Dr. Jonny Bowden

Category: Cholesterol & Heart Health

  • Heart Disease: Genetics or Lifestyle?

    Heart Disease: Genetics or Lifestyle?

    Guest article from Life Extension Institute:

    On November 15, 2010, the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2010 featured presentations of the results of two studies which indicate that lifestyle has a greater impact on whether one will develop cardiovascular disease than being genetically predisposed to acquire the disease.

    In the first study, researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine evaluated data from 2,336 men and women aged 18 to 30 upon enrollment in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults longitudinal study sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Diet, physical activity, alcohol intake, smoking status, weight, and blood pressure and glucose levels were assessed at the beginning of the study and at the seventh and twentieth years of follow-up.

    Among participants who maintained five healthy lifestyle factors (having a healthy body mass index, limiting alcohol consumption, consuming healthy amounts of potassium, calcium and fiber and a low intake of saturated fat; participating in regular exercise, and never smoking) 60 percent had a low risk profile for cardiovascular disease after 20 years. That percentage dropped to 37 percent for those who had four factors, 30 percent for three factors, 17 percent for two and 6 percent for one or none. Separate analyses for men, women, Caucasians and African-Americans turned up similar findings.

    The second study, also conducted at Northwestern University, analyzed three generations of families enrolled in the Framingham Heart Study. The researchers determined that the majority of cardiovascular disease that developed in the subjects was caused by lifestyle factors, with only a small proportion due to heredity. “What you do and how you live is going to have a larger impact on whether you are in ideal cardiovascular health than your genes or how you were raised,” lead author and Feinberg School postdoctoral fellow in preventive medicine Norrina Allen concluded.

    “Health behaviors can trump a lot of your genetics,” noted Donald Lloyd-Jones, MD, who is the chair and professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern Medicine and a cardiologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. “This research shows people have control over their heart health. The earlier they start making healthy choices, the more likely they are to maintain a low-risk profile for heart disease.

    “We really need to encourage individuals to improve their behavior and lifestyle and create a public health environment so people can make healthy choices,” he added. “We need to make it possible for people to walk more and safely in their neighborhoods and buy fresh affordable fruit and vegetables in the local grocery store. We need physical activity back in schools, widely applied indoor smoking bans and reduced sodium content in the processed foods we eat. We also need to educate people to reduce their calorie intake. It’s a partnership between individuals making behavior changes but also public health changes that will improve the environment and allow people to make those healthy choices.”

    Dr. Jonny comments:

    If I had a dollar for every person who’s ever told me, with a fatalistic sigh, “It’s in my genes.. nothing I can do about it”, I’d be typing this from an ocean villa in St. Martin.

    Here’s the truth about genes.

    Genes are not “fixed entities” that predetermine outcomes. (There are very, very few diseases that are determined by a single gene. Huntington’s Chorea is one- you can count the others on one hand).

    Genes are plastic, meaning they can be turned on or off, modified and changed, “expressed” or “not expressed” depending on their interaction with the environment. The emerging science of “Nutrigenomics” is about investigating the interaction between genes and nutrients. The bottom line- as the guest article points out- is that what you do, how you live and what you eat has far more of an impact on your life than your actual genes do.

    Earlier research from the Nurses Health Study showed that five factors- surprisingly similar to the five factors found in the above mentioned study—can lower heart disease risk by over 80%. There isn’t a drug in the world that can do that. The five factors?

    1. Maintain a healthy body weight
    2. Eat a Mediterranean style diet high in fish
    3. Exercise regularly
    4. Don’t smoke
    5. Alcohol in moderation (2 drinks max for guys, 1 drink max for women on a daily basis)

    My favorite supplements for protecting the heart are Fish Oil, Magnesium and Coenzyme Q10. (If you’re on a statin drug, you MUST take CoQ10 on a daily basis!) If you have any kind of heart disease, you should probably add to those three D-Ribose and Carnitine. (Cardiologist Steve Sinatra, MD recommends CoQ10, carnitine, ribose and magnesium as the “awesome foursome” for heart disease. I agree wholeheartedly.)

  • Eat Chocolate for Heart Health

    Eat Chocolate for Heart Health

    A study from Harvard examined the chocolate-eating habits of over 31,000 Swedish women and concluded that women who consumed an average of one to two servings of high-quality chocolate per week were at 32% lower risk of developing heart failure. Those who ate one to three servings per month had a 26% lower risk.

    Which ain’t bad.

