How Inactivity Harms Your Health

I came across this nifty diagram showing how being inactive contributes to illness. Get moving to stay healthy! When you don't move you gain weight, especially around the middle. White blood cells from your immune system move into the fat around your organs. This ignites inflammation everywhere in your body, which leads to insulin resistance and more weight gain, and ultimately diabetes. This raises your risk for heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke. This inflammation also leads to brain issues like dementia, Parkinsons and Alzheimers. Also increased is your risk for cancer. It is worth saying again. Get moving to protect your health!

Take your fish oils! To get to a target level you need 1500 to 2000 mg of EPA+DHA daily.

It takes 4 months to raise your Omega-3 Index levels when you begin to increase your dose of EPA and DHA. Shoot for 1500 to 2000 mg of EPA + DHA daily. The image below says it all.

Vitamin D3 could heal and protect your heart.

A study has been published in the International Journal of Nanomedicine. It shows that Vitamin D3 -- which is made by the body naturally when skin is exposed to the sun -- can significantly restore the damage to the cardiovascular system caused by several diseases, including hypertension, diabetes and atherosclerosis. Vitamin D3 supplements are also available over-the-counter.

Generally, Vitamin D3 is associated with the bones. However, in recent years, in clinical settings people recognize that many patients who have a heart attack will have a deficiency of D3. It doesn't mean that the deficiency caused the heart attack, but it increased the risk of heart attack.  A research team used nanosensors to see why Vitamin D3 can be beneficial, especially for the function and restoration of the cardiovascular system.

The Ohio University team has developed unique methods and systems of measurements using nanosensors, which are about 1,000 times smaller in diameter than a human hair, to track the impacts of Vitamin D3 on single endothelial cells, a vital regulatory component of the cardiovascular system. A major discovery from these studies is that vitamin D3 is a powerful stimulator of nitric oxide (NO), which is a major signaling molecule in the regulation of blood flow and the prevention of the formation of clots in the cardiovasculature. Additionally, vitamin D3 significantly reduced the level of oxidative stress in the cardiovascular system.

Most importantly, these studies show that treatment with vitamin D3 can significantly restore the damage to the cardiovascular system caused by several diseases, including hypertension, atherosclerosis, and diabetes, while also reducing the risk of heart attack. These studies, performed on cells from Caucasian Americans and African Americans, yielded similar results for both ethnic groups.

There are not many, if any, known systems which can be used to restore cardiovascular endothelial cells which are already damaged, and Vitamin D3 can do it. "This is a very inexpensive solution to repair the cardiovascular system. We don't have to develop a new drug. We already have it."

These studies, performed at Ohio University, are the first to identify the molecular mechanism of vitamin D3-triggered restoration of the function of damaged endothelium in the cardiovasculature. While these studies were performed using a cellular model of hypertension, the implication of vitamin D3 on dysfunctional endothelium is much broader. The dysfunction of endothelium is a common denominator of several cardiovascular diseases, particularly those associated with ischemic events.

Therefore, the authors suggest that vitamin D3 may be of clinical importance in the restoration of dysfunctional cardiac endothelium after heart attack, capillary endothelium after brain ischemia (stroke), hypovolemia, vasculopathy, diabetes and atherosclerosis. This suggestion is strongly supported by several clinical studies which indicate that vitamin D3 at doses higher than those currently used for the treatment of bone diseases, may be highly beneficial for the treatment of the dysfunctional cardiovascular system.

Teens with the hearts of old men. A cautionary tale.

Kale, parsley, broccoli, and spinach: according to new research, these leafy green vegetables may hold even more health benefits than previously thought, as vitamin K - found in abundance in all four - may contribute to a healthy heart.

A new study published in The Journal of Nutrition examines the link between vitamin K levels and heart structure and functioning in young people.

Vitamin K plays a key role in blood coagulation and bone health. Deficient levels of the vitamin raise the risk of hemorrhage, osteoporosis, and bone fractures.

In its dietary form, vitamin K is known as phylloquinone, or vitamin K-1. This is abundantly found in leafy green vegetables such as kale, parsley, broccoli, spinach, iceberg lettuce, and cabbage.

The new research suggests that insufficient levels of the vitamin may affect the structure of the heart, leading to a condition called left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH).

The left ventricle is the heart's major pumping chamber, and in LVH, this chamber is enlarged to an unhealthy degree. As the authors of the new study explain, a larger heart can malfunction with time, becoming less effective at pumping blood.

LVH tends to affect adults, but the researchers decided to study this heart structure in young people because cardiac abnormalities that begin in childhood tend to predict the risk of cardiovascular disease in adulthood. They found that teens with the lowest intake of vitamin K1 from foods had triple the rate of LVH of their counterparts who had the highest intake.

Your mom was right…eat your greens.

Here's the study.

Do you know your omega-3 blood levels?

Although regular intake of the omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA is believed to have several health benefits, some questions remain unanswered. Do we all need more omega-3 or just some of us? Is eating fish sufficient or do we need to take supplements? Is there a way to tell if the cells in our body are getting enough omega-3 or if we are deficient? Yes. The Omega-3 Index may provide answers to some of these questions.

