Dr. Jonny Bowden

Category: Cholesterol & Heart Health

  • Raisins Reduce Blood Pressure

    A new study showed eating raisins three times a day could significantly lower your blood pressure if you have mild hypertension.

    Researchers presented this not-yet-published study – which they claim is the first to scientifically support raisins’ blood pressure-lowering effects compared to other snacks – at the American College of Cardiology’s 61st Annual Scientific Session.

    It is often stated as a known fact that raisins lower blood pressure. But we could not find much objective evidence in the medical literature to support such a claim,” said Dr. Harold Bays, the study’s lead investigator.

    “However, our study suggests if you have a choice between eating raisins or other snacks like crackers and chocolate chip cookies, you may be better off snacking on raisins at least with respect to blood pressure.”

    For this study, researchers gave 46 men and women with pre-hypertension raisins or an equivalent-calorie snack (such as cookies or crackers) three times a day for 12 weeks.

    Raisins significantly reduced systolic blood pressure, whereas the other snacks did not.

    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 28% of Americans have pre-hypertension, which they define as a systolic pressure from 120 to 139 mm Hg or a diastolic pressure from 80 to 89 mm Hg.

    In other words, pre-hypertension is a condition several steps away from becoming full-blown hypertension.

    While the study didn’t show how raisins lowered blood pressure, researchers pointed out they’re packed with antioxidants, fiber, potassium, and other nutrients that could reduce hypertension.

    Now, full disclosure: the California Raisin Marketing Board funded this study. I’m not arguing it was biased or anything, but it’s always good to know who funds these studies.

    I’m a fan of raisins, particularly if you snack on them rather than M & Ms or other junk food.

    When you were a kid, you might have made raisins for a science experiment. As you might remember, when you put grapes in the sun to dry, they lose water and eventually become raisins.

    But rather than sun-drying grapes, modern-day processing mechanically oven-dries them to speed up the process.

    Now for the not-great news: raisins have the highest pesticide residue of any fruit. So if you eat raisins, go organic.

    Raisins are affectionately known as nature’s candy. They’ve also gotten a bad rep in some circles for being too concentrated in sugar.

    Now, these are definitely not an all-you-can-eat food. And if you have any kind of insulin resistance or want to lose weight, you might want to forego or at least minimize raisin snacking. You most definitely don’t want to gorge on three servings a day like people did in this study.

    But not so fast with criticizing raisins. A study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that raisins were second highest of all dried fruits in antioxidants.

    Raisins offer boron, a mineral that’s important for bone and joint health. They’re also a great source of flavonoids.

    If you’re talking fruit hierarchy, raisins don’t rank anywhere near, say, blueberries on the health scale. Whereas blueberries are the valedictorian, raisins would be getting by with a solid B-.

    If you want to reduce blood pressure and don’t have weight issues, enjoy organic raisins three times a day. If fat loss is your goal, however, opt for more nutrient dense, lower-sugar choices like blueberries and strawberries.

  • Reduce Your Heart Attack Risk 50% with Water

    Reduce Your Heart Attack Risk 50% with Water

    A study in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that guys who drank five or more glasses of water had only a 46% chance of having a fatal heart attack, and women had only 59% risk, compared to people who drank two or less glasses of water daily.

    It gets even better (or worse, depending on how you look at it). Women who drank two or less glasses of something other than water – such as tea, a soft drink, or juice – had a 147% greater risk for a fatal heart attack than women who drank five or more glasses of water. (Guys, you had a 46% greater risk if you skipped the water for another drink.)

    Now, if those stats confuse you, I’ll sum it up: drink more water and reduce your risk for a heart attack.

    Even after researchers adjusted for other risk factors, these numbers still held intact.

    Researchers here looked at coronary heart disease and fluid intake stats in 8,280 male and 12,017 female participants. Overall, these participants had 246 “coronary heart disease events” (128 in men and 118 in women) over the six-year follow-up period.

    More than any other factor in this study, water intake determined fatal heart disease risk.

    According to lead researcher Dr. Jacqueline Chan, this was the “first study to record the association between high water intake and reduced risk of coronary heart disease… [B]y drinking more plain water, healthy people… reduced their risk of dying from a heart attack by half or more.”

