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V O L U M E TEN
I S S U E THREE
THE HEART OF THE MATTER
SPRING
FALL2009
2009
A newsletter from the California Heart Center Foundation
Studies Affirm Value of Healthy Lifestyle by Ed Edelson, HealthDay Reporter
Those who ate right, exercised lowered chances of cardiovascular trouble
All that heart-healthy advice about eating the right
foods, exercising and losing weight pay off in real life
for both men and women, two new studies show.
The reports, both originating at Brigham and
Women's Hospital in Boston and published in the July
22/29 issue of the Journal of the American Medical
Association, focused on different aspects of
cardiovascular risk in two large groups: the 83,882
women in the second Nurses' Health Study, and the
20,900 men in the Physicians' Health Study I. Both
arrived at the same conclusion: Do the right things,
and you get measurable benefits.
Simultaneous appearance of the two reports was
more or less a coincidence, said Dr. Luc Djousse, an
associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's at
Harvard Medical School, who led the men's study.
The study in men looked at the relationship between
the lifetime risk of heart failure and six lifestyle factors:
obesity, exercise, smoking, alcohol intake,
consumption of breakfast cereals, and consumption
of fruits and vegetables.
"Previous studies have shown benefit from individual
lifestyle factors," Djousse said. "We looked at all of
these factors together."
That look found a straight-line relationship between
adherence to healthy lifestyle factors and the risk of
heart failure, the progressive loss of ability to pump
blood that is often a prelude to death. The lifetime risk
of heart failure in the 22-year study was about one in
five in men who ignored the advice about all beneficial
lifestyle factors and one in 10 for those who adhered
to four or more of the factors.
"The one with a huge difference was adiposity,"
Djousse said. "The risk of heart failure was 17
percent in men who were overweight or obese,
and about 11 percent in those of normal weight."
Exercise was the next most important. Heart
failure occurred in 11 percent of the men who
exercised five or more times a week and in 14
percent of those who did not exercise, Djousse
said.
Smoking played a surprisingly small role,
probably because its incidence was not high
among the participants. "These were all
physicians, so you would expect a smaller
amount of smoking," Djousse said.
The women's study looked at the association
between high blood pressure -- a significant risk
factor for heart disease, stroke and other
cardiovascular problems -- and six lifestyle
factors: obesity, exercise, alcohol intake, use of
non-narcotic painkillers, adherence to a diet
designed to prevent high blood pressure and
intake of supplemental folic acid. All six were
found to be associated with the risk of
developing high blood pressure in the 14-year
study, and the association was cumulative.
Women who followed advice on all six factors -just 0.3 percent of those in the group -- had an 80
percent lower incidence of high blood pressure
than those who followed none of the rules. The
incidence was 72 percent lower for the 0.8
percent of the women who followed five lifestyle
rules, 58 percent lower for the 1.6 percent of the
women following four rules and 53 percent lower
for the 3.1 percent of the women who followed
I N T HIS I SSUE :
PAGE ONE: RESEARCH NEWS: Studies Affirm Value of Healthy Lifetyle
PAGE TWO: Team Up For Better Health
PAGE FOUR: Community Shows Support for 5K Event
three rules. As in the male group, obesity was the
most important risk factor.
While the clear message of both studies is that "a
healthy lifestyle prevents a number of illnesses,"
what is often overlooked is that the choice of a
healthy lifestyle is not a purely individual decision,
said Dr. Veronique L. Roger, a professor of
medicine and epidemiology at the Mayo Clinic,
who wrote an accompanying editorial.
"There is a shared responsibility between the
individual and the community," said Roger, who
read off a dictionary definition of lifestyle as "a
typical way of life of an individual, group or culture."
"The reality is that society has engineered physical
activity out of our lives," Roger said. "And it is
difficult for me to tell someone in Nebraska to follow
the Mediterranean diet, which is anchored in the
culture of that society."
