Tag Archives: LDL

In Singapore Heart Disease Is Like Other Common Ailments

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Coronary heart disease or atherosclerosis is a state in which the blood vessels responsible for supplying oxygen to the heart muscle, are blocked by gathering of plague. In the early stage of this disease, there is probably no symptom. That time the doctor, too, may be unable to detect it. But after duration of some years the disease may be fatal several times more and that can even cause sudden death due to the inability of the arteries to get blood enough to the muscle of the heart to maintain its functionality. Coronary heart disease is mentioned among the top most causes of death for women and men.

No sole cause is responsible for cardiovascular ailments. However, researchers and doctors have found out some particular risk factors that can enhance the risk of this type of diseases. Some of the vital risk factors include high cholesterol, family history, smoking, obesity, and high blood pressure. Though you can’t alter your family history, you can reduce your risk of coronary heart disease by restraining some of the few other risk factors.

There are seven key steps to reduce the risk of various heart diseases. They are as follows-

Doing physical exercise regularly
Lowering the total cholesterol level of the body
Quitting smoking
Taking a low-dose aspirin every day
Reducing dietary consumption of animal fats
Increasing the dietary consumption of whole grains and fresh fruits
Visiting doctor for a test of cholesterol and angiogram

Besides, some doctors think now that drinking moderated alcohol may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. The doctors now identify two distinct cholesterols good cholesterol or HDL and bad cholesterol or LDL. Analyzing the report of the blood cholesterol test, the doctor may suggest that one should increase the HDL cholesterol level and decrease the LDL cholesterol level.

How can we detect the coronary artery disease? The coronary artery disease treatment entails various medical procedures. A good way to measure and diagnose the depth of coronary artery disease is the use of coronary angiography. It is exercised when a doctor suspects a person of having such a disease.

When the damage is caused, the body will initiate a healing process. The healing process leads the deposition of plagues at a place where the arteries are damaged. We should keep it in mind that building up of plague in the coronary arteries may begin in childhood. This plague can completely block or narrow few of the coronary arteries overtime. Finally, this condition reduces the supply of oxygen-rich blood to the muscles of the heart.

Prevention is better than cure. So, knowing the reasons of coronary heart disease is very essential. There is no substitute to early detection. Following the advice of the doctor is the best practice that we should obey to avoid few of the conditions of heart attack. Dr Lim of Singapore is a renowned heart specialist. She has a unique heart care clinic dedicated to the service of heart patients.

How Does Nutrition Affect Heart Disease

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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.

Benefits Of Eating Garlic

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Recent findings on the power of garlic to fight cancer and cardiovascular disease, as well as its anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties, give garlic the bona fide characteristics to elevate it to Superfood status.

Throughout the history of civilization, the medicinal properties of garlic have been prized, and it’s been used to treat an array of ailments, including atherosclerosis, stroke, cancer, immune disorders, cerebral aging, arthritis, and cataract formation.
Garlic’s power as a heath promoter comes from its rich variety of sulfur containing compounds. Of the nearly one hundred nutrients in garlic, the most important in terms of health benefits seems to be the sulfur compound allicin-an amino acid. Allicin is not present in fresh garlic. It’s formed instantly when cloves are crushed, chewed, or cut. Allicin seems to be responsible for the super-biological activity of garlic as well as its odor.

In addition to allicin, a single clove of garlic offers a slew of compounds with potential health benefits, including saponins, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, selenium, polyphenols, and arginine. In addition to these compounds, garlic is a good source of vitamin B6 and also of vitamin C. As with most whole foods, garlic’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory abilities are probably due to the sum of the whole rather than a single agent.
A number of studies have shown that garlic has an important impact on risk factors for cardiovascular disease. It has been demonstrated that those who make garlic a regular part of their diets enjoy lowered blood pressure and decreased platelet aggregation, as well as decreased triglycerides and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. Garlic also may increase HDL (“good”) cholesterol. Consuming one half to one clove of garlic daily lowers LDL cholesterol levels by approximately 10 percent, partially by decreasing cholesterol absorption.

Garlic extracts have also been shown to decrease blood pressure. In one study, a 5.5 percent decrease in systolic blood pressure and a slight decrease in diastolic pressure were noticed. While these are modest decreases, they could still lead to a significant lessening of the risk for stroke and heart attack. The end result of all of these benefits is a lowered risk of atherosclerosis and heart disease as well as a reduced risk of heart attack and stroke. Garlic oil has been shown to decrease total and LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels as well.

