The approach that helps people eat heart-healthy foods.
Eating before this hour could save you from high blood pressure and gaining weight.
Eating before this hour could save you from high blood pressure and gaining weight.
Having your dinner before 6pm could improve heart health and reduce the chance of putting on weight and developing type 2 diabetes.
In contrast, the risk of heart disease increases for every 1 percent increase in calories consumed in the evening after 6pm.
So, what a person eats is not the only factor, but eating late and having big meals in the evening can also increase the risk of heart disease.
The study, which involved 112 women with an average age of 33, tested if eating earlier or later in the evening could have an impact on heart health.
Participants who had their meal after 6pm were more likely to have high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, and increased body mass index (BMI) which are cardiovascular disease risk markers.
Here is the summary of their findings:
Dr Nour Makarem, the study’s leader, said:
“So far, lifestyle approaches to prevent heart disease have focused on what we eat and how much we eat.
These preliminary results indicate that intentional eating that is mindful of the timing and proportion of calories in evening meals may represent a simple, modifiable behavior that can help lower heart disease risk.”
Modern lifestyles push people to get up early and eat late, which disrupts the body’s natural cycles or body clock.
Past studies have shown that eating late at night can cause weight gain and raise insulin levels.
A study suggests that eating breakfast 90 minutes later and dinner 90 minutes earlier reduces body fat and improves weight loss.
Professor Kristin Newby, commenting on the study, said:
“I think it provides some really interesting insights into an aspect of nutrition and how it relates to cardiovascular risk factors that we really haven’t thought about before.
It is never too early to start thinking about your heart health whether you’re 20 or 30 or 40 or moving into the 60s and 70s.
If you’re healthy now or if you have heart disease, you can always do more.
That goes along with being heart smart and heart healthy.”
The study was presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2019 in Philadelphia.
Could your emotions be the key to a healthier heart?
A nutritionally rich diet containing beneficially rated foods can lower the risk of heart disease by 52 percent.
A nutritionally rich diet containing beneficially rated foods can lower the risk of heart disease by 52 percent.
People who eat more unprocessed or minimally processed plant-based foods are more likely to be immune from heart disease.
A study found that those who eat nutritious plant foods are at lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Research finds that a diet mainly from nutrient-rich plant foods but also containing small amounts of animal products such as nonfried fish, nonfried poultry, and low fat dairy can prevent heart disease.
A heart-healthy dietary pattern usually contains lots of green vegetables, whole grains, fruits, legumes, seeds and nuts, nonfried fish and poultry, low-fat dairy products, and olive oil.
It is also recommended to avoid or limit soft drinks, desserts, salty foods, high‐fat or processed products, sweets, and fried foods.
Dr Choi, the study’s first author, said:
“Earlier research was focused on single nutrients or single foods, yet there is little data about a plant-centered diet and the long-term risk of cardiovascular disease.”
The team studied 4,946 people over 32 years to see if there is any link between diet and the incidence of heart disease.
The quality of these people’s diets was scored based on the A Priori Diet Quality Score (APDQS) system.
The APDQS consisted of 46 food groups which are classified as:
Those who scored higher consumed primarily nutritionally rich plant products from the beneficially rated food group and those with lower scores consumed more adversely rated foods.
The risk of developing heart disease reduced by 52 percent for those who scored in the top 20 percent (eating nutritionally rich plant-based diet and fewer adversely rated foods).
Those whose diet improved in quality had a 61 percent reduced risk of developing heart disease compared with those who ate more lower quality foods as time went by.
Dr Choi said:
“A nutritionally rich, plant-centered diet is beneficial for cardiovascular health.
A plant-centered diet is not necessarily vegetarian.
People can choose among plant foods that are as close to natural as possible, not highly processed.
We think that individuals can include animal products in moderation from time to time, such as non-fried poultry, non-fried fish, eggs and low-fat dairy.”
The study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association (Choi et al., 2021).
Eating these foods has considerable health benefits, scientists have found.
Eating these foods has considerable health benefits, scientists have found.
Eating more fibre-rich foods, like fruits and vegetables, could decrease the risk of heart disease by 30%, research concludes.
Higher fibre intake has also been linked to weight loss and lower cholesterol levels.
Studies conducted over almost 40 years find that eating around 25-29 grams of dietary fibre a day has clear health benefits.
Most people, though, consume less than 20 grams per day.
In the US, the average intake is 15 grams per day.
Fibre-rich foods reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, (15-30%), heart disease, stroke type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer (15-24%)
Fibre-rich foods include vegetables, fruits, whole grains and pulses.
Professor Jim Mann, study co-author, said:
“Our findings provide convincing evidence for nutrition guidelines to focus on increasing dietary fibre and on replacing refined grains with whole grains.
This reduces incidence risk and mortality from a broad range of important diseases.”
The study included data from 135 million people in almost two hundred different studies.
The results clearly showed that the more dietary fibre people consumed, the more they were protected against a wide variety of diseases.
Professor Mann said:
“The health benefits of fibre are supported by over 100 years of research into its chemistry, physical properties, physiology and effects on metabolism.
