The Mysterious Syndrome X

Metabolic Syndrome and What You Need to Know About It

If the title of this week’s blog post sounds like a cheesy ‘50s horror movie along the lines of Plan 9 from Outer Space, or even the appropriately-named  X the Unknown,that’s a good thing.  Because like any effective horror movie, Syndrome X, now known by most as metabolic syndrome, should scare you and a lot of my patients.  Because metabolic syndrome is a monster that is running amok in America, killing millions with heart attacks and rendering some into “zombies” with severe strokes.

Sometimes rather than focusing on one lab measurement or one troublesome symptom, we need to look at a constellation of such phenomena, because it is the characteristic patterns of such combinations that may often reveal the most valuable health information. Metabolic syndrome provides a powerful example, as it is defined by a combination of symptoms and measurable indices:

What is Metabolic Syndrome?

Metabolic syndrome is generally defined as a combination of four simultaneously-occurring medical conditions known colloquially as The Deadly Quartet:

• Central (abdominal) obesity
• High blood pressure
• Dyslipidemia
• Insulin resistance

While there is not always a one-to-one correspondence, the presence of any one of these conditions will often reveal  the presence of one or more of the others – either now or in the future.

What is Dyslipidemia?

Dyslipidemia is a term that means your body’s various lipids are dangerously out of balance. There is a delicate interplay between triglycerides, total cholesterol, and the lipoproteins HDL and LDL. That’s why a patient who has a normal total cholesterol level – or a high HDL (often called “the good cholesterol”) – doesn’t automatically get a clean bill of health: it’s only part of the story.

Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 Diabetes:

People with metabolic syndrome have a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, which carries with it a drastically increased risk of coronary artery disease, heart attack and stroke. The exact mechanisms aren’t known with certainty, but insulin resistance is the main culprit. You may be pre-diabetic, which means your blood sugar levels are normal, but you are in danger of developing type 2 diabetes soon because you have borderline insulin resistance; or at the very least, your blood sugar is not being optimally processed, i.e., you do not have good glycemic control. If this describes your situation, you should have us monitor your Hemoglobin A1C level.

Testing your A1C lets you know:

1)      If you are pre-diabetic, what your relative risk level is, and a way to monitor whether diet and lifestyle interventions are having a positive impact on your glycemic control.

2)      If you have type 2 diabetes, the effectiveness of your antidiabetic drug therapy.

Insulin resistance makes obesity more likely. Obesity is associated with high blood pressure and dyslipidemia. Which causes which? It’s hard to know, but they are definitely intimately related. And as anyone living with diabetes can tell you, proper glycemic control is vital to combat an insulin-resistant condition; type 2 diabetics also are much more likely to be overweight and have high blood pressure. Excess glucose not “mopped up” by circulating insulin is thought to create a chronic inflammatory condition. And chronic inflammation, combined with dyslipidemia, is an important driving force in the development of atherosclerosis, which in combination with high blood pressure, leads to cardiovascular incidents, e.g. heart attack and stroke.

What Can I Do To Prevent Metabolic Syndrome

The best ways to prevent metabolic syndrome may seem the most obvious, namely reversing the conditions that make up the problem:

1)      Losing weight around the abdomen

2)      Lowering your blood pressure

3)      Reversing your dyslipidemia

4)      Reversing insulin resistance

If you do item 1) through a sensible diet and exercise plan, then 2-4 will follow. However, sometimes I may prescribe medications to work on the other three, such as antihypertensives to lower blood pressure, statins or other medications to lower cholesterol and triglycerides, and metformin to reduce blood sugar. For mild cases, diet and exercise alone may be enough. For more moderate cases, certain natural supplements may suffice instead of, or as a helpful adjunct to, prescription medications.

What If I Already Have Metabolic Syndrome?

The good news is that metabolic syndrome is reversible! And all the things listed above that can prevent metabolic syndrome can also be used to treat it.  Cases of type 2 diabetes have been completely cured by diet and exercise alone. Even weight-loss surgery (bariatric surgery) that removes a large amount of central abdominal fat has been shown to reverse metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. I think that’s pretty amazing!

