Do you take statin medication to keep your cholesterol levels within normal?

A warning label is being added to statin medications, including Lipitor, Crestor, and Zocor. The warning is to make users aware that the medication may raise blood sugar levels and cause memory loss.

This added warning was announced by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday, February 28, 2012.

Statins are frequently prescribed by doctors because studies have shown the effectiveness of the drug to reduce the risk of heart attack and heart disease. However, it’s important that patients and doctors are well aware of the negative side effects linked to the medication.

In addition to elevated blood sugar and memory loss, some of the potential side effects of statin medications include:
Continue reading ‘New Warnings Added to Statin Drug Label by the FDA’ »

For quite awhile now, I’ve been encouraging you to look at more than just your standard cholesterol panel to assess your risk for heart disease. I’m going to share the findings of an expert panel that supports this need.

In the Journal of Clinical Lipidology a panel of specialists concluded that patients considered at intermediate risk for heart disease be tested for C-reactive protein. It’s likely this applies to a majority of the U.S. population since overweight and obesity is rampant. Family history, diet, exercise, and tobacco use also factor into determining if you are at intermediate risk.

Just evaluating total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol does not work well for predicting heart attack and stroke risk, especially for patients with metabolic syndrome or diabetes. It’s even more difficult to evaluate risk if a patient is using cholesterol lowering statin medications.

C-Reactive Protein

C-Reactive protein is a marker for inflammation and is associated with plaque build up in blood vessel walls. The plaque build up in coronary arteries leads to narrow arteries, which can cause chest pain. If these arteries rupture you are dealing with a heart attack or stroke.

Continue reading ‘C-Reactive Protein Good Heart Attack Predictor’ »

Do you watch the Biggest Loser? If so, you have seen each contestant visit a doctor at the start of the season and many times they’ll learn their actual ‘biological’ age. This usually ends up being a shocker, such as a 28 year-old whose physical condition is that of a 55 year-old or something drastic like that. Telomeres are a tool that can be used to fairly accurately identify your biological age.

I recently participated in a webinar hosted by Spectra Cell Laboratories and lead by Dr. Mark Houston discussing telomeres.

What is a telomere?

Telomeres are a DNA sequence that appears at the end of each chromosome. Chromosomes comprised of DNA are in each cell of our body. Our DNA is protected at each end by telomeres. Dr. Houston describes a telomere as a safety cap or ball cap on the end of each chromosome. They protect the chromosome and DNA from things like oxidative stress. As the telomere becomes damaged the chromosome and cell function ineffectively the cell begins to die.

Telomere Shortening

As a normal part of aging, telomeres become shorter. Once a telomere becomes shortened there is no way to lengthen the telomere.

There are many factors that influence how quickly telomeres shorten. Here are some of the factors that impact telomere length:

Continue reading ‘What is Your Biological Age?’ »

On September 13, 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services launched Million Hearts. Million Hearts is aimed to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years.

Cardiovascular disease costs $444 billion annually in medical costs and lost productivity.

Million Hearts focuses on two goals:

1. Empower Americans to make health choices.

This includes preventing the use of tobacco, reducing sodium and trans fat intake. Taking this steps can mean decreased medical treatment (and costs) for blood pressure and cholesterol.

2. Improve care of those who need treatment.

The initiated is targeted to using Aspirin for people at risk, promotion of Blood pressure control, Cholesterol management, and Smoking cessation. This treatment focus is being referred to as the “ABCS” and is intended to cover the major risk factors for heart disease, which means prevention of heart attacks and strokes.

Continue reading ‘Million Hearts: Prevent 1 Million Heart Attacks and Strokes in 5 Years’ »

Are you someone that has followed a heart healthy diet “to the letter” and still struggled to lower blood pressure or cholesterol levels? If so, it’s possible the diet didn’t work for you due to your specific genetic makeup.

Mapping of the human genome (13 year project that identified all genes in human DNA) was completed by scientists in 2003.

For the most part, genes are the same between individuals, with just a 1% variation. This small difference is what accounts for our unique physical attributes, biological processes, and metabolism. It’s also this slight difference that makes one individual more susceptible to heart disease than another.

Nutrigenomics

This has opened the door for nutrigenomics and the role it can play disease prevention. You see, dietary recommendations, such as Dietary Reference Intakes and Recommended Dietary Allowances, are established to meet the needs of 99% of the population from a statistical perspective. However, a “one size fits all approach” doesn’t necessarily work. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s a great foundation to base your diet around, but if you have a specific disease or increased risk for disease, this is where nutrigenomics can step in.