    Chan notes there isn’t much evidence about the eight-glasses rule. She still wants people not to rely on tea, coffee, and other diuretics that can raise blood viscosity, and focus instead on plain water.

    Consider the statistics and you’ll understand her position.

    Your body is about 83% water, your brain and muscles are about three-quarters water, and even your bones pack 22% water. Water contributes to every single metabolic process in your body, including absorbing nutrients and removing toxic waste.

    Dehydration, on the other hand, can elevate at least four independent risk factors for heart disease: whole blood viscosity, plasma viscosity, hematocrit, and fibrinogen. Heart attacks occur more frequently in the morning, when your blood is thicker because of water loss while you’re sleeping.

    I don’t know about you, but that’s enough reason for me to crank up my water quota.

    Maybe you’re not concerned about a heart attack. But I bet I’ll get your attention when I say that not drinking enough water can make you fat.

    That’s because even when you’re mildly dehydrated, you can raise your stress hormone cortisol 1 – 2%. Among the many things cortisol does is store fat and break down muscle.

    Now, you’re going to hear naysayers claim the dehydration issue is overhyped. They argue there’s no double-blind, placebo-based study to show you need eight glasses of water every day.

    Others claim you get enough water from the tea, coffee, and Diet Coke you drink, so there’s no need to bother with boring water.

    Nonsense, I reply to these critics.

    I believe more water is better. Ideally, I would like you to drink half your weight in water ounces. So if you weigh 200 pounds, you need to drink 100 ounces of water a day. No kidding.

    If you’re shaking your head that doing so is impossible, I’m going to give you an easy tip to meet your water quota.

    Buy a liter-sized Sigg, Klean Kanteen, or other stainless steel water bottle. Fill it up three times, and sip on it, throughout your day.

    Bam! You’re done. See how easy that was?

    You’ll save money, the environment, and you won’t even have to worry about those pesky chemicals leaching from plastic bottles.

    Best of all, you’ll stay hydrated and provide the countless benefits water provides for your body.

  • Daily Habit Increases Heart Disease Risk By 20%

    Daily Habit Increases Heart Disease Risk By 20%

    A new study in the journal Circulation found men who consumed a 12-ounce sugar-sweetened drink every day had a 20% higher risk of heart disease compared to men who didn’t drink them.

    The study tracked primarily Caucasian middle-aged men, all in healthcare professions, for 22 years. Every two years, these participants completed questionnaires that inquired about diet and other lifestyle factors.

    Participants also gave a blood sample, which measured various lipids and proteins that provide markers for heart disease:

    • the inflammation marker C-reactive protein (CRP)
    • triglycerides
    • high-density lipoproteins (HDL cholesterol)

    No surprise in the findings…

    The men who daily gulped a sugary drink had higher triglyceride and CRP levels, as well as lower HDL levels, compared to non-sugar beverage drinkers.

    Researchers found that neither men who only occasionally drink these sugary beverages (maybe every few weeks), nor those who consume artificially sweetened drinks, increase their risk for heart disease.

    The American Heart Association recommends no more than about 150 calories for men and 100 for women every day to come from sugary drinks.

    My advice would be not to touch these drinks, period. They provide little if any nutrients and empty calories.

    I’m not just talking about soda here. I see people who know Coke is bad buy fruit juice or an energy drink that manufacturers market as healthy.

    Reality check: some of these juices and energy drinks pack more sugar than a Coke.

    Same deal with tea. I’m all for drinking green tea, but not when it’s loaded with sugar and other preservatives like many bottled teas are.

    And don’t be misled by “healthy” sugars. You might think you’re making a healthier choice with organic cane sugar or whatever, but your pancreas doesn’t know the difference.

    Whether it’s high-fructose corn syrup or organic whatever, you’re going to raise your blood sugar, which means you raise insulin. Insulin stores fat and creates all sorts of metabolic havoc that leads to diabetes, heart disease, and other complications.

    And while we’re talking sugars that are marketed as healthy…

    Can we please put this agave nonsense to rest?

    Health food stores are stocked with agave-sweetened drinks and foods, and it’s the biggest marketing scam of the past few years.

    Agave is about 90% fructose, which doesn’t raise insulin levels but creates even worse damage. Your liver poorly metabolizes fructose, which eventually can lead to fatty liver and inflammation. Fructose eventually gets repackaged as triglycerides, which store quite nicely around your waist.

