Category: Heart Disease

People lacking this vitamin probably also have high blood pressure and heart disease.

A deficiency in vitamin D is linked to a doubling in the risk of heart disease, research finds.

After exposure to sunlight, vitamin D is produced in the skin and converted to calcifediol in the liver and then converted to calcitriol in the kidney.

Calcitriol (1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D) is an active form of vitamin D affecting the immune system, bone growth, the production of adrenaline, noradrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin.

A study suggests that calcitriol can also influence cardiovascular health through its effects on other systems, including the immune system.

In this research, participants with low levels of vitamin D appeared to have higher blood pressure and heart disease risk compared to people with adequate blood levels of vitamin D.

The results showed that people with the lowest levels of vitamin D were twice as likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease than those within the normal range.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of death and disability, killing 7.9 million people around the world each year.

Over a billion people globally have low levels of vitamin D.

The best test to determine vitamin D status is measuring the serum concentrations of 5-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D).

To investigate the association between serum 25(OH)D levels and CVD risk, the research team analysed UK Biobank data on over half-a-million participants.

They found that the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease steeply decreased where the serum 25(OH)D level was around 50 nmol/L.

Over 55 percent of participants had serum levels of < 50 nmol/L and 13 percent were deficient with levels below 25 nmol/L.

The number of people with serum levels less than 50 nmol/L has been estimated to be 37 percent for Canada, 24 percent for USA, and 23 percent for Australia.

Professor Elina Hyppönen, the study’s leader, said:

“Severe deficiency is relatively rare, but in settings where this does occur it is very important to be proactive and avoid negative effects on the heart.

For example, deficiency can be a problem for people living in residential care who may have limited exposure to sun.”

Vitamin D can be found in some foods but this amount is not enough.

Professor Hyppönen explained:

“We can also get vitamin D from food, including oily fish, eggs and fortified foods and drinks.

This said, food is unfortunately a relatively poor source of vitamin D, and even an otherwise healthy diet does not typically contain enough.

If we don’t get any vitamin D through the sun, this is one of the rare nutrients for which we sometimes need to take a daily supplement to keep up with the requirements.

Understanding the connection between low levels of vitamin D and CVD is especially important, given the global prevalence of this deadly condition.

Our results are exciting as they suggest that if we can raise levels of vitamin D within norms, we should also affect rates of CVD.

In our study population, by increasing vitamin D-deficient individuals to levels of at least 50 nmol/L, we estimate that 4.4 percent of all CVD cases could have been prevented.”

The study was published in European Heart Journal  (Zhou et al., 2021).

If you favour these drinks then you made a good choice as they help reduce heart disease.

Drinking moderate or high amounts of tea improves heart health and reduces the risk of coronary heart disease death, research finds.

Similarly, drinking coffee in moderation is associated with lowering the risk of heart disease.

A study in Holland examined how tea and coffee intake impact on cardiovascular disease and death amongst 37,514 participants for 13 years.

They found that drinking three to six cups of tea a day lowered the risk of heart disease deaths by 45 percent.

Consuming more than six cups of tea a day was linked to a 36 percent reduction in heart disease risk.

Drinking two to four cups of coffee a day reduced the risk of heart disease by 20 percent compared to those who had less than two or more than four cups of coffee a day.

Also, modest coffee drinking — two to four cups daily — might fractionally lower the risk of death from heart disease and all causes.

Contrary to popular belief that drinking coffee can cause strokes, neither coffee or tea had any effect on stroke risk.

Professor Yvonne T. van der Schouw, the study’s senior author, said:

“While previous studies have shown that coffee and tea seem to reduce the risk of heart disease, evidence on stroke risk and the risk of death from heart disease was not conclusive.

Our results found the benefits of drinking coffee and tea occur without increasing risk of stroke or death from all causes.”

The heart health benefits from drinking tea could be related to the flavonoids that are a natural antioxidant found in tea.

In this study, tea and coffee intake was self-reported and so there is no information on what type of tea was consumed by participants.