    But the benefit—at least in this study– disappeared when the women ate a lot more. While 20-30 grams a month of chocolate per month reduced the risk of heart failure, more chocolate than that (one to two servings a week) and the benefit disappeared, while much more than that (three to six servings a week) and the risk actually increased by 23%.

    “At least for women, consumption of chocolate seems to be associated with a decreased risk of heart failure, but the protective effect was only seen with relatively small amounts of consumption, less than one serving a day,” said senior study author Dr. Murray Mittleman. “With higher levels, the benefit appears to be lost and perhaps even [have] a detrimental effect.”

    However a study earlier in the year- the largest one to examine the association between chocolate consumption and the risk of cardiovascular disease- found a protective effect at much greater intakes. In that study, individuals consuming 7.5 grams per day (about one square) had a 39% lower risk of heart attack and stroke than individuals who ate almost no chocolate.

    Other studies have examined the effect of high-cocoa chocolate on blood pressure (it lowers it) but the Harvard study is the first to examine the relationship of chocolate to heart failure (also called congestive heart failure), a condition in which the heart is unable to pump blood sufficiently to the rest of the body.

    (Much research has shown that Coenzyme Q10 can be helpful to people with congestive heart failure. The heart needs a constant supply of ATP, the energy molecule needed so badly by the heart, and ATP can’t be produced without Coenzyme Q10.)

    Back to cocoa. Plant compounds in cocoa called flavanols help modulate a compound called nitric oxide, which is critical for healthy blood flow and healthy blood pressure. In one Italian study, dark chocolate was shown to lower blood pressure, and the reason may well be that flavanol-rich coca actually supports the body’s ability to synthesize nitric oxide.

    So go ahead and enjoy chocolate on this day which was almost meant to celebrate it. Just be sure you choose “high-cocoa” dark chocolate. The higher the cocoa content the more good stuff is in it (but the more bitter it tastes). Look for 60- or 70-percent cocoa which should provide all the flavanols you need plus taste as sweet and delicious as you expect chocolate to taste.

    And until the research on eating chocolate for heart health gets a little clearer on the “perfect” dose, stick with a square or so a day (or every other day).

  • This Supplement Really Does Help Prevent Heart Disease

    Fish oil helps prevent heart disease.

    There, I’ve said it, no disclaimers, no “these statements haven’t been evaluated by the FDA,” no ”results aren’t typical” in small print, just a clear, measured opinion statement based on literally hundreds of studies showing the overwhelming benefit of omega-3 fatty acids for just about every organ and system in the human body, especially the heart.

    Of course, this is not just my opinion. In a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health reported that women who consumed fish two to four times per week reduced their risk of heart disease by 30 percent. (Women who consumed fish five times a week or more had a whopping 45% less chance of dying of heart disease over the next 16 years compared to healthy women who ate fish less than once a month!) Another study, also in JAMA, found that men who had no evidence of prior heart disease but consumed omega-3 fatty acids from marine sources had a significantly reduced risk of sudden death.(2)

    Fish oil cannot only help prevent heart disease; it can also help you survive it. Italian researchers reported in the journal Circulation that consuming 1 gram a day of omega-3 fatty acid supplements translated to a significantly reduced risk of sudden death among heart attack survivors. Heart attack survivors who took one gram (1000 mg) of fish oil supplements daily were 53% less likely to die of sudden death than the men who didn’t take the fish oil supplement.

    As long ago as 2002, two distinguished professors at Harvard Medical School, Frank Wu, MD and Walter Willett, MD, examined a massive amount of research in the area of diet and heart disease, reviewing 147 studies to try and find out the basic principles of a heart-healthy diet. Though they ultimately came up with five, the number one principle was this: Increase your consumption of omega-3 fats from fish and fish oil supplements and even plant sources (such as flaxseed). (Flaxseed and flaxseed oil are the number one source of the only plant-based omega-3, alpha linolenic acid, and is a good option for those who cannot or will not eat fish or fish oil.)

    Then there’s metabolic syndrome, a nasty constellation of symptoms that increases the risk of heart disease. Metabolic syndrome occurs when you have three of the following five conditions: abdominal obesity (apple shape), high triglycerides, high blood pressure, low HDL cholesterol and high fasting glucose (sugar). (At least 25% of the population has three of these symptoms.) A recent review of 21 studies found that individuals with metabolic syndrome had over 50% increased risk for heart disease and an incredible 74% increased risk for stroke!