    So nix the agave, okay?

    I also don’t recommend artificially sweetened drinks. Many contain aspartame, a potential neurotoxin that creates a lot of trouble for people.

    My point is, read your labels. Manufacturers hide sugar and artificial sweeteners under innocuous names. Learn them, and learn to put anything that doesn’t meet your standards back on the shelf.

    If you’re at a gas station or wherever and need a cold drink, look for one sweetened with stevia or xylitol. These are both beneficial natural sweeteners that don’t raise blood sugar levels or stress the liver.

    Lemon or lime flavored seltzer waters and mineral waters are also a great idea.

    Of course, if you’re at a Starbucks or your favorite coffee place, you can order green tea or coffee, either iced or hot. Just specify unsweetened, since some of the iced drinks come pre-made with sugar.

    Your best bet would be to brew your own tea at home. Make a gallon pitcher of green tea, sweeten it with stevia or xylitol, and carry it in a Sigg bottle when you’re out. You’ll save money and improve your health.

     

  • Obscure Nutrient Protects Against Heart Disease

    Next time you serve a rotisserie chicken or turkey, don’t pass up the dark meat. It could protect you against heart disease.

    A recent study published in the European Journal of Nutrition found that higher levels of taurine in women significantly lowered coronary heart disease (CHD) risk in women with high cholesterol.

    These women with sufficient taurine levels were 60% less likely to develop or die from CHD compared to women with lower serum taurine levels. If you haven’t heard, heart disease is the number one cause of natural death in America. You want to take every potential measure to prevent it.

    A few things I want to note about this study. Almost 80% participants were Caucasian women, so we can’t apply this information to men or even non-Caucasian women. Also worth noting is that taurine, for whatever reason, didn’t provide CHD protection in women with low cholesterol.

    But don’t dismiss this study because it doesn’t apply to you. Other studies also confirm taurine benefits heart health.

    An overview in the appropriately titled Experimental and Clinical Cardiology, for instance, describes numerous experimental and several clinical studies that show taurine boosts cardiovascular health by, for instance, improving lipid profile and acting as a powerful antioxidant.

    Now, at this point you’re either really fascinated with these studies or wondering what the heck taurine is, so let me explain.

    Taurine is a sulfur-containing amino acid that your body requires for numerous functions. Among its many roles, taurine maintains a healthy immune system, helps your gallbladder produce adequate amounts of bile, and contributes to optimal glucose metabolism.

    I recommend taurine in The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth for its anti-bloating abilities as part of my PMS cocktail.

    Taurine also works as a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent.

    You get my point: you want optimal amounts of taurine to get its numerous benefits.

    Now, here’s the deal. Taurine is classified as a conditionally essential nutrient, which means theoretically your body can synthesize adequate amounts with enough vitamin B6 as well as the amino acids methionine and cysteine.

    I say theoretically, because vegetarians and people with certain illnesses don’t always make enough taurine and aren’t getting it in their diets. Rich dietary sources of taurine include shellfish like claims and oysters as well as meat, so it’s no surprise vegetarians sometimes become deficient.

    Energy drinks like Red Bull have popularized taurine. Combined with other ingredients like caffeine and ginseng, taurine can potentially boost athletic performance and brain function.

    But studies here are mixed. One in the journal Amino Acids, for instance, found taurine-containing drinks like Red Bull can boost mental performance and mood. A later study in that same journal, however, found these drinks have no effect on short-term memory.

    I’m not a huge fan of energy drinks, and I certainly don’t think they’re the best way to get taurine.

    Even if you’re eating enough meat and other taurine food sources, you might consider supplementing to get therapeutic amounts of this important amino acid.

    Depending on your needs, I want to recommend two products:

    • Taurine 1000mg from Designs for Health, which provides a therapeutic gram of this amino acid to fight inflammation, boost heart health, and all the other great things taurine does.
    • Lipoic Synergy (also from Designs for Health) is a great formula that combines 200 mg of taurine with the powerful antioxidant lipoic acid and the B-vitamin biotin. If you want to balance blood sugar and support your liver, try Lipoic Synergy.