In the Netherlands, however, 78 percent of tea consumed is black and 4.6 percent green.

Researchers also added that tea drinkers didn’t smoke and had a healthier diet and lifestyle in contrast to coffee drinkers.

The study was published in Journal of the American Heart Association (de Koning Gans et al., 2019).

Performing this type of break once or twice weekly will half the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Napping once or twice a week can decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart failure and stroke by nearly 50 percent, a study finds.

The research compared regular nappers with those who did not nap, assessing the link between naps and heart disease incidents.

In the study were 3,462 Swiss residents aged 35 to 75 who were selected randomly for this study and followed over 5 years.

The study found that those who napped once or twice weekly had a 48 percent reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease events compared to those who did not nap.

Nap duration or having more naps didn’t show any positive effect on cardiovascular disease.

Those who napped more than 3 times a week tended to be male, smokers, older, and to weigh more.

They slept longer at night when compared to those who didn’t nap through the day.

They also reported more episodes of sleepiness during the day and suffered from severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

This sleep disorder occurs when the throat muscles relax and block the airway during sleep, causing abnormal breathing.

Professor Kristine Yaffe and Dr Yue Leng, in a linked editorial, said:

“While the exact physiological pathways linking daytime napping to [cardiovascular disease] risk is not clear, [this research] contributes to the ongoing debate on the health implications of napping, and suggests that it might not only be the duration, but also the frequency that matters.

The study of napping is a challenging but also a promising field with potentially significant public health implications.

While there remain more questions than answers, it is time to start unveiling the power of naps for a supercharged heart.”

The study was published in the journal Heart (Häusler et al., 2019).

A combination supplement popular for treating joint pain also reduces deaths from cardiovascular diseases.

Regular intake of glucosamine with chondroitin is associated with a reduction in cardiovascular-related deaths and dying from any cause.

Taking this supplement every day for a year can lower the rate of dying from cardiovascular diseases by 65 percent and all-cause mortality by 39 percent.

According to the study, glucosamine with chondroitin supplementation is as effective as regular exercise in lowering total death rates.

However, this doesn’t mean that we can get the same health benefits from the tablet alone if we miss out regular exercises.

Professor Dana King, the study’s lead author, said:

“Does this mean that if you get off work at five o’clock one day, you should just skip the gym, take a glucosamine pill and go home instead?

That’s not what we suggest.

Keep exercising, but the thought that taking a pill would also be beneficial is intriguing.”

The 65 percent reduced deaths for cardiovascular disease includes heart disease, which is the world’s biggest killer and coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke.

One possible reason that glucosamine and chondroitin can lower the death rate in general is related to their effect on pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Glucosamine and chondroitin are able to reduce inflammation by suppressing proinflammatory cytokines (small proteins released by cells).

Glucosamine with chondroitin is an natural compound found in the connective tissues, including the cartilage, but they can be produced from shellfish or fungi.

Glucosamine with chondroitin supplements sold over the counter are popular products for treating joint pain and osteoarthritis.

Professor King takes glucosamine plus chondroitin supplements himself, he said:

“I’m in a local cyclists’ club, and we go for rides on weekends.

One day I asked the other cyclists if they took glucosamine, and everyone did.

And I thought, ‘Well, I wonder if this is really helpful?’ That’s how I got curious about it.”

The study analysed the data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey on 16,686 American adults who were 40 years or older.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine (King & Xiang, 2020).

Taking this pill every day to prevent a heart attack or stroke can cause brain and stomach bleeding.

Daily aspirin even in small doses for the prevention of a heart attack or stroke should be avoided as the potential harms are fatal, a study reveals.

About one-in-four American adults age 40 or older take aspirin every day even though they have no history of stroke or heart disease.

Currently, aspirin plays a first aid role to prevent heart attack or stroke and is often recommended to patients between 50 to 69 years old who are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

Consequently, this study examined the benefits and harms of aspirin used for primary prevention of cardiovascular events.