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IV Vitamin C Therapy in Cancer Patients

One of the IV vitamin therapy treatments we offer at the IV Therapy Center of Beverly Hills is intravenous high-dose Vitamin C therapy.  There are manydiseases and conditions for which we have found this treatment to be at least somewhat helpful, and this is backed up by numerous reports in the medical literature.  Our patients have found that IV Vitamin C therapy: 
·         Reduces  allergy symptoms 
·         Shortens the duration of colds and flu (Vitamin C has a known virucidal effect) 
·         Helps boost energy in cases of fatigue; and 
·         Speeds healing after surgery.  

Studies suggest that patients with a history of gout who take over 1,500 mg. a day of Vitamin C have a much lower incidence of painful acute gout attacks. Depression sufferers benefit from it because your body requires Vitamin C to make the key neurotransmitters norepinephrine and serotonin.  And the list goes on. 

The Big C: The Cancer and Vitamin C Connection 
As an IV therapy clinic offering intravenous high-dose Vitamin C, we at the IV Therapy Center of Beverly Hills are occasionally approached by patients with cancer who are seeking to use IV Vitamin C as a so-called “alternative therapy,” even though we do not promote it for this purpose.  Because of the frequent inquiries we receive on this topic, we thought we should give you some background on it, state our positions based on some of the more recent research, and let you make up your mind.

 Background and Initial Skepticism
 Two-time Nobel laureate Dr. Linus Pauling became a crusader for high-dose vitamin C therapy in the ‘70s, touting it as a cure for cancer and many other ailments.  Despite his impeccable credentials, there was - and still is - widespread resistance to the idea. His detractors said there just weren’t any reproducible studies that could prove the dramatic results Pauling claimed. Interest in Vitamin C as a cancer treatment soon waned, and the field lay dormant for over 20 years.

What many people today don’t realize is that Pauling’s initial studies used orally administered Vitamin C; upper dose levels were limited by the fact that the majority of Vitamin C, as a water-soluble vitamin, was excreted in the urine. IV administration combats this problem in that it allows megadoses of active vitamin to be delivered throughout the bloodstream, therefore bringing it into contact with cancer cells all over the body (please see our Benefits page on our site, which discusses this).

A Fresh Look at IV Vitamin C and its Effects on Cancer 
A more recent crop of studies has generated positive results that have researchers cautiously optimistic. In 2006, there was this report of three caseshttp://www.cmaj.ca/content/174/7/937.abstract; 

Then in 2008, we saw this press release from the National Institutes of Health:

Vitamin C Injections Slow Tumor Growth in MiceHigh-dose injections of vitamin C, also known as ascorbate or ascorbic acid, reduced tumor weight and growth rate by about 50 percent in mouse models of brain, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers, researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) report in the August 5, 2008, issue of theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers traced ascorbate’s anti-cancer effect to the formation of hydrogen peroxide in the extracellular fluid surrounding the tumors. Normal cells were unaffected.

How Does Vitamin C Interact with Chemo? 
Some oncologists have worried that Vitamin C might interfere with – or actually undermine – most standard chemotherapy treatments.  If Vitamin C is a safe, relatively harmless compound, why would they even think this? The answer lies in the way chemotherapy works: by destroying fast-multiplying cancer cells. In order to kill cells, cancer or otherwise, you have to give medications that stop cell growth. Stopping cell growth means either stopping DNA from reproducing by fooling it with a DNA base that is essentially a Trojan horse, or by stopping other normal parts of mitosis (the cell-dividing cycle).  Compounds that do this are highly toxic by necessity. When they kill cancer cells, it’s all good. When they kill normal cells (which most chemo drugs can’t discern as being different from cancer cells), patients lose their hair, develop mouth sores, throw up, and suffer a host of unpleasant side effects. 

 Many chemo drugs are oxidants and produce free radicals known as ROS (reactive oxygen species). You already are familiar with certain types of ROS, such as hydrogen peroxide, which perform important functions in the body.  Inside a maniacally reproducing cancer cell, the microenvironment is one in which antioxidants predominate and there’s nary a free radical to be found.  So for cancer patients, antioxidant foods and antioxidant vitamins are a bad thing; here, they only serve to embolden the already-overconfident cancer cells, and – as Nobel prize-winner Jim Watson has argued, to aid and abet the awful process of metastasis.  But Vitamin C is not just an antioxidant; it can be a pro-oxidant too.