    Sources:

    • Bichler A, et al. A combination of caffeine and taurine has no effect on short term memory but induces changes in heart rate and mean arterial blood pressure. Amino Acids. 2006 Nov;31(4):471-6.
    • Lourenço R, et al. Taurine: a conditionally essential amino acid in humans? An overview in health and disease. Nutr Hosp. 2002 Nov-Dec;17(6):262-70.
    • Seidl R, et al. A taurine and caffeine-containing drink stimulates cognitive performance and well-being. Amino Acids. 2000;19(3-4):635-42.
    • Wójcik OP, et al. Serum taurine and risk of coronary heart disease: a prospective, nested case-control study. Eur J Nutr. 2012 Feb 10.
    • Xu YJ, et al. The potential health benefits of taurine in cardiovascular disease. Exp Clin Cardiol. 2008 Summer;13(2):57-65.

  • Depression Linked to Heart Disease

    NewsRx.com

    Think your thoughts and feelings don’t matter?

    Think again. Recent data suggests that individuals who suffer from a mood disorder could be twice as likely to have a heart attack compared to individuals who are not depressed.

    This process has been poorly understood – until now. A new study led by Concordia University has found that depressed individuals have a slower recovery time after exercise compared to those who are not depressed. (Exercise recovery time is an excellent metric for judging the condition of the heart.)

    These findings suggest that a dysfunctional biological stress system is at play among depressed individuals. Published in the journal Psychophysiology, the research warns of the importance of testing for cardiovascular disease among people suffering from major depression.

    “There have been two competing theories as to why depression is linked to cardiovascular disease,” says first author Jennifer Gordon, who is a PhD candidate at McGill University. “Depressed people may have poorer health behaviors, which may in turn lead to heart problems. The other possibility is physiological: a problem with the stress system known as the fight or flight response. Our study was the first to examine the role of a dysfunctional fight or flight response in depression in a large population.”

    Heart rate recovery is a powerful diagnostic tool. Even fitness trainers are taught to use a form of it (the Step Test). You step up and down on a Reebok step (or similar device) for three minutes and then sit down immediately and take your heart rate. The length of time it takes to get your heart rate back down to under 100 varies greatly, with very fit people getting there in under a minute.

    A total of 886 participants, who were on average 60 years old, took part in the study conducted by Concordia in association with the Montreal Heart Institute, McGill University, the Hopital Sacre-Coeur de Montreal, the Universite du Quebec a Montreal and the University of Calgary.

    Approximately 5 per cent of participants were diagnosed with a major depressive disorder. All individuals were asked to undergo a stress test after which their heart rate and blood pressure were recorded. Recovery heart rates and blood pressure levels were compared between depressed and non-depressed individuals.

    “We found that it took longer for the heart rate of depressed individuals to return to normal,” says senior author, Simon Bacon, a professor in the Concordia University Department of Exercise Science and a researcher at the Montreal Heart Institute.

    “Heart rate recovery from exercise is one way to measure the fight or flight stress response. The delayed ability to establish a normal heart rate in the depressed individuals indicates a dysfunctional stress response. We believe that this dysfunction, can contribute to their increased risk for heart disease.”

    “The take-home message of this study is that health care professionals should not only address the mental disorder, but also the potential for heart disease in patients who are suffering from major depression,” adds Bacon. “Both of these health issues should be treated to minimize risk of severe consequences.”

  • Vitamin D Delays Progression of Diabetes

    Guest article by John Cannell, MD, president of the Vitamin D Council

    Diabetes mellitus type 2, or adult-onset diabetes, is epidemic, according to the CDC. It is a disease of high blood sugar with insulin resistance or insulin deficiency. Insulin resistance is what it sounds like. The cells are resistant to the action of insulin, and insulin resistance often leads to adult diabetes. However, adult diabetes is no longer a useful term. Since the sun-scare, adult-onset diabetes is often diagnosed in children. Frequently, but not always, it is a disease of the obese. Exercise and diet helps.

    • In 2003, about 130 million people in the world had type 2 diabetes.
    • In the United States, 8% of the population has type 2 diabetes.
    • The disease doubled between 1990 and 2005 thanks to sun-scare, soda, and obesity.

    How many times have you heard that we need randomized controlled trials before we start taking vitamin D? Well, they are coming fast and furious. This August, researchers at Tufts University released a double blind randomized controlled trial that showed  2,000 IU/day of vitamin D3 had a major effect on insulin resistance.

