personal physician.