Government interventions, such as the decision of
New York and other communities, to bar smoking in
restaurants and bars, can help more people
achieve the healthy lifestyles described in the two
reports, she said.
SOURCES: Luc Djousse, M.D., Sc.D, associate
epidemiologist, Brigham and Women's Hospital,
and associate professor, medicine, Harvard
Medical School, Boston; Veronique L. Roger, M.D.,
professor, medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester,
Minn.; July 22/29, 2009, Journal of the American
Medical Association
Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights
reserved. Reprinted with permission.
Questions or comments can be directed to:
California Heart Center Foundation
(310) 825-8900 phone
(310) 267-0019 fax
WWW.CALIFORNIAHEARTCENTER.ORG
Team Up for Better Health
Want more protection against skin cancer? Drink coffee before a
workout. Trying to build muscle? Stretch between sets. Hoping to
reduce your risk of stroke? Squeeze a little lemon into your green
tea. Though seemingly random, these unusual combinations
highlight the latest findings from the emerging practice that we call
"synergistic medicine," which pairs health-boosting strategies from
fields as divergent as kinesiology, neuroscience, and dermatology-with truly outstanding results. We have rounded up the best
dynamic duos for knocking out memory loss, fatigue, disease,
weight gain, and more. Talk about power couples!
1. Protect Your Heart: Green Tea + Lemon
In a study of more than 40,500 Japanese men and women, those
who drank five or more cups of green tea every day had the
lowest risk of dying of heart disease and stroke. Researchers
attribute the protective effect to catechins, powerful
antioxidants. Trouble is, less than 20% of these relatively unstable
compounds survive digestion. To get more out of every cup,
squeeze in some lemon juice. The vitamin C in lemons helps your
body absorb 13 times more catechins than it can obtain from plain
tea alone, according to a Purdue University study.
Sip to your heart's content: With the catechin boost from vitamin
C, you can help your heart by drinking just one or two cups daily. If
lemons make you pucker, squeeze in some
orange, lime, or grapefruit juice; they
increase antioxidant absorption, too,
though to a lesser extent. Just skip the milk-it actually interferes with absorption--and
stick to freshly brewed tea, hot or iced. The
catechins in ready-to-drink bottles are
ineffective.
2. Boost Brainpower: Exercise + Music
Twenty-one minutes of exercise is all it took to lift the moods of
cardiac rehabilitation patients in an Ohio State University pilot
study. But when participants listened to Antonio Vivaldi's Four
Seasons on headphones, they performed significantly better on a
verbal fluency test afterward. Researchers believe exercise
boosts cognitive performance by stimulating the central nervous
system, and the addition of music may help organize thoughts.
Move and groove: Though researchers haven't explored whether
these findings can be generalized to apply to healthy adults, it
can't hurt to exercise with your
MP3 player. Stick to the same
routine the study participants
followed--gradually increase
the slope and speed on your
treadmill every 10 minutes until
you can speak only in short
sentences (walk for a minimum
of 21 minutes). And listen to the
music of your choice; any genre
should work just as effectively
as classical.
3. Rev Immunity: Pot Roast + Carrots
This popular comfort food makes you
feel good for a reason. Carrots are
chock-full of vitamin A, a retinol that
plays a key role in preventing and
fighting off infections. But without the
zinc in the beef, your body wouldn't be
able to use it. Vitamin A can travel
through the blood only when it's bound to a protein. "And zinc is
required to make that retinol-binding protein," says Roberta L.
Duyff, RD, author of American Dietetic Association Complete Food
and Nutrition Guide. "So if you don't have enough zinc, vitamin A is
not going to move from the liver to the tissues, where it does its
job."
Germ-fighting combos: Dark orange, yellow, red, and green fruits
and vegetables are good sources of vitamin A. For a little lighter
fare, pair them with zinc-rich proteins: Slice fresh mango into lowfat yogurt, eat a small sweet potato with your fish, or stuff your
chicken with spinach, Florentine-style.