    Enter fish oil. Research published in December 2010 found that men in the top 10 percent with respect to intake from the fatty acids found in fish (median intake of 786 mg/day) had a 47 % lower risk of developing the metabolic syndrome as compared to those with lower daily intakes.

    But wait, there’s more!

    Omega-3’s from marine sources (fish oil) also reduce the risk of stroke, lower triglycerides (an independent risk factor for heart disease), reduce blood pressure and improve blood-clotting mechanisms.

    A recent study in The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that increasing the omega-3’s from fish and fish oil reduce the risk of heart failure by 25%. Those who had the highest intake of these valuable omega-3’s had a very significant reduction in the risk of heart failure of 25 percent. That study came on the heals of a previous study by the same research team- a study that is one of the largest studies investigating the relationship between omega-3’s from fish and heart failure—found that the omega-3’s in fish reduce the risk by a remarkable 33 percent.

    So here’s the deal. Cold water fish like wild salmon and fish oil capsules like Barlean’s Fresh Catch fish oil products contain two different omega-3 fatty acids: EPA (eicosapentanoic acid) and DHA (docasahexanoic acid). These two important fatty acids have somewhat different but overlapping impacts on health. Both reduce one of the biggest contributors to degenerative disease on the planet- inflammation. When you take fish oil, you are consuming both of these vital and essential fats and protecting your heart- and your health- in a myriad of ways.

    But it’s not quite as simple as just taking fish oil. It’s important to remember that the quality of the fish oil you consume depends on where it comes from. Fish oil from fish found in the Hudson River in New York, or from some contaminated river in another country may be cheap, but those fish are basically inedible and their oil has a high likelihood of being contaminated with heavy metals. Moreover, many of the big commercial chains like big box stores and drugstores buy in enormous quantities and keep their bottles sitting on the shelf for as long as a year, collecting dust and very likely going rancid.

    In addition, it’s important to remember that the part of the fish oil you’re interested in is the EPA and DHA components; not the “total” fish oil. EPA and DHA are like the nuggets of gold found in the prospector’s tin. The rest is sand. Cheap fish oil supplements  trumpet “1000mg of fish oil per serving” on the label but that’s useless information. You want to know how much DHA and EPA is in each serving. One teaspoon of Barlean’s Fresh Catch Fish Oil contains a whopping 850 mg of EPA and 540 mg of DHA, a perfect ratio of the two fatty acids.

    Every 2-capsule serving of the Signature Fish Oil Capsules contains 360 mg of EPA and 240 mg of DHA, just the amount recommended by most health organizations. Even better, the high-potency version (Ultra EPA-DHA) which is my personal favorite and the one I take daily, contains a whopping 783 mg of EPA and 400 mg of DHA per serving of two capsules.

    Barlean’s Fresh Catch fish oil is made in small batches under rigorous quality control. Each batch is rigorously tested by independent, registered labs that verify the purity, freshness and potency. Barlean’s Ultra EPA-DHA even won the prestigious Five Star Rating from the IFOS (International Fish Oil Standards).I’m often asked what the most important supplement for heart health is. It’s an easy question and I have a ready answer: Barlean’s Fresh Catch Fish Oil.

    I never miss a day of taking this important supplement, and recommend that you do the same.

    Your heart will thank you!

  • Teenagers and Heart Disease: The Number One Culprit

    Teenagers and Heart Disease: The Number One Culprit

    United Press International: Teenagers who eat a diet high in sugar — mainly due to sweetened drinks — may have a higher risk of heart disease later in life, U.S. researchers suggest.

    Study author Jean Welsh, a nurse who is a postdoctoral fellow in pediatric nutrition at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, says overweight or obese teens with the highest levels of added sugar intake had increased signs of insulin resistance — often a precursor to diabetes.

    “Adolescents are eating 20 percent of their daily calories in sugars that provide few if any other nutrients,” Welsh says in a statement. “We know from previous studies the biggest contributors of added sugars to the diet are sugar-sweetened beverages such as sodas, fruit-flavored drinks and sweetened coffees and teas.”

    The study of 2,157 teens ages 12-18, published in the National Health and Nutrition Survey, found the average daily consumption of added sugars was 28.3 teaspoons or 476 calories — 21.4 percent of their total calories.

    Teens who consume the highest levels of added sugars had lower levels of high-density lipoprotein levels, the “good” cholesterol, and higher levels of triglycerides and low-density lipoproteins, the “bad” cholesterol.