Dr Mark Ebell, the study’s author, said:

“We shouldn’t just assume that everyone will benefit from low-dose aspirin, and in fact the data show that the potential benefits are similar to the potential harms for most people who have not had a cardiovascular event and are taking it to try to prevent a first heart attack or stroke.”

It was about 30 years ago that aspirin was first found to lower the risk of heart attacks.

Studies thereafter have found evidence that aspirin can lessen colon cancer and stroke risks as well as heart attacks.

However, taking aspirin is too risky and has serious side-effects such as bleeding in the brain and stomach.

Dr Ebell said:

“If you look back in the 1970s and ’80s when a lot of these original studies were done, patients were not taking statin drugs to control cholesterol, their blood pressure was not as well controlled, and they weren’t getting screenings for colorectal cancer.”

Dr Ebell and his colleague looked into patient’s data from aspirin studies between 1978 to 2005.

The data was alarming as for 1,000 patients on aspirin treatment, there were less cardiovascular incidents but more haemorrhages.

Dr Ebell said:

“About 1 in 300 persons who took aspirin for five years experienced a brain bleed.

That’s pretty serious harm.

This type of bleeding can be fatal.

It can be disabling, certainly.

One in 300 is not something that the typical doctor is going to be able to pick up on in their practice.

That’s why we need these big studies to understand small but important increases in risk.”

The study was published in the journal of Family Practice (Moriarty & Ebell, 2019).

Just one daily serving is enough to significantly increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.

One serving or more a day of sugary drinks, including caloric soft drinks, fruit juice with added sugar, sweetened bottled waters or teas could dramatically increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Just one daily serving of any sugar‐sweetened beverages increases the likelihood of CVD by 20 percent.

Drink fruit juice with added sugar every day will increase the risk of CVD by 42 percent, experts suggest.

A large study ongoing since 1995 of 106,178 female California teachers with no history of CVD and diabetes examined the impact of sugar‐sweetened beverages on heart health.

They found that women who had one or more servings of sugary drinks daily were at a 26 percent higher risk of requiring coronary revascularization.

A revascularization treatment involves restoring blood flow to the heart due to clogged arteries with cholesterol plaques.

Moreover, women who drank one or more sugary beverages per day had a 21 percent increased risk of having a stroke than those who rarely or never drank any sweet drinks.

For the study, the women were asked to report their daily meals using a food questionnaire.

Younger women had the highest intake of sugar‐sweetened beverages, were eating less healthy foods, and were more likely to be obese and smokers.

Professor Cheryl Anderson, the study’s lead author, said:

“Although the study is observational and does not prove cause and effect, we hypothesize that sugar may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases in several ways.

It raises glucose levels and insulin concentrations in the blood, which may increase appetite and lead to obesity, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

In addition, too much sugar in the blood is associated with oxidative stress and inflammation, insulin resistance, unhealthy cholesterol profiles and type 2 diabetes, conditions that are strongly linked to the development of atherosclerosis, the slow narrowing of the arteries that underlies most cardiovascular disease.”

Sugar-sweetened beverages are very high in sugar, for example, a 12-ounce (340 grams) of regular soda contains 130 calories and has 34 grams or 8 teaspoons of sugar.

According to the American Heart Association, total sugar intake from foods or drinks for women should be limited to less than 100 calories daily, which is equal to 25 grams or 6 teaspoons of sugar.

For men, the intake should be less than 150 calories per day, which is equal to 38 grams or 9 teaspoons of sugar.

Many people on a diet will try to replace the sugary drinks with diet drinks but diet beverages including diet soda contain sucralose, aspartame, saccharin, or other artificial sweeteners which are known to cause more harm to humans than sugar.

The simple and healthy solution is to replace these types of drinks with water since it is easily available and has zero calories.

The study was published in Journal of the American Heart Association (Pacheco et al., 2020).

Failing this simple test doubles a person’s risk of death within the next 10 years.

Middle-aged or older adults who can’t successfully stand on one leg for 10 seconds are twice as likely to die from any cause within the next decade, a study reveals.