Fibre-rich whole foods that require chewing and retain much of their structure in the gut increase satiety and help weight control and can favourably influence lipid and glucose levels.
The breakdown of fibre in the large bowel by the resident bacteria has additional wide-ranging effects including protection from colorectal cancer.”
The study was published in the journal The Lancet (Reynolds et al., 2019).
Diet is not the only thing that can improve cardiovascular health, adopting this meal timing is also important.
Diet is not the only thing that can improve cardiovascular health, adopting this meal timing is also important.
Particular eating habits such as having an early breakfast or late dinner can make a positive or negative impact on cardiovascular health.
According to a study, an early eating schedule coupled with longer overnight fasting will benefit cardiometabolic health markers including reduced weight, lower blood pressure, and lower blood glucose levels.
Whereas skipping breakfast and late-night eating are associated with cardiometabolic risk factors such as weight gain, high blood glucose, hypertension, and high levels of low-density lipoprotein known as “bad” cholesterol.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the most common cause of death globally, taking more than 18 million lives every year.
Over 40 percent of CVD deaths are related to poor dietary habits and unhealthy diets suggesting the importance of diet in developing or preventing heart related diseases.
Poor eating patterns like skipping breakfast, snacking, or late-night eating are a consequence of the modern Western lifestyle.
Daily eating (light phase) and fasting at night (dark phase) synchronises the the peripheral clocks of different organs related to the cardiovascular system, such as blood pressure regulation.
In recent years, scientists have been attracted to a new filed called chrono-nutrition that examines the link between the timing of eating, circadian rhythms and health.
This study looked at the relationship between dietary intake patterns and heart disease.
They found that for every hour’s delay of eating the first meal there was a six percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
For instance, if you eat your breakfast at 8 a.m. you are 6 percent less likely to have a heart attack than a person who eats at 9 o’clock in the morning.
With regard to the last meal of the day, the risk was even higher.
The odds of cerebrovascular disease (ischemic stroke, mini stroke, and stroke) went up 8 percent for each extra hour in putting off the last meal of the day.
The risk of cerebrovascular disease was 28 percent higher for people who ate at 9 p.m. than those who had their last meal before 8 o’clock in the evening.
The risk was more prominent among women.
Moreover, the research team found that a longer period of overnight fasting (the gap between dinner and breakfast) reduced the odds of cerebrovascular disease.
This finding encourages the idea of having breakfast and the final meal of the day as early as possible.
The authors concluded:
“These findings suggest that, beyond the nutritional quality of the diet itself, recommendations related to meal timing for patients and citizens may help promoting a better cardiometabolic health.”
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications (Palomar-Cros et al., 2023).
The study looked at three different types of hostility: emotional, behavioural and cognitive.
The study looked at three different types of hostility: emotional, behavioural and cognitive.
Being hostile and cynical increases the risk of heart problems, research finds.
Cynical people tend to be distrustful of the nature and motives of others and believe they are motivated only by self-interest.
Cynicism is also linked to pessimism and being contemptuous.
While hostility has long been linked to heart problems, this is one of the first studies to link it to being cynical.
The study, which included 196 people, looked at three different types of hostility: emotional, behavioural and cognitive.
Ms Alexandra T. Tyra, the study’s first author, explained:
“Cynical hostility is more cognitive, consisting of negative beliefs, thoughts and attitudes about other people’s motives, intentions and trustworthiness.
It can be considered suspiciousness, lack of trust or cynical beliefs about others.
These findings reveal that a greater tendency to engage in cynical hostility—which appears to be extremely relevant in today’s political and health climate—can be harmful not only for our short-term stress responses but also our long-term health.”
Meanwhile, behavioural hostility manifests as verbal or physical aggression and emotional hostility as chronic anger.
Under healthy circumstances, people get used to stressors and adapt to them.
Ms Tyra explained:
“Essentially, when you’re exposed to the same thing multiple times, the novelty of that situation wears off, and you don’t have as big of a response as you did the first time.
This is a healthy response. But our study demonstrates that a higher tendency for cynical hostility may prevent or inhibit this decrease in response over time.
In other words, the cardiovascular system responds similarly to a second stressor as it did to the first.
This is unhealthy because it places increased strain on our cardiovascular system over time.”
The people in the study were given personality tests along with a test of their stress response.
The results showed that neither emotional nor behavioural hostility were linked to a higher stress response.
Ms Tyra said:
“This does not imply that emotional and behavioral hostility are not bad for you, just that they may affect your health or well-being in other ways.”
However, people with greater cynical hostility had a high and sustained stress response.
Ms Tyra said:
“I would hope that this research raises awareness about the potential health implications of cynicism.
Perhaps the next time someone thinks a negative thought about the motives, intentions or trustworthiness of their best friend, a co-worker or even a politician, they will think twice about actively engaging with that thought.”
The study was published in the journal Psychophysiology (Tyra et al., 2020).
Adding this ingredient to your diet could halve the risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke.
Adding this ingredient to your diet could halve the risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke.