    I liked what the authors said, “These results suggested that vitamin D may have a role in delaying the progression to clinical diabetes in adults at high risk of type 2 diabetes. …”

    Two thousand IUs per day for 4 months only increased 25(OH)D levels from  24 to 30 ng/ml.

    Why such a small increase in 25(OH)D?

    The average subject weighed 223 pounds, that’s why.

    This is good proof that the FNB was wrong when they said 20 ng/ml is as good as it gets.

    Remember the recent Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) said that levels of 20 ng/ml are just fine, do not expect any improvements with levels higher than 20 ng/ml.

    Keep in mind the NIH, especially the Office of Dietary Supplements, are against, not for, dietary supplements. They are especially sensitive to anyone implying the FNB study they helped fund is working against what they set to accomplish: to better the health and lives of individuals.

    The authors failed to write even a sentence about dose, and I assume it is because Tufts University wants some more NIH grants.

    If going from 24 to 30 ng/ml showed such an improvement in insulin sensitivity, the obvious question is what would going from 24 to 40 ng/ml do?

    I don’t think the authors wanted to embarrass the FNB anymore than their findings already did.

    Dr. Jonny Comments:

    Dr. Conell is pointing out something we’ve been saying for years: “adequate” nutrition is not the same as “optimal” nutrition. All the hooplah from the anti-supplement forces claiming that we need “only” 600 IUs a day of vitamin D is based on a very narrow reading of the research that speaks only and specifically about bone health and not the 100 other conditions that vitamin D can impact. Here’s one small example of the many ways vitamin D has a significant benefit that goes way beyond strong bones, and to get that benefit you need a heck of a lot more than the paultry 600 IUs the FNB solemnly declared was “all we need”.

    The columnist and commentator George Will once said something very amusing but very true. He said he had three major rules (to which I am going to add another). Will’s three “rules for life” were:

    1. Don’t play poker with a man named Slim

    2. Don’t take financial advice from a guy who’s yelling

    3. Don’t buy a Rolex from a man who’s running.

    To which I’d add:

    4. Don’t take your nutritional advice from the Government. Really.

  • New Cholesterol Guidelines: Utter Madness

    Usually I try to write these newsletter articles with a modicum of objectivity and fairness, checking my passion at the gate. But this latest travesty from the Cholesterol Establishment is simply too much to take sitting down.

    On Nov 11, The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute issued new guidelines on cholesterol.

    They now advise screening for all children between 9-11.

    Let me tell you in no uncertain terms why this is utterly ridiculous.

    Number one: Cholesterol is a hormone factory.

    Cholesterol is actually the parent molecule for the whole family of hormones known as steroid hormones. These hormones include cortisol (known as the “flight or fight” hormone), and the entire family of sex steroids including the estrogens, progesterone and testosterone. The sexual side effects of statin drugs has been well documented, and was even the subject of an entire book by one of the top cholesterol researchers in the world, Michel de Lorgeril, MD. Do we really want to put children on a drug that can conceivably impact their entire sexual development? Really?

    Number two: Cholesterol is used by the body to synthesize bile acids.

    Bile acids vitally important for the digestion of fat. They’re synthesized from cholesterol and then secreted into the bile. Bile acids are so important to the body that it holds onto most of them, keeping them from being lost in the feces and instead causing them to be reabsorbed from the lower intestine, put into a kind of “metabolic recycling” container and taken back to the liver. Still, even with its best efforts, the body loses some bile acids and to make up for this, the liver synthesizes approximately 1500-2000 mg of new cholesterol a day (that’s about 7-10 times the amount in a large egg). Clearly the body thinks you need that cholesterol.

    Number three: Cholesterol is an essential component of cell membranes.

    Cholesterol is an essential part of the membranes of the brain, the nervous system, the spinal cord and the peripheral nerves. It’s incorporated into the myelin sheath, a kind of insulation or “cover” for the nerve fibers that facilitates nerve impulse transmission. Cholesterol is also important for stabilizing cells against temperature changes. Memory and cognition problems are one of the most common side effects of statin drugs. (For more on this, see Dr. Duane Graveline’s frightening book, “Lipitor: Thief of Memory”.)

    Number four: Cholesterol is important for the Immune System.