The balance test is safe, simple, and easy so it can be used as part of a routine health check-up for adult patients.

Unlike flexibility, aerobic fitness, and muscle strength exercises, most people can do balance exercises for 60 years of their life and then it starts to decline quickly.

Although the balance exercise is easy, there is no standard test for it to be included in middle-aged people’s regular health checks.

Therefore, the research team tried to set up a balance test as a tool predicting the odds of early death in older adults.

For this study, physical fitness and health of 1,702 people aged between 51 and 75 was monitored for seven years.

During participants health checks, they had to do a balance test: standing on one leg for 10 seconds without any extra support.

They were asked to put their free foot behind and touching the leg they were standing on.

They kept their hands at their sides and gaze straight ahead.

One in five participants failed the test: 5 percent were 51 to 55 years old, 8 percent were 56 to 60, 18 percent were 61 to 65, and 37 percent were 66 to 70 years of age.

About 54 percent of participants aged 71 and 75 were unable to complete the balance exercise, meaning they were 11 times more likely to fail the test than those who were 20 years younger.

Through the 7-year period of the study, 123 people died of cardiovascular disease, cancer, complications from COVID-19, and respiratory disease.

Participates who failed were unhealthier than the others, with a larger number with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, and obesity.

In short, the risk of dying from any cause within the next ten years was 84 percent higher for those who were unable to perform the 10 second one-legged stance.

The authors, concluded that the balance test:

“…provides rapid and objective feedback for the patient and health professionals regarding static balance.

It adds useful information regarding mortality risk in middle-aged and older men and women.”

The study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (Araujo et al., 2022).

If you can finish this test in less than 60 seconds then your heart is healthy.

One test of good heart health is simple, it just requires climbing a flight of stairs.

According to a study, if it takes you less than one minute to go up four flights of sitars without stopping, then your heart is healthy.

An example would be climbing up from the bottom floor to the fourth floor in an office building in under a minute.

Dr Jesús Peteiro, the study’s author, said:

“The stairs test is an easy way to check your heart health.

If it takes you more than one-and-a-half minutes to ascend four flights of stairs, your health is suboptimal, and it would be a good idea to consult a doctor.”

The study wanted to find out a practical and cheap way that could give people an indication of heart health.

Dr Peteiro said:

“The idea was to find a simple and inexpensive method of assessing heart health.

This can help physicians triage patients for more extensive examinations.”

The research engaged a group of patients who were assigned for exercise testing due to the probability of having coronary artery disease.

Shortness of breath or chest pain through the exercise would indicate the disease.

Patients ran or walked on a treadmill while the intensity of exercise bit by bit was increased until they reached exhaustion.

A metabolic equivalents (METs) test was used to measure patients’ exercise capacity, which is the highest level of physical exertion that a person can maintain.

Once they rested for 15 to 20 minutes, they were asked to walk up 60 stairs, similar to four flights.

They were asked not to stop or run but had to climb briskly while the time was noted.

The study found that participants who took at least 40 to 45 seconds to climb the stairs scored 9 to 10 or higher METs.

Past studies found that people who scored 10 METs during an exercise test had one percent lower death rate in a year or ten percent in 10 years.

Conversely, those who scored less than 8 METs due to taking 90 seconds or longer, were 30 percent more likely to die in 10 years.

In addition, the images taken of the patients’ hearts through the treadmill exercise were examined to see if their heart functioned  normally — a good indication of a lower chance of having a coronary artery disease.

This finding was then compared to the scores which were obtained from climbing the stairs.

About 58 percent of those who did the climbing task who took longer than 90 seconds also had an irregular heart rhythm throughout the treadmill exercise test.

In comparison, only 32 percent of those who completed the climbing task within 60 seconds had an irregular heart rhythm.

Dr Peteiro added that the association between exercise capacity (i.e. METs) and stair climbing is applicable to the population.

However, the linking up of death rate with heart function by imaging is better for individuals who may have or are at risk of coronary artery disease.

The study was presented at EACVI – Best of Imaging 2020, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).