The Two Faces of C 
Antioxidant and pro-oxidant properties in the same molecule? Yes, it appears that this strange duality is what exists in Vitamin C. At low doses (under 500 mg), Vitamin C is the antioxidant we’re all familiar with, but at high-doses, under certain physiologic conditions such as cancer being treated with ROD-generating chemo drugs, Vitamin C is an oxidant that is thought to work by generating hydrogen peroxide intracellularly;  this helps the cancer cell-killing process. 

So Where Does This Leave Patients? 
Intravenous high-dose Vitamin C is NOT a cancer treatment in and of itself, nor do we claim it to be such. It should only be used as an adjunct to chemotherapy, radiation and other approved cancer treatment modalities. If you are cleared medically and your oncologist approves, we may administer it as adjunctive therapy to see if it can help improve treatment outcomes. Treatment must be carefully coordinated with your existing regimen.

Intravenous Vitamin C as Supportive Therapy
In addition to the uses described above, high-dose vitamin C has been shown to help reduce the problem of cachexia (wasting syndrome) in cancer patients. So in patients suffering from this troublesome loss of body mass and muscle, IV Vitamin C may be a viable option as nutritional support.

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Why you should enjoy an Avocado more often.

For many years humans have recognized the benefits of the divine avocado fruit. You may know this but you don't know what it is that is in the fruit that provides these great effects. Medically there are four things that can be said and explained about the avocado;

Lutein

Avocados provide your body with lutein, necessary to protect your eyes from age-related eye degeneration.

Lutein Molecule... seriously.

Oleic Acid

Oleic acid improves cardiovascular health as a whole. In addition to Vitamin B6 and folic acid it controls homocysteine levels which are linked to increased risk of heart disease.

Oleic Acid Molecule

High Fiber

Avocados contain more natural fiber than any other fruit. High fiber aids in digestion and helps regulate blood sugar levels.

Foods high in dietary fiber

Antioxidants

Avocados contain the antioxidant “Glutathione”. Glutathione boosts your body’s immune system and keeps your nervous system healthy.

Depiction of foods high in antioxidants

The Mayan Indians have a saying: “Where avocados grow, hunger or malnutrition has no friends.”

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Oh, Brother! How Siblings with history of Heart Attack Increases YOUR RISK.

Having Older Siblings Who Died of a Heart Attack Raises Your  Heart Attack Risk.

Genetic similarity between you and your sibling (which could include genetic predisposition to heart disease)If you are a middle child or the baby of the family, you probably know that there are all kinds of studies that aim to correlate your birth order with your physical and emotional health. Well here's another one, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association by researchers from Sweden. Their conclusion: if you had older siblings who died of a heart attack, you are much more likely to suffer a heart attack as well. Possible reasons for this include:

• Growing up in the same household; shared environmental factors may also contribute to shared risk
• Stress  

Stress of Sibling's Death is Key

The researchers suggest it is the stress itself that comes with losing a close family member that may cause you to have a heart attack.

In the short term, the immediate psychological shock of the sibling's death may manifest physically. This is known as broken heart syndrome, a temporary weakening of the heart caused by stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline released right after the stress event (the death of the sibling). However, the data from this study suggest that the majority of the negative effect on the surviving sibling's mortality is in the longer term, around 2-3 years after the sibling's death (see figure below), meaning something else besides broken heart syndrome is responsible.

Relative Risk of Heart Attack Death (vertical)
VS.
 Time after Sibling's Death (horizontal)

   

The study's authors suggest that after a sibling dies, emotional stress may result in increased inflammation, which we know is linked to atherosclerosis and heart attacks. Also, people may be less likely to take care of their health when they are upset and depressed, so they forget to take medications and fall back on poor lifestyle choices.

How Can Preventive Cardiology Help?

If you have lost an older brother or sister to a heart attack, you need to protect yourself so the chances of you having a heart attack are reduced. At our office, we help you by providing the most advanced diagnostic techniques available, such as 64-slice Cardiac CT, carotid IMT imaging, as well as the latest ultra-sophisticated lab tests, including genetic testing and lipoprotein particle analysis so you can be aware of your cardiovascular disease risks 

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Improved Heart CT enables for detection of level of danger of different plaques

Histology of the same vessel shows necrotic/lipid core.