    Dr. Jonny Comments: Look for all the big soda companies to spin this in the usual way: “no one food causes obesity”, “soda can be part of a healthy diet”, “consumers have the freedom to choose what they want” and all the other same old corporate PR claptrap designed to take the focus off the single, politically incorrect truth which is that sugar is the major culprit in the American diet and they’re in the business of selling sugar water.

    I see this latest study as one more blow to the “fat causes heart disease” hypothesis (known technically as “the lipid hypothesis”), as we begin to confront the fact that consuming a high-glycemic diet contributes to every one of the major causes of death on the planet.

    Cutting back on sugar- from all sources, but especially from processed carbs and soda- might be one of the most important action steps you can take to improve your health immediately.

  • Using Guided Imagery as a Weight Loss Tool

    Using Guided Imagery as a Weight Loss Tool

    Guided imagery is a program of directed thoughts and suggestions. It’s a way to help you harness the power of your subconscious mind.

    And it’s an incredibly effective tool for weight loss.

    Here’s how it works: You listen to the gentle instructions and allow your imagination to take you to a relaxed and focused state. This can be done in person with an instructor, or, more commonly, with a taped audio program which can help guide you through the process. (The six Guided Imagery mp3’s are the latest addition to the all-new 2011 version of Diet Boot Camp.)

    Generally, guided imagery has a specific purpose—such as helping you stop smoking, or helping you lose weight. (It’s particularly helpful with both of these challenges.)

    The concept behind guided imagery is that your body and mind are ultimately and powerfully connected. It’s also based on the well-documented fact that what we imagine appears “real” to the brain, and sends important (subconscious) messages that help us put what we visualize into practice.

    Our bodies often respond to what we imagine as if what we are seeing in our minds eye is completely real. Here’s an example:  Imagine an orange or a lemon in great detail-the smell, the color, the texture of the peel. Continue to imagine the smell of the lemon, and then see yourself taking a bite of the lemon and feel the juice squirting into your mouth. (Many people salivate when they do this.)

    This exercise demonstrates how your body can respond to what you are imagining.

    You can achieve a relaxed state when you imagine all the details of a safe, comfortable place, such as a beach or a garden. This relaxed state may aid healing, learning, creativity, and performance. It may help you feel more in control of your emotions and thought processes, which may improve your attitude, health, and sense of well-being.

    What is guided imagery used for?

    You can use guided imagery to promote relaxation, which can lower blood pressure and reduce other problems related to stress. But you can also use it to help reach goals (such as weight loss or quitting smoking), manage pain, and promote healing. Using guided imagery can even help you to prepare for an athletic event or for public speaking.

    Is guided imagery safe?

    There is nothing safer than guided imagery. It has no known risks.

    Guided imagery is most effective when the person teaching it has training in guided imagery techniques. (The new guided imagery audio mp3’s for Diet Boot Camp 2011 were designed by Anja Christy, one of the top weight loss coaches in the country and a certified Guided Imagery Practitioner.)

    Remember the old saying, “Seeing is believing”? You can use guided imagery to “see” yourself in a desired state (like being at your perfect weight) or to “see” yourself doing things (like public speaking). The message sent to your subconscious is very clear: “She can DO this!”

    Why not harness the enormous power of your subconscious mind to help you achieve your goals this year? Remember, in weight loss- as in everything else- your brain is your greatest ally. Guided imagery is a terrific way to harness its power and achieve incredible results!

  • This Spice Manages Your Blood Sugar

    A new study by Richard Anderson, PhD at the US Department of Agriculture has found that cinnamon may help reduce risk factors that are associated with both heart disease and diabetes.

    For this study, 22 obese subjects were recruited, all of whom had what’s called “impaired blood glucose values”. That means their blood sugar wasn’t well controlled, a condition often called “prediabetes”.

    When blood sugar levels are too high, the body produces an abundance of insulin, also known as the “fat-storage hormone” or “the hunger hormone”. The cells become “resistant” to this excess insulin, basically ignoring it while it “knocks” on the cell “doors” trying to get in so it can dump that extra sugar. You wind up with high blood sugar and high insulin, a condition known as “insulin resistance”.

    While it’s possible to have this kind of condition and not be overweight, it’s pretty rare. According to the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, most people with insulin resistance (“prediabetes”) develop full blown type ll diabetes within ten years unless they lose 5-7% of their body weight. People with this condition are also much more at risk for developing cardiovascular disease.