The Omega-3 Index reflects the relative amount of omega-3 fatty acids within red blood cell membranes. The index can be measured using a simple blood sample. You do not need your doctor to order this test for you, it is a self administered test you can do at home.  Measurements of fatty acids in red blood cell membranes can provide important information about fatty acid intake. Recently, the relative amount of omega-3 fatty acids in red blood cells has attracted interest as it
may provide information about the future risk of heart disease.

Studies show that a low Omega-3 Index is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and it has been proposed that raising the index may help to reduce risk.

The Omega-3 Index reflects the relative amount of EPA + DHA in red blood cells. It is expressed as the percentage of the total amount of fatty acids present. In fact it’s quite simple; if 8% of all the fatty acids present in red cell membranes is EPA+DHA, the Omega-3 Index is 8%.

The Omega-3 Index and Cardiovascular Risk

It has been hypothesized that the Omega-3 Index may predict the risk of future cardiovascular events such as coronary heart disease and cardiac arrest. If that’s correct, a low Omega-3 Index may be regarded as a risk factor, similar to smoking, high blood pressure and high blood levels of LDL cholesterol.

The average Omega-3 Index in the United States is believed to be between 4-5 %. In Japan, where coronary artery disease is less common and life
span longer, the average Omega-3 Index is 9-10%. This is because the population in Japan eats more fish than the population in the US.

Data from epidemiological studies and randomized controlled trials demonstrate that the Omega-3 Index was inversely associated with the risk for mortality from coronary heart disease. An Omega-3 Index of ≥8% was associated with the greatest protection, whereas an index of ≤4% was associated with the least.

Another study, published 2008 showed that the Omega-3 Index as independently associated with the risk of developing acute coronary syndrome.

An Omega-3 Index >8% is optimal while an index of <4% may be regarded as deficient.

The simplest way to improve the Omega-3 Index is to increase your intake of EPA and DHA by eating marine products rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

Recommendations For the Intake of Omega-3 Fatty Acids

For people without cardiovascular disease, most experts recommend eating a variety of fish (preferably oily) at least twice a week to maintain a mean intake of 4-500 mg of EPA+DHA daily.

For those with documented coronary heart disease, a daily dose of EPA+DHA of 1.000 mg per day is recommended.

For someone wanting to achieve the suggested ideal Omega-3 Index of 8% 2000 mg of EPA + DHA daily is suggested.

Finally for individuals with elevated serum triglycerides a daily dose of EPA + DHA of 2000 mg to 4000 mg per day is what doctors suggest. Since fish may be contaminated with mercury and other pollutants, be sure the fish oil supplement you choose is purified and has been third party tested.

IFOS, The InternationalFish Oil Standards program offers consumers a way to compare the highest quality fish oil brands. Carlson offers a wide array of potent pure fish oil supplements that have been tested by IFOS.

Want to really improve your chances of preventing heart disease?

Learn how lifestyle factors cut your risk. Here they are:

1. Not smoking cigarettes 

2. Not being obese (having a B.M.I. less than 30) 

3. Performing physical activity at least once a week. 

4. Having a healthful diet pattern.

Here is what defines a healthful diet pattern. Do at least half of these things: eat more fruits, nuts, vegetables, whole grains, fish and dairy products; eat less processed meats, unprocessed red meats, sugar sweetened beverages, trans fats and sodium.

Every one of the four lifestyle factors was associated with a decreased risk of coronary events.

That’s the first bit of good news. Doing any one of these things makes a difference.

But the effect is cumulative. The researchers divided people into three groups based on these factors. “Favorable” required at least three of the four factors, “intermediate” required two of them, and “unfavorable” required one or none. Across all studies, those with an unfavorable lifestyle had a risk that was 71 percent to 121 percent higher than those with a favorable lifestyle.

More impressive was the reduction in coronary events — heart attacks, bypass procedures and death from cardiovascular causes — at every level of risk. Those with a favorable lifestyle, compared with those with an unfavorable lifestyle, had a 45 percent reduction in coronary events among those at low genetic risk, a 47 percent reduction among those with intermediate genetic risk, and a 46 percent reduction among those at high genetic risk.

What does this mean in real-world numbers? Among those at high genetic risk in the oldest cohort study, 10.7 percent could expect to have a coronary event over a 10-year period if they had an unfavorable lifestyle. That number was reduced to 5.1 percent if they had a favorable lifestyle. Among those at low genetic risk, the 10-year event rate was 5.8 percent with an unfavorable lifestyle and 3.1 percent with a favorable lifestyle. In the other cohort studies, similar relative reductions were seen.

These differences aren’t small. The risk of a coronary event in 10 years was halved. The absolute reduction, more than 5 percentage points in the genetic group at high risk, means that lifestyle changes are as powerful as, if not more powerful than, many drugs we recommend and pay billions of dollars for all the time.

There are important lessons to be learned. These results should encourage us that genetics do not determine everything about our health. Changes in lifestyle can overcome much of the risk our DNA imposes.

Lifestyle changes are hugely important not only for those at low risk, but for those at high risk. The relative reductions in events were similar at all levels of genetic risk.

Remember that changes in lifestyle also reduce your risk of cancer, the number two killer making it clear that a healthy lifestyle has implications for an even greater number of us!