The advent of high-resolution cardiac CT scanning has revolutionized diagnostic and interventional cardiology.  64-Slice CT machines have now given way to 256- and even 320-slice CT scanners.

In patients with coronary artery disease, a key question is which plaques are most dangerous. That is, which are most likely to rupture and cause a clot in the lungs (pulmonary embolism), the brain (stroke), or lodge in the major coronary arteries and cause a heart attack. Now the way these arteriosclerotic lesions appear on cardiac CT gives us a clue.

The Napkin-Ring Sign

It turns out that blood vessels with plaques that resemble a napkin ring on CT are the most dangerous.

These plaques have a non-calcified, lipid-rich or necrotic core. How was this determined? If you guessed it was by correlating the radiographic appearance with photographs of actual cross-sections of the corresponding lesions themselves, give yourself a pat on the back.  Good job!

Hopefully clinicians will now be able to zero in on plaques that show the telltale napkin-ring sign to identify the most dangerous plaques early and determine the best course of treatment.

The napkin-ring sign at 64-detector-row CT.

Images courtesy of Dr. Harald Seifarth.

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A Spouse with a “Big Heart” can mean “Big Problems”

"She's got the biggest heart." Or "a heart as big as all outdoors." 

These very common expressions would lead you to believe that having a big heart is a good thing. Unfortunately, in medicine, a big heart, known as cardiomegaly, may mean big trouble. However, as with many things I see in my practice, knowing your own personal risk is an important first step toward protecting your heart from further problems in the future. You may be born with an enlarged heart or you may develop one as I'll explain:

Enlarged Heart - Congenital

We've all seen the tragic news stories about the young high school or college basketball player who seems in perfect shape, yet drops dead of a heart attack on the basketball court. Often these kids are born with the tendency toward an abnormally thick heart muscle, a problem called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Because people with this condition frequently show no symptoms –they tend to be athletic and healthy-appearing– many of them don't even know they have a heart problem. Strenuous competitive sports stress the enlarged heart, triggering sudden cardiac death.

Enlarged Heart - Acquired

Even if you're born with a normal heart muscle, certain risk factors - including heavy drinking, infection, poorly-controlled high blood pressure, arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms), and heart valve disorders - can damage the heart muscle over time, dilating it and stretching it out so it becomes thinner. In dilated cardiomyopathy, one chamber of the heart (usually beginning in the left ventricle) becomes enlarged. When this happens, your heart becomes an inefficient pump, and if left untreated, congestive heart failure is the end result. Shortness of breath, fluid buildup (water retention) around the ankles, and severe fatigue are symptoms you need to watch out for. If you ever feel any of these, make sure to call us at the office right away!

Preventive and Corrective Strategies

Whether you are just beginning to show signs of cardiomegaly - or even if you have developed significant enlargement of the heart, there are several things we can recommend to slow down and possibly even reverse the disease process:

• Cut down on alcohol
• Reduce salt intake
• Monitor blood pressure
• Test for and treat any obstructive sleep apnea
• Custom-tailor a medication approach if needed

I also may suggest you try my line of nutritional supplements. These are formulations I personally developed to help reverse-remodel the heart muscle, such as Carnitine Synergy, D-Ribose, and CoQ10-SL. For more information, please contact us online or call our office at (310) 550-8000.

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Difference between "GOOD" and "BAD" Cholesterol; Why Cholesterol only tells us part of the story.

Whether you come to me or another Los Angeles cardiologist, you will usually have a series of blood tests to diagnose existing cardiac problems or predict cardiovascular disease risk. We have been told for the past 50+ years that cholesterol is the enemy and that we should avoid it in food wherever possible. But our bodies produce cholesterol from various glycerol esters of fatty acids (triglycerides); sometimes the amount produced is excessive.

Today we recognize that measuring total cholesterol is not sufficient to maintain good health and forestall future cardiovascular problems. Enter HDL and LDL, which most people are told by their doctors are “good” and “bad” cholesterol, respectively. Generally speaking, we see patients being told to raise their HDL levels and lower their LDL levels. However, people should always remember that HDL and LDL are NOT actually cholesterol but lipoproteins containing cholesterol. HDL is high-density lipoprotein and LDL is likewise low-density lipoprotein. These lipoproteins contain a fair amount of cholesterol, but what are the other components present?