4. Flush Fat: Burger + Frozen Yogurt
The next time you eat a food high in saturated fat, follow it with a
low-fat, calcium-rich dessert. Calcium binds to fatty acids in the
digestive tract, blocking their absorption. In one study,
participants who ate 1,735 mg of calcium from low-fat dairy
products (about as much as in five 8-ounce glasses of fat-free
milk) blocked the equivalent of 85 calories a day.
Beef up calcium: Researchers haven't
determined exactly how much calcium you
should consume with each high-fat meal, says
Cynthia Heiss, PhD, RD. "But by including a
glass of fat-free or soy milk or a fortified juice
with a fatty meal, you may get a boost if you're
trying to lose weight," she says.
5. Ward Off Heart Disease: PLAC test + HSCRP test
These tests measure Lp-PLA2 and CRP levels, two important
markers of the kind of inflammation caused by the accumulation
of plaque in your arteries--a big predictor of heart disease. When
doctors added the results of these screenings to their usual
assessment of risk factors (blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.),
they ended up reclassifying 39% of intermediate-risk patients-including 11% who were in need of more serious treatment-reports a new study published in the journal Stroke. Many of these
patients may now be candidates for statins.
Get the tests if: You're middle-aged and your cholesterol is normal
but you smoke, have gained weight, have a family history of heart
disease, or have borderline hypertension, says Christie M.
Ballantyne, MD, study coauthor and director of the Center for
Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Methodist DeBakey Heart
and Vascular Center in Houston. If you do get put into a higher-risk
category, statins aren't the only treatment. Lp-PLA2 and CRP
levels both respond well to diet and exercise.
6. Save Your Eyesight: Salad + Avocado
Spinach may be good for your eyes, but avocado makes it even more
effective. Researchers at The Ohio State University found that when
adults ate a lettuce, spinach, and carrot salad with or without 3
tablespoons of avocado, the avocado eaters absorbed 8.3 times
more alpha-carotene, 13.6 times more beta-carotene, and 4.3 times
more lutein than the others. Researchers believe the healthy fats in
avocado increase the absorption of these fat-soluble carotenoids,
which are associated with a decreased risk of macular degeneration
and cataracts.
Go green: In the study, 3 tablespoons of
avocado was nearly as effective as 6, so
spare yourself the extra calories. Use a
Hass avocado if possible--it has a higher
monounsaturated fat content--or try
swapping in another healthy fat source,
such as safflower oil, nuts, or olives.
7. Build Muscle: Strength Train + Stretch
Weight-training builds strength by causing tiny tears in the muscle,
which then quickly repairs itself, ending up bigger and stronger.
Fast-track your strength gains by adding static stretching--in which
you hold a stretch for 10 to 30 seconds--to your routine. Three
studies led by Prevention advisor Wayne L. Westcott, PhD, found
that adults who stretched either between or immediately after
strength-training exercises developed about 20% more strength
than those who only lifted weights.
Lift and Reach: Rest at least a minute between sets and use that
time to stretch the muscle you've just worked. For instance, if you
just did leg extensions, stretch your quadriceps by pulling your right
ankle toward your butt while standing on your left leg. Hold each
stretch for 20 seconds
8. Avoid Metabolic Syndrome:
The
Mediterranean Diet + Nuts
A Mediterranean-style diet, rich in fruits,
vegetables, beans, fish, olive oil, and grains, is
associated with everything from weight loss to a
reduced risk of Parkinson's and heart disease.
Now, new research shows that people with metabolic syndrome--a
condition characterized by high cholesterol, blood pressure, and
blood sugar and excess belly fat--can reduce these symptoms by
adding an extra serving of mixed nuts to the healthful regimen. In a
large study, Spanish researchers instructed people at high risk of
heart disease to follow the diet with slight variations. Among the
group that added 30 g of nuts, the incidence of metabolic syndrome
decreased about 14% within a year (as opposed to, say, a 6.7% decline
in those who added a little more olive oil). Researchers believe the
fiber, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and omega-3 fatty acids in
the nuts helped regulate insulin, blood pressure, and inflammation.