Eating chili peppers regularly could cut down the risk of dying from heart disease, stroke, and any cause of death, research finds.
Chili pepper is a popular ingredient commonly used in the traditional Mediterranean diet and many other cultures.
An Italian study found that consuming chili peppers four times a week or more can reduce the risk of dying from a stroke by 50 percent, heart attacks by 40 percent, and any cause of death by 23 percent.
The study examined 23,000 Italians and followed their health and eating habits for more than eight years.
Dr Marialaura Bonaccio, the study’s first author, said:
“An interesting fact is that protection from mortality risk was independent of the type of diet people followed.
In other words, someone can follow the healthy Mediterranean diet, someone else can eat less healthily, but for all of them, chili pepper has a protective effect.”
The protective action of chili peppers on health could be due to its high capsaicin and flavonoid content.
Several studies have shown a positive link between frequency of eating chili peppers and health benefits.
Capsicum species come in different varieties such as serrano, Italian chilli peppers, cayenne, and jalapeño.
They contain phytochemicals such as quercetin and luteolin, which are natural antioxidants with an anti-inflammatory function.
The chili pepper family also contains capsaicinoids and carotenoids like beta carotene.
Therefore, all these active compounds and possibly their collaboration together could have a positive effect on human health.
The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (Bonaccio et al., 2019).
A monthly dose of the vitamin was found to lower the incidence of cardiovascular events, including heart attacks.
A monthly dose of the vitamin was found to lower the incidence of cardiovascular events, including heart attacks.
Supplementation of vitamin D in older people might lower their risk of cardiovascular events, particularly myocardial infarction, a study has found.
A once-a-month supplement of vitamin D3 containing 60,000 international units (IU) could decrease the rate of major cardiovascular events, especially heart attacks.
This is the biggest clinical trial examining whether vitamin D supplements can change the incidence of major cardiovascular events in older adults.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) refers to heart and blood vessel disorders and is a leading cause of death worldwide.
The CVD incidence including coronary heart disease and stroke in aging populations continues to increase with higher prevalence in men than women.
Participants in this study were 60 years and older and received one tablet of 60,000 IU vitamin D3 at the start of each month for five years.
During this period the rate of hospital admissions and death related to major cardiovascular events including heart attacks, strokes, and coronary revascularisation (treatment to improve blood flow to the heart) among participants was recorded.
The total incidence in the vitamin D group was nine percent lower than those taking placebo tablets.
The heart attack rate was reduced by 19 percent and coronary revascularization by 11 percent while the intervention had no effect on stroke-related incidence.
Overall, these findings indicate that vitamin D supplements may lower the rate of major cardiovascular events.
The authors wrote:
“This protective effect could be more marked in those taking statins or other cardiovascular drugs at baseline.
In the meantime, these findings suggest that conclusions that vitamin D supplementation does not alter risk of cardiovascular disease are premature.”
Vitamin D is found in foods such as oily fish including salmon, trout, mackerel, and sardines, and fish liver oils but most people get their vitamin D from the action of sunlight on the skin.
The study was published in The BMJ (Thompson et al., 2023).
Indulge in this tasty food once a week to reduce your risk of heart disease.
Indulge in this tasty food once a week to reduce your risk of heart disease.
Eating chocolate more than once a week has been found to lower the chance of heart disease, a review of 50 years of studies shows.
The research suggests that chocolate consumption benefits heart health, particularly improving blood pressure and the functions of the endothelium (the inner lining of the heart and blood vessels).
Dr Chayakrit Krittanawong, the study’s first author, said:
“Our study suggests that chocolate helps keep the heart’s blood vessels healthy.
In the past, clinical studies have shown that chocolate is beneficial for both blood pressure and the lining of blood vessels.
I wanted to see if it affects the blood vessels supplying the heart (the coronary arteries) or not.
And if it does, is it beneficial or harmful?”
Researchers analysed six studies on 336,289 participants with a follow-up of nearly nine years.
People who ate chocolate more than once a week had a reduced coronary artery disease risk of 8 percent when compared to those who ate chocolate less than once a week.
During the nine year follow-up, 4,667 participants had a heart attack and there were 14,043 cases of coronary artery disease (CAD).
CAD is the most common type of heart disease, which occurs when the arteries become narrowed and hardened and so they can’t supply blood to the heart muscle properly.
If CAD advances, the blood flow to the heart will suddenly become clogged and cause a heart attack.
Dr Krittanawong said:
“Chocolate contains heart healthy nutrients such as flavonoids, methylxanthines, polyphenols and stearic acid which may reduce inflammation and increase good cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein or HDL cholesterol).”
Dr Krittanawong pointed out that the study didn’t investigated what amount of chocolate and what type of chocolate can boost heart health.
“Chocolate appears promising for prevention of coronary artery disease, but more research is needed to pinpoint how much and what kind of chocolate could be recommended.
Moderate amounts of chocolate seem to protect the coronary arteries but it’s likely that large quantities do not.
The calories, sugar, milk, and fat in commercially available products need to be considered, particularly in diabetics and obese people.”
The study was published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology (Krittanawong et al., 2020).
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