Lipoproteins Mean Lipid Transport

• It’s easiest to think of lipoproteins as lipid transporters.
• LDL particles each contain a molecule of apolipoprotein B (Apo B) along with a fair amount of cholesterol (the cholesterol inside LDL particles is called LDL-C).
• Their function is to transport lipids from the liver to other target tissues in the body, which include the insides of arteries.

We know that high LDL levels are not good. But what about people who have normal LDL-C levels and still develop cardiovascular events (heart attacks and strokes)? In many of these cases, even though LDL-C is normal, the number of LDL particles (LDL-P) is abnormal. This means not only are there too many LDL particles, but the particles themselves are also small and dense instead of big and loose. But what about if LDL-C only appears normal, but really isn’t? In patients with high glucose and high triglyceride levels (common in metabolic syndrome, a.k.a insulin resistance), LDL-C levels appear to be low, but because of the glucose and TG levels, the measurement is inaccurate! So by performing an LPP (lipoprotein particle profile) test, we can see things that LDL-C alone cannot reveal.

HDL is made up of Apo A-I and Apo A-II (plus cholesterol, triglycerides, etc.). HDL transports lipids OUT of target tissues and routes them back to the liver, where the cholesterol is broken down. That’s why HDL-C is considered to be “good cholesterol.”

We can also test for Apo B in the blood in addition to LDL-P. Remember, these are not standard tests that are readily available in the office of your average Beverly Hills cardiologist. We offer them because they provide our patients with just another of many powerful tools we employ in our proactive, preventive cardiology approach. Now since LDL particles always contain one molecule of Apo B apiece, you might think the two tests are equivalent. Not exactly, because Apo B also is present in other non-HDL particles besides LDL, such as VLDL (very low-density lipoproteins). So by measuring Apo B levels as well as LDL-P levels (and looking at size and shape of the LDL particles), we can get a very good idea of your cardiovascular risk.

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Calcium Supplements: How the vital mineral has become a major health concern.

High Calcium intake linked to Heart Disease

Over the past couple of decades, calcium supplements have been overwhelmingly popular in America. Why? Because, as we all know, it builds strong bones! There is a lot of validity to the promotion of calcium supplements. Our bodies do need calcium daily for a multitude of reasons. Calcium is not only an integral component of bones and teeth, supporting their structure and helping to retain hardness, but it also is necessary for the normal functioning of our muscular, nervous, endocrine, and cardiovascular systems! However, a spate of new studies show that cardiovascular related deaths practically doubled in patients with a history of high calcium intake.

Common calcium supplements

Another widely promoted use of calcium supplements has been the prevention of osteoporosis, especially in middle-aged women.  This population was even encouraged to take Tums and Rolaids due to their high calcium content.  According to a number of studies in prominent medical journals, excess calcium intake results in two primary issues, ischemic heart disease and stroke. This is probably because along with building strong, hard bones, calcium also can accumulate in blood vessels and other tissues. These calcified tissues are strong and hard as well, but that’s not a good thing! 

Left: Strong bone structure
vs.
Right: Weakened bone structure

Ischemic heart disease is the primary cause of death in the United States and other industrialized countries. Ischemia is defined as a reduced amount of blood supply - and thus oxygen - to tissues (in this case the heart). The lack of blood supply is not only an issue for your heart but can also cause an insufficient amount of blood to the brain resulting in a stroke.

We are not saying there is no place for calcium supplements; some people are truly deficient in calcium. However, there is a delicate balance between calcium and magnesium in the heart and many other body systems that is essential to keep things running smoothly. Magnesium acts to relax the heart muscle, dilate blood vessels (lowering blood pressure in the process), and provide an overall calming effect.

 

So if you’re taking calcium supplements, feel free to ask a question in the comments, emailing me directly,  or if you live in the Los Angeles area please make an appointment to come in and discuss this, [practice contact page].  We will discuss all medications and supplements you may be taking and whether calcium supplements are right for you. It is important to find out the best choices and make sure you’re on the right track for good heart health, now and in the years to come.

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Reducing Heart Disease Risk - Are Avocados the answer?