    In the present study, the volunteers were randomly divided into two groups. One group got a placebo (an inert substance) while the other got 250mg of a water-soluble cinnamon extract which they took twice a day in addition to their usual diet. The researchers collected blood after an overnight fast right at the beginning of the study, then again after six weeks and once again after 12 weeks. They were looking for changes in either blood glucose (sugar), antioxidant levels, or both.

    The results? Those who took the cinnamon extract improved their antioxidant levels by between 13 and 23 percent.

    That part’s not surprising, as cinnamon contains a number of antioxidants. The surprising finding of the study was that this improvement in antioxidant status was accompanied by improvements in fasting blood sugar.

    Earlier studies- also by Anderson and his team- showed that cinnamon was effective in reducing not only blood sugar, but also triglycerides and total cholesterol in people with type ll diabetes.

    (You can read more about cinnamon and its health benefits in my book, “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth“)

  • Drinking This Beverage Will Increase the Risk for Diabetes

    (Xinhua News Agency- Oct. 29, 2010)

    A new study has found that regular consumption of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with a clear and consistently greater risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.

    According to the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers, the study provides empirical evidence that intake of sugary beverages should be limited to reduce risk of these conditions.

    The study appears online Wednesday in the journal Diabetes Care and will appear in the November print edition.

    “Many previous studies have examined the relationship between sugar-sweetened beverages and risk of diabetes, and most have found positive associations but our study, which is a pooled analysis of the available studies, provides an overall picture of the magnitude of risk and the consistency of the evidence,” said lead author Vasanti Malik, a research fellow in the HSPH Department of Nutrition.

    Consumption of sugary drinks, the majority of which are sodas, has increased substantially in the U.S. and across the globe and previous scientific studies have shown consistent associations with weight gain and risk of obesity.

    However, this study is the first meta-analysis to quantitatively review the evidence linking sugar- sweetened beverages with type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

    Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors, such as high blood pressure and excess body fat around the waist, that increase the risk of coronary artery disease, stroke and diabetes.

    The researchers, led by Malik and senior author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH, did a meta- analysis that pooled 11 studies that examined the association between sugar-sweetened beverages and those conditions. The studies included more than 300,000 participants and 15,043 cases of type 2 diabetes and 19,431 participants and 5,803 cases of metabolic syndrome.

    The findings showed that drinking one to two sugary drinks per day increased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 26 percent and the risk of metabolic syndrome by 20 percent compared with those who consumed less than one sugary drink per month. Drinking one 12- ounce serving per day increased the risk of type 2 diabetes by about 15 percent.

    “The association that we observed between soda consumption and risk of diabetes is likely a cause-and-effect relationship because other studies have documented that sugary beverages cause weight gain, and weight gain is closely linked to the development of type 2 diabetes,” said Hu.

    While a number of factors are at work in the development of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, sugar-sweetened beverages represent one easily modifiable risk factor that if reduced will likely make an important impact, say the researchers.

    “People should limit how much sugar-sweetened beverages they drink and replace them with healthy alternatives, such as water, to reduce risk of diabetes as well as obesity, gout, tooth decay, and cardiovascular disease,” said Malik.

  • Antioxidants Lower the Risk for Heart Disease!

    If you read the popular media, you’ve probably gotten the impression that antioxidant supplements don’t “work”.

    Don’t believe everything you read in the paper.

    While it’s true that certain studies examining single nutrients have sometimes shown disappointing results—like the famous beta-carotene study a few years back—dozens of other studies have shown the profoundly beneficial effect of antioxidants on reducing or preventing the kinds of damage that can contribute to degenerative disease and to aging itself. (more…)

  • Blueberries May Help Deter Diabetes!

    By Craig Weatherby

    A daily smoothie containing antioxidant-rich blueberry powder increased sensitivity to insulin in people at risk for diabetes.

    As a result, the researchers believe that blueberries may reduce the risk of developing the dreaded lifestyle disease, and they called for more research.

    The placebo-controlled clinical trial involved people who were obese and had insulin resistance … conditions that increase the risk of developing diabetes. (more…)

  • Media Culpa: More Low-Fat Lies (Part Two)

    Last week I told you about a study that got a ton of press in the media, a study that concluded that animal-based low-carb diets were associated with greater rates of death over time than vegetable-based low-carb diets.

    In the intervening week, I’ve had a chance to interview Dr. Teresa Fung, the lead author of the study, and I’ve also had a chance to read some of the scathing reviews of the study posted on the blogosphere (linked below). (more…)