Healthy snack attack: Participants in the study ate about five
walnuts, five hazelnuts, and five almonds daily. Kathy McManus,
RD, director of the department of nutrition at Brigham and
Women's Hospital in Boston, recommends eating the same
amount (approximately 1 ounce) to take the edge off lateafternoon hunger. Sprinkle the mixture over Mediterranean
diet-friendly yogurt, hot oatmeal, or a small salad.
9. Fight Fatigue: Eggs + Orange Juice
If you don't eat much meat, you may be feeling sluggish
because you're not getting enough iron. Reason: Your body can
readily absorb iron from meat (heme iron), but only 2 to 20% of
the nonheme iron found in veggies, beans, and eggs makes it
into your bloodstream. An effective booster: vitamin C. "It's the
most potent promoter of nonheme iron absorption," says
Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, author of Food Synergy. Vitamin C
keeps the iron up to 6 times more soluble--meaning your body
can now use 100% of the nonheme iron you
eat and stave off fatigue-causing anemia.
"C" that you get more iron: Wash down your
morning omelet with a glass of C-rich orange
juice. Or toss iron-rich tofu and C-dense
broccoli into your salad. Keep the cooking to
a minimum (or at low temperatures) and cut
your produce into thick chunks. Vitamin C is
easily destroyed by light, heat, and air.
10. Sidestep Skin Cancer: Caffeine + Cardio
Research shows that caffeine and exercise both have
anticancer properties. Combined, they offer powerful
protection against skin cancer. In research on animals exposed
to UVB radiation, Rutgers University scientists learned the
pairing increased the animals' ability to destroy skin cancer cells
by up to 4 times. Allan H. Conney, PhD, the director of the
laboratory for cancer research at the Ernest Mario School of
Pharmacy at Rutgers, suspects that caffeine inhibits ATR-1, a
genetic pathway that prevents damaged cells from selfdestructing. Both caffeine and exercise also decrease tissue fat,
which research shows helps cells deconstruct.
Have a cup, then walk: Drink a
strong cup of coffee an hour before
exercise, recommends Monique
Ryan, RD, a registered dietitian and
author of Sports Nutrition for
Endurance Athletes. (If your blood
pressure is elevated, skip the
caffeine.) Caffeine can also increase endurance and delay
fatigue--helping you walk longer and stronger. Just don't forget
the sunscreen.
Used with permission of Prevention Copyright© 2009.
All rights reserved.
Visit our website at:
www.californiaheartcenter.org
COMMUNITY SHOWS SUPPORT FOR 5K EVENT
The first annual Heart & Sole 5K Run/Walk was held on July 19,
2009 in Westwood Village. With over three hundred participants,
the event helped to raise needed funds to support the California
Heart Center Foundation’s research, education and patient
programs. The event also helped to raise awareness about the
importance of a heart healthy lifestyle.
CHC’s Chief Scientific Officer,
Dr. Jon Kobashigawa, thanks
supporters.
Featuring Tricia Takasugi of KTTV Fox 11 News as Master of
Ceremonies, the event also included a special Tribute Circle
comprised of heart transplant recipients walking in honor of their
organ donors.
Heart patients Kim Coleman and Julie Alberti
celebrate as they cross the finish line.
100 UCLA Medical Plaza, Suite 600
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Eric Marton, CHC President & CEO,
expresses appreciation for MC Tricia
Takasugi of KTTV Fox 11 News.
Heart transplant recipient
Terry Harrington pays a musical
tribute to organ donors.
5K Race participants enjoy the
Health & Fitness Expo.
NON-PROFIT ORG
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
LOS ANGELES CA
PERMIT NO. 639