Nutrigenomics looks at the interaction between nutrients and genes, because how we respond and metabolize nutrients is influenced by our genes.

Apolipoprotein E

The Apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype influences coronary heart disease risk. APOE was discovered back in 1970 and can bind to triglyceride rich lipoproteins and acts as a binding mechanism for receptors.

Continue reading ‘Cholesterol and the Gene Apolipoprotein E’ »

Shouldn’t you be the “picture of health” as a young adult? Guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that looks are deceiving.

Canadian researchers presented study results recently at the 2011 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress regarding their study of 168 adults between the ages of 18 and 35 years-old.

Study participants had no family history of heart disease, nor any other known risk factors, such as diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or smoking.

Guess what? Researchers found a “staggering” number of participants to have atherosclerosis, which is a build-up of plaque along artery walls. Almost half of participants had signs of atherosclerosis – 48%.

Height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference were recorded for all participants. MRI scans measured both subcutaneous (fat under the skin) and visceral fat (fat around vital organs).

These measurements found many participants to have greater waist circumferences and higher levels of visceral fat within the chest and abdomen. These high levels of visceral fat increase risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke at some point in their lives. It’s this high level of visceral fat that is likely contributing to the early signs of atherosclerosis.

These Canadian findings corroborate previous research that has found up to 80% of young American’s killed in war or car accidents to have premature and hidden atherosclerosis.

What Can You Do?

Continue reading ‘Clogged Arteries: Young Doesn’t Equal Healthy’ »

Dietary changes can result in lower cholesterol levels. By making dietary changes to promote lower cholesterol levels you’ll be able to work with your doctor to gradually wean off medication and eliminate negative medication side effects. And the diet changes don’t have to be hard!

Here are three examples of simple diet shifts that will promote a lower cholesterol.

Diet Shift #1 – Replace eggs & bacon with oatmeal & fruit.

If your standard breakfast consists of cholesterol laden fried eggs and a side of fat (okay, bacon) swap this out for a bowl of oatmeal topped with fresh berries and ground flaxseed. The whole grain oatmeal will promote lower cholesterol levels, blood sugar control, and help you feel full longer. Antioxidant rich berries will help reduce the oxidation of LDL cholesterol that leads to plaque build up, while flaxseed is a rich source of heart healthy omega 3 fatty acids.

Continue reading ‘Lower Cholesterol with 3 Diet Shifts’ »

I recently had an individual email me the following question:

How much fiber do I need to eat to equal 25 grams? How many pieces of fruit, slices of bread, cups of barley or flaxseed? I can’t relate to 25 grams.

I want to share the answer with everyone. Read on. . .

How Much Dietary Fiber

You need to consume between 25-35 grams of dietary fiber daily. Of this, soluble fiber should make up 15 grams. For every 1-2 grams of daily soluble fiber intake, LDL (bad) cholesterol is lowered 1%.

The average US dietary fiber intake is 12-18 grams/day. If your current diet is very low in dietary fiber, do not increase to 35 grams overnight. A sudden increase will result in gastrointestinal (stomach) distress and unpleasant side effects (flatulence and diarrhea). You want to increase your intake gradually.

Top 5 Foods Containing Dietary Fiber

Continue reading ‘What equals 25 – 35 grams of dietary fiber?’ »

Are you familiar with the TLC diet? I was not, so when I saw this treatment plan to lower cholesterol I was interested to see what it was all about. Below I’ve shared a summary of the diet plan and a link where you can access more information.

TLC stands for Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes and consists of a three part program of diet, physical activity, and weight management.

Diet

Diet changes focus on reduces saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol in your daily intake. If you are overweight, you would also work to reduce your daily calorie intake.

Here are goal levels for nutrients on the TLC diet:

Continue reading ‘TLC Diet to Lower Cholesterol’ »

Do you understand the importance of being regularly active to promote heart health? However, you know this and still remain sedentary? Is this because the thought of exercise makes you think of a gym membership, spandex, and everyone watching you try to use equipment you have no idea how to work? Well, here’s an alternative.

Simply taking a daily walk has many benefits without the risk of embarrassment.

Benefits of Walking Daily

• Decreases risk of heart disease or stroke.
• Lowers LDL cholesterol
• Increases HDL cholesterol
• Reduces blood pressure
• Increases daily calories burned (weight management)
• Decreases risk of colon cancer and diabetes (may protect against breast cancer)
• Decreases joint swelling and pain from arthritis
• Improves mood
• Improves stress management
• More energy
• Improves self-esteem
• Improves sleep quality

How Long of a Walk

Continue reading ‘Walking for Heart Health Benefits’ »