How avocados may effect your risk of Cardiovascular Disease.

As a cardiologist and internist in Los Angeles, I find my patients here are a little more health conscious than they might be in Chicago, where I went to medical school. Try to take away people's Polish sausage and pierogi in the Windy City and you'll practically have a riot on your hands. At least in Los Angeles, cardiology patients know when to avoid such saturated fat-fests, and they have generally accepted doctors' recommendations to eat less red meat and more vegetables. But the best laid plans – and best-planned diets –often go astray. Because sometimes you just want a burger. And no matter how you slice it (grind it?), burgers have earned a bad reputation. Fry them and there's a gulf of grease; grill them and you'll get a charred carbon coating. If you're a burger lover, you don't see much in the way of good news these days. But recently, Dr. David Heber and his colleagues at UCLA published a study that examined the effect of adding avocado to a burger – and the results are pretty surprising!

Find the Pub Med abstract here

Background: Burgers and Blood Vessels

Inflamed blood vessel

The fat (lipids) in hamburger meat is oxidized to lipid peroxides during cooking and in the stomach. Lipid peroxidation produces harmful free radicals via a chain reaction. These free radicals, also called ROS (reactive oxygen species), cause inflammation on the endothelium (inside lining of the blood vessels, shown above). Inflammation is almost always a bad thing wherever it happens – and inflamed blood vessels don't do what they're supposed to. You see, nitric oxide (NO) occurs naturally in the body and one of its functions is to dilate blood vessels so blood can flow through easily. Nitric oxide is a messenger molecule that sends its message of vessel dilation to the endothelium. But under oxidative stress from the free radicals, you have endothelial dysfunction instead, and the blood vessels don't dilate properly. So-called bad cholesterol (LDL) accumulates inside arterial walls made sticky by endothelial dysfunction (which is helped along by high blood glucose levels – explaining why diabetics are seven times more likely to have vascular disease). All of this leads to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and the formation of blockages and blood clots, which can lead to heart attacks.

★And this whole pernicious process begins after a big fatty meal (like a hamburger).

The Avocado: Your Anti-Inflammatory Advocate

Avocados are not exactly low in fat or calories, but they are high in a healthy fat called oleic acid, which is also present in olive oil. Compared to the fatty acids in red meat, for example, oleic acid is much more difficult to peroxidize. The net effect of this is that oleic acid acts as an antioxidant, and earlier studies have shown that when people added avocados to their diet, their lipid profiles improved (LDL levels decreased). So this formed the basis for Dr. Heber’s experiment.

I always found it funny that the French word avocat means both “advocate” (as in a lawyer) and “avocado.” Well, according to Dr. Heber’s study, it turns out that an avocado is a pretty good advocate when facing the inflammatory actions of a burger! One of the ways we measure this inflammation is to look for the presence of what are called pro-inflammatory cytokines, molecules that are released under stress that promote inflammation at the cellular level. One such molecule is called interleukin-6 (IL-6).

Burger Alone

So the researchers had test subjects eat a hamburger and took blood samples at regular intervals. During digestion, IL-6 levels rocketed by over 70% over baseline (before they ate the burger). In addition a sensitive test called PAT, which measures the volume of peripheral arteries, showed significant constriction of the arteries after the hamburger meal. Again, this is physical evidence of decreased blood flow due to arteries being less flexible.

Burger + Avocado

Now a different group of subjects was given a fresh, ripe Hass avocado on top of their burgers. After they finished their meals, the same tests were conducted – with dramatic results. Subjects who ate avocado with their burger:

• Had drastically reduced levels of the inflammatory marker IL-6 compared to the burger-only group

• Showed hardly any constriction of their arteries as measured by the PAT method compared to the burger-only group

Obviously, this is only one study, but these results are encouraging. So if you just have to have that hamburger, make it a guacamole burger instead. Your arteries will thank you.

The Avocado Queen 

www.TheAvocadoQueen.com

The Avocado Queen, Melissa, is a raw/live food vegan who shares her authentic recipes that highlight her favorite food, the avocado, on one of her many healthy lifestyle blogs. Vegans and non-vegans alike can enjoy these recipes that are packed with heart healthy vitamins and minerals that your body need to function properly. We highly respect anyone advocating healthy eating lifestyles; they affect the health of many by sharing the wisdom they have.