    Cholesterol has an important connection to the immune system. Research has shown that human LDL (so-called “bad” cholesterol) is able to inactivate over 90 percent of the worst and most toxic bacterial products(1-4).

    And a number of studies have linked low cholesterol with a greater risk of infections. One review of 19 large, peer-reviewed studies of more than 68,000 deaths found that low cholesterol predicted an increased risk of dying from respiratory and gastrointestinal disease, both of which frequently have an infectious origin. Another study that followed more than 100,000 healthy individuals in San Francisco found that those who had low cholesterol at the beginning of the 15—year study were far more likely to be admitted to the hospital because of an infectious disease.(1,2). And an interesting finding from the MRFIT study found that 16 years after their cholesterol was first checked, the group of men whose cholesterol level was 160 or less were four times more likely to die from AIDS than the group of men whose cholesterol was over 240! (3)

    Number five: Cholesterol is the parent molecule for vitamin D

    It’s well known that an enormous number of people- perhaps over 50% of the population in this country, though exact figures aren’t known—have far less than the optimal amount of vitamin D in their systems. Low levels of vitamin D have been linked to depression, cancer, physical performance, weakened immunity, the inability to lose weight and even overall life expectancy. Could the huge number of vitamin D deficiency clinicians are seeing on a regular basis be partly due to the overuse of statin drugs? It’s hard to know—but it passes the smell test.

    Do you really want to put a kid on a drug that’s going to clearly impact his body’s ability to make this vital, important nutrient?

    But the biggest, most glaring reason the idea of screening kids for high cholesterol is boneheaded is this: Cholesterol doesn’t cause heart disease.

    No folks, we’ve been completely mislead, lied to, bamboozled and just plain misinformed.

    Parents: Do NOT repeat NOT succumb to the inevitable pressure to have your child tested for cholesterol and under NO circumstances consent to putting him or her on a statin drug.

    Cardiologist Stephen Sinatra and I are currently at work on a book explaining the whole thing- how we got on this crazy cholesterol-phobic path to begin with, and why the cholesterol myth continues to persist today despite the fact that it is clearly past its expiration date.

    I’ll save the details for the book, but in light of these new guidelines, I thought it was urgent to get the message out to you now.

    Trying to prevent heart disease by lowering cholesterol is like trying to cut calories from your McDonald’s super-size meal by eliminating the radish garnish.

    Cholesterol is the wrong target, and we’ve been totally and completely misled by those who tell us differently.

    Look, I don’t believe in “conspiracy theories”, at least not the kind publicity seeking hucksters promote in books with subtitles like “Secrets “THEY” don’t want you to know about!”  But I do believe there is a subtle (and not-so-subtle) circle of influence that flows freely between government (the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, the National Cholesterol Education Program), regulators (FDA), the pharmaceutical industry and their lobbyists, the medical journals and other movers and shakers in the “medical-industrial” complex.

    For example:  When the National Cholesterol Education Program lowered the “optimal” cholesterol levels in 2004, 8 out of 9 people on the panel had financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry, most of them to the manufacturers of cholesterol-lowering drugs who would subsequently reap immediate benefits from those same recommendations.

    Statin drugs are blockbusters. They are literally money factories for their manufacturers. (Lipitor, for example, is the best-selling drug in the history of pharmaceuticals.) Their manufacturers are not necessarily bad, evil people- but they have a responsibility. And that responsibility is to their shareholders, not to some Platonic vision of a healthy population.

    So, like any company, one of their goals is to find and develop new markets. If they can subtly help convince you- through publicity, marketing, influence, behind-the-scenes shenanigans, etc.– that children are at great “risk” from high cholesterol, they have created a brand new, extremely lucrative market for their products.

    Which is exactly what you, as a shareholder, would love to see. But you as a parent or a patient—well that’s another story.

    I consider the cholesterol book I’m currently working on with Dr. Sinatra to be the most important work I’ve ever done. Heart disease is the number one killer in the world, and people need to stop focusing on cholesterol and get to work on what the real issues in heart disease: inflammation, infections, oxidation, glycation and stress.