Garlic’s primary positive effect on cardiovascular disease comes from its sulphur compounds, but the effects of vitamin C, B6, selenium, and manganese can’t be ignored. Garlic’s vitamin C-the body’s primary antioxidant defender-protects LDL cholesterol from oxidation. It’s the oxidation of LDL cholesterol that begins the process that damages blood vessel walls. Vitamin B lowers levels of homocysteine, a substance that can directly damage blood vessel walls. The selenium in garlic fights heart disease, while it also works to protect against cancer and heavy metal toxicity. Manganese works on a variety of antioxidant defences, and studies have found that adults deficient in manganese have lower levels of the “good,” or HDL, cholesterol.

A number of studies have reported on garlic’s ability to fight cancer, although further research is needed to clarify the precise role of garlic in this battle. Several population studies have shown a link between garlic in the diet and a decrease in the risk for colorectal and gastric cancer, and one clove of garlic daily may decrease the risk of developing prostate cancer. Recent reviews of more than thirty-five studies report some protective effect against cancer in about 75 percent of the published articles.

Two recent studies have shown that garlic can be a potent antibiotic. Particularly impressive was that garlic was effective against strains of pathogens that have become resistant to many drugs. One study demonstrated that garlic juice showed significant antibacterial activity against a host of pathogens, even including antibiotic-resistant strains such as ciprofloxacin-resistant staphylococci.

The second study, conducted on mice, found that garlic was able to inhibit a type of staph infection that’s become increasingly resistant to antibiotics and increasingly common in hospitals. This type of staph infection has become a potential danger for health care workers, as well as for people with weakened immune systems. Sixteen hours after the mice were infected with the pathogen, garlic extract was fed to them. After twenty-four hours, garlic was found to have provided protection against the pathogen and to have significantly decreased the infection.

Natural Heart Disease Risk Reduction, Weight Loss

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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,.

Almonds and Cholesterol – Are Almonds a Heart-Healthy Snack

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Almonds and Cholesterol: Are Almonds Really a Heart-Healthy Snack?

It seems that many people are experiencing confusion over almonds and if they should or shouldn’t be included as part of a heart healthy diet. On one hand, almonds are reported to lower bad LDL cholesterol. On the other hand, almonds are a calorie-dense food that’s also high in fat.

Numerous studies, including one by the British Journal of Medicine, has shown convincing evidence that regular almond consumption helps lower bad LDL cholesterol. And not just any LDL, but it’s been shown to reduce the small dense LDL particles that do the most damage to your arterial walls and puts you at a much higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

So what about the question of almonds being high in fat? Over 60% of the fat content in almonds is monounsaturated fats. (This is the same type of fat that is found in olive oil.) Monounsaturated fat is widely accepted to be a key ingredient to reducing the risk of heart disease and part of a heart-healthy diet.

But the health benefits of almonds doesn’t stop with having healthy natural fat and it’s ability to lower low-density lipoproteins. Almonds pack an antioxidant punch with it’s high levels of Vitamin E. And with over 60 mg of magnesium in a quarter-cup of almonds, that’s just more good news for your heart. You see, magnesium has been shown to help improve blood flow and make things ‘easy’ on your veins and arteries. (Translation: Less stress and work for your heart.)

Concerned about adding too many calories if you start eating almonds? Truth is, almonds have been shown to be beneficial at helping aid weight loss. But if you are just a little too ‘scared’ to add more calories, do this…

Substitute almonds for other foods vs. adding almonds to your existing diet. In fact, it’s been estimated by some researchers based on date from a Nurses Health Study that replacing carbohydrates with healthy nuts like almonds may low the risk of heart disease by as much as 30%. The risk may be lowered as much as 45% if you substitute nuts with saturated fats like those founds in meat and dairy.

Looking for some ways to add almonds to your diet? Try these…

– Add almonds to your salad instead of meat or croutons
– Add to your morning cereals (hot or cold)
– Add to yogurt for a tasty crunch
– Add sliced almonds to vegetable dish (great with green beans)
– Eat with a sandwich as a crunchy substitute for chips
– Two words: Almond butter!

And not surprising, eating almond as a “whole food” is optimal for maximum health benefits. The antioxidant punch mentioned previously is more than doubled when the skins are combined with the meat of the almond, compared to either one separately.