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Specific Migraines in Women linked to Increased Probability of Heart Attacks

I apologize deeply for my weeklong break between sharing news with you. Very busy week at the UCLA David Geffen Medical Center doing Electrocardiography research! Can't wait to share the news with you! You guys are great!


Women with Specific Type of Migraine More Prone to Heart Attacks 
 
If you suffer from migraines, you probably never thought to mention that fact to your cardiologist or internist. But now in the wake of a new study, you might want to let your doctor know - particularly if the type of migraine you have is considered a "migraine with aura."

If you've experienced a migraine you know this feeling.

What Are Migraines with Aura?

Migraines with aura plague the sufferer with bizarre visual disturbances such as blind spots, seeing flashing lights and zigzag patterns, and even hallucinations. These symptoms precede the classic migraine symptom - headache.
 

Double the Risk?  
Apparently migraines with aura also do quite a number on the vascular system, because women who experience these migraines are nearly twice as likely to have a heart attack as women who did not have migraines with aura.

Birth Control Pills Shown, raises risk!

The Pill Raises Risk
At even greater risk are women who not only suffer from this debilitating type of migraine, but who also take the newer types of oral contraceptives such as YAZ. We have known for a long time that women with a history of cardiovascular disease have a much higher incidence of blood clots and heart attacks when taking any kind of oral contraceptives. However, the next-generation combination formulas like YAZ appear particularly risky in this context.

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Berry Impressive!

Strawberries and Blueberries Slice Heart Attack Rates

If you liked strawberries and blueberries before, you'll really like them now! According to a new study published in the American Heart Association's journal, Circulation, women aged 25-42 who ate at least 3 servings of strawberries and blueberries per week had 32% fewer heart attacks than women who ate the berries less than once a month. What's interesting is that even the women in the study whose diets were chock-full of other kinds of healthy fruits and vegetables didn't have this level of reduced heart attack risk.

Antioxidant Anthocyanins

The authors of the study suggested that the strawberry and blueberry-specific benefits could be related to the fruits' high levels of anthocyanins, which are powerful antioxidants. Anthocyanins are also vasodilators, meaning they help blood vessels expand to allow free flow of blood through the circulatory system.

Men Benefit Too

Can men also get these kinds of results? We believe they can. The study in question happened to be done on a group of nurses, all women, which is why the results only talk about women. We don't think it's necessary to wait till someone does the same study in men; the basic biochemical principles are the same.

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Salt, the couture way to Heart Disease.

Fleur de sel. Black Hawaiian. Pink Himalayan. Types of flowers? Breeds of cute exotic cats? No, these are all actually varieties of salt! And they're amazing; they not only look beautiful, but they taste tantalizingly delicious - a world apart from plain old table salt. From salted caramel candies to sea salt-encrusted sea bass, the new fad of couture condiments has captured our hearts, so to speak. Years of advice to cut down on salt and consider low-sodium diets have gone out the window, and we predict a brisk business for cardiologists like us will be the result!  When you consume excess sodium, it has two major effects on your body: water retention and hypertension.

Water retention - an excessive amount of fluid retained by your body -  makes you look and feel bloated. And we all know nobody wants that. But seriously, it is not just a looks thing. Water retention results in an increased amount of stress on the cardiovascular system, which leads to hypertension, or high blood pressure. Cardiovascular disease remains the biggest killer in the United States, and hypertension is a major contributing factor. Statistics show that one in three Americans will develop high blood pressure in their lifetime, and the problem starts early in life. The American Heart Association reports that a staggering 97 percent of children and adolescents have high-sodium diets that put them at increased risk for heart disease as they grow older.

How Much Salt Should I Eat?

 A healthy diet based on 2000 calories a day should include no more than 2,400 milligrams of sodium daily; the AHA recommends a limit of 1,500 mg.  Most of us eat at least 3,600 mg a day, and it's killing us.

A recent study conducted by the American Heart Association concludes that gradually reducing our national  sodium "addiction" over 10 years could potentially save between 700,000 and 1.2 million lives! Knowing where sodium hides in your foods can really help you police your sodium intake.  Check out this list of the top 10 foods highest in sodium and also a list of surprising high sodium foods. 

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