    I’m almost thinking we need an “Occupy Wall Street” type mass movement telling these folks, “Stop already!!!! Stop inundating us with messages about how “bad” and “dangerous” cholesterol is so you can continue to make 30 billion a year (and rising) selling us drugs to cure a “problem” that plays a very minor part in heart disease. Stop trying to get us to focus on the Radish garnish so that we won’t notice what those super-sized fries and milk shake are doing to us.”

    Just. Stop. It.

    Seriously.

    This has gone far enough.

     

     REFERENCES:

    1)    Iribarren C and others. Serum total cholesterol and risk of hospitalization, and death from respiratory disease. International Journal of Epidemiology 26, 1191–1202, 1997.

    2)    Iribarren C and others. Cohort study of serum total cholesterol and in-hospital incidence of infectious diseases. Epidemiology and Infection 121, 335–347, 1998.

    3)    Neaton JD, Wentworth DN. Low serum cholesterol and risk of death from AIDS. AIDS 11, 929–930, 1997.

  • Dark Chocolate Is Good For Your Heart

    Dark Chocolate Is Good For Your Heart

    A new study just came out adding to the growing body of research pointing to the conclusion that dark chocolate is a serious health food.

    You’ve heard me go on about the health benefits of dark chocolate more times than we both can count. But the research just keeps coming in, and dark chocolate keeps looking better and better!

    We already know from a previous study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology that women with the highest weekly chocolate intake (45 grams a week or more) had about 1/3 the number of strokes as women who consumed the least amount of chocolate.

    We also know that dark chocolate:

    The new study—published in the Journal of Nutrition—examined the effect of flavonoid-rich cocoa on major cardiovascular risk factors including:

    • blood pressure
    • cholesterol, BMI (a measure of overweight)
    • C-Reactive Protein (a measure of inflammation)
    • fasting blood sugar
    • fasting insulin
    • insulin sensitivity/insulin resistance

    The researchers performed what’s called a meta-analysis, which is a study of other studies; researchers gather a whole bunch of papers (in this case twenty four) pool the information and look for consistent trends and findings.

    In this case, they found that flavonoid rich cocoa definitely affects a whole bunch of cardiovascular risk factors. Flavonoid-rich cocoa consumption significantly improved blood pressure, insulin resistance and lipid profiles.

    Researchers have long suspected that the health benefits of dark chocolate are due to the high flavonoid content of cocoa. Flavonoids are plant chemicals with multiple health benefits- they’re antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. The specific flavonoids found in dark chocolate are called flavanols, and are believed to be responsible for the benefits.

    The flavanols in cocoa also do something else that’s very important. They modulate a compound in the body called nitric oxide. Nitric oxide  is critical for healthy blood flow and healthy blood pressure and is a very important compound in the area of cardiovascular health. One reason that chocolate lowers blood pressure may well be that flavanol-rich cocoa actually supports the body’s ability to synthesize nitric oxide.

    Remember, all chocolate is not created equal! To get the kinds of benefits on cardiovascular health that the studies all point to, you must consume dark chocolate with a high cocoa content (60% or more, preferably 65-70%). As the percentage of cocoa goes up, the chocolate bar tastes less sweet and more bitter.

    A 100% dark cocoa bar is almost inedible;  but a bar with around 60-75% still tastes great and yet doesn’t tend to spark cravings the way a high-sugar bar would. Remember that commercial chocolate bars—milk chocolate, white chocolate, low-cocoa dark chocolate—tend t0.o be filled with sugar and chemicals. For the real deal, go for the organic kind and make sure the cocoa content is high so you’re assured of getting all those beneficial flavanols!

  • Too Much Sugar Increases Risk for Heart Disease

    Adults who consume high levels of sugar have significantly elevated levels of several risk factors for heart disease, according to a new study by a team of researchers at the University of California, Davis, and in Japan.

    The study results suggest that U.S. dietary guidelines for sugar may be lax and should be reconsidered, the researchers say. Their findings were reported online  (July 28) in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, and will appear in the journal’s October print edition.

    “While there is evidence that people who consume sugar are more likely to have heart disease or diabetes, it has been controversial as to whether high-sugar diets may actually promote these diseases,” said Kimber Stanhope, the study’s senior author and a research scientist at UC Davis.

    “Our new findings demonstrate that several factors associated with an elevated risk for cardiovascular disease were increased in individuals who consumed 25 percent of their calories as fructose or high fructose corn syrup,” Stanhope added.

    In this study, the researchers examined 48 adult participants between the ages of 18 and 40 years. For five weeks before the study, subjects were asked to limit daily consumption of sugar-containing beverages to one 8-ounce serving of fruit juice. The participants were then divided into three groups, each group consuming 25 percent of their daily calories as fructose, high fructose corn syrup or glucose.

    The researchers found that within two weeks, study participants consuming fructose or high fructose corn syrup exhibited increased bloodstream concentrations of three known risk factors for heart disease: LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and a protein known as apolipoprotein-B, which can lead to plaque buildup in arteries.

    These same risk factors for heart disease did not increase in participants who consumed glucose. (In this study, the researchers were looking at the participants consuming glucose as a control group, against which results from the other two groups could be compared.)

    Stanhope noted that the American Heart Association recommends that people consume only five percent of their daily calories as added sugar, but the federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 suggest an upper limit of 25 percent or less.

    Funding for the study was provided by the National Institutes of Health.

    Dr. Jonny Comments: Don’t think for a moment that this study doesn’t apply to “ordinary” sugar, which the sugar industry is now trying to promote as a “healthier” alternative to high-fructose corn syrup. Don’t buy it. Though this study only investigated fructose and high-fructose corn syrup, I suspect that they would have gotten the same results using sugar, since regular old table sugar is 50 percent fructose, only a drop less than the amount found in high fructose corn syrup (which weighs in at 55% fructose, not a significant difference from table sugar).

    I called Dr. Stanhope and asked her what she thought about this.

    Here’s what she said: “We expect that the effects of sucrose would be comparable to those of HFCS because its composition (50% glucose/50% fructose) is very similar to the composition of the HFCS.

  • More Important Than Cholesterol?

    More Important Than Cholesterol?

    Readers of this newsletter know that I have long believed that the national obsession with cholesterol is ridiculous. Cholesterol is a relatively minor risk factor for heart disease compared with much more serious things like inflammation. And the emphasis on cholesterol to the exclusion of other more important risk factors has also led us to take our eye of the ball when it comes to a risk factor we can easily do something about without taking a single medication: triglycerides.

    Triglycerides are the main form in which fat is found in the body, the diet and the bloodstream. (A triglyceride is simply three (“tri”) fatty acids bound to a glycerol backbone.) High triglycerides are an independent risk factor for both heart disease and stroke. An even more important number than your cholesterol level is the ratio of triglycerides to HDL cholesterol. According to research published in Circulation, the Journal of the American Heart Association, and in the journal Clinics, this ratio is a powerful predictor of heart disease.

    It’s easy to figure your ratio. Look at any standard blood test that your doctor orders for you. It will contain a number for triglycerides and it will contain a number for HDL cholesterol. If your triglycerides are, for example, 150 and your HDL cholesterol is 50, your ratio is 150:50, or 3.

    The triglyceride to HDL ratio is also an excellent low-tech surrogate measure for insulin resistance. Those with high ratios (over 4 or 5) are very likely to be insulin resistant, a condition in which the muscle cells stop “listening” to insulin. Insulin resistance increases the risk for diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity and heart disease, and many health professionals are beginning to get on board with the idea that insulin resistance is actually the underlying cause of all of these.

    Triglycerides trigger the liver to produce more cholesterol, particularly the small dense particles known as LDLb which are particularly harmful.

    Elevated triglycerides can be due to being overweight, being inactive, smoking, or eating a diet very high in carbohydrates. You can bring triglyceride levels down rather easily by reducing sugar in the diet. High sugar diets- or diets high in processed carbs- raise insulin, a hormone which not only causes you to store fat but also signals the liver to produce more triglycerides.

    On a low-carb eating plan, triglycerides drop like a rock. This has been seen on virtually every low-carb diet study ever done. The more sugar and carbs you eat, the higher your triglycerides go. High carb diets raise triglycerides and low-carb diets lower them. It’s that simple.

    Don’t eat products that list sugar, fructose, corn syrup, sucrose, dextrose or honey as one of the first ingredients, and try eating more nuts. According to a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, people with elevated triglycerides were able to lower them by 10% by consuming approximately 2-3 ounces of nuts a day.

    Fish oil has also been shown to lower triglycerides, another reason to take this important daily supplement. (3,4,5,6)