We have all beleived that aspirin use will lower the risk of heart attack, mostly becuase it thins the blood. The problem I have always foudn though is that too much aspirin will stop the blood from clotting quickly and this in itslef almost led to a quick trip to the hospital for my wife last year.

This new study below though seems to show that it is not so obvious as to wether Aspirin really helps to prevent heart attacks but in itslef it is a good read with lots of findings

Long-term, low-dose aspirin provides no clear net value for primary prevention of cardiovascular events in apparently healthy adults, according to a meta-analysis of patient-level data.

In people not known to have cardiovascular disease, aspirin reduced composite MI, stroke, and vascular death rates to 0.51% per year compared with 0.57% among controls for a relative 12% reduction, according to Colin Baigent, B.M.B.Ch., of the University of Oxford, England, and colleagues in the Antithrombotic Trialists’ Collaboration. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease, Colin Baigent, coronary heart disease, diabetes, heart attack, heart attacks, heart disease, high blood pressure, Michigan, stroke, U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, United Kingdom, University of Oxford

We all know that cardio is great for adults to improve fitness and to improve our health but what about kids? We always see the kids running around but never think about that as any kind of training that you and I would do.

There is a new study that shows that cardio is great for kids too:

The study, whose first-year results are reported at EuroPRevent 2009, randomised 188 school children with a mean age of 11.1 years (from seven classes at three different high schools) to either an active exercise programme in their school routine, or to a conventional curriculum of just two sports lessons a week. The exercise programme comprised daily supervised exercise which included at least 15 minutes of endurance training. “So it was well controlled,” says Dr Walther, “with the teachers making sure that the programme was followed.”

“It’s clear that children today have different lifestyles from the past,” says investigator Dr Claudia Walther from the Heart Centre of the University of Leipzig. “They’re less active, and it was our hypothesis that an increase in their exercise activity would result in fewer risks of cardiovascular disease later in life.”

These are exactly what we see in adults and it is nice to see that diet alone is not what keeps the kids in good health but some real exercise as well Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: cardiovascular disease, Claudia Walther, Heart Centre, investigator, Leipzig, obesity, sports lessons, Stockholm, University of Leipzig

I have often thought that exercise can help get rid of the symptoms and even the effects of Diabetes and today I see that there is yet another study that says that exercise can at the very least stop you from getting type 2 diabetes. It is one thing to say that exercise and good health stops you from getting sick but if you are not sick some will argue that you are just genetically predisposed to not getting sick.

Group-based diet and exercise lifestyle interventions over six years can prevent or delay diabetes for up to 14 years after the intervention period. But whether lifestyle interventions also lead to reduced cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality remains unclear. These are the conclusions of authors of an Article in this week’s Diabetes Special Issue of The Lancet.

While several major clinical trials around the world have shown the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions to reduce diabetes incidence in people with impaired glucose tolerance*, questions remain over how long post-intervention these strategies remain effective. Professor Guangwei Li, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China, and Dr Ping Zhang, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and colleagues did the China Da Qing Diabetes Prevention Outcome Study (CDQDPOS), which followed-up patients 20 years after enrollment. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Atlanta, Beijing, cardiovascular disease, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, China, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, CVD, diabetes, diabetes prevention, disease control and prevention, Finland, Georgia, glucose tolerance, Guangwei Li, Helsinki, Jaana Lindström, Matti Uusitupa, National Public Health Institute, Ping Zhang, professor, United States, University of Helsinki, University of Kuopio

There are many ways to calculate your size and weight. Weight is easy with a scale but the way to measure your size is usually done using the Body Mass Index, a measurement I have never been a big fan of. Here is that and more. This info is from Health Canada but even if you are not a Canadian I think it is still relelvent.

Body Mass Index
The body mass index (BMI) assesses body weight relative to height. You can calculate your BMI by taking your weight in kilograms and dividing

it by your height in metres squared (BMI = kg/m²) or your weight in pounds divided by the square of your height in inches and multiplying that number by 704.5 (BMI = Ib/in² x 704.5). But you don’t need to do the math yourself. You can check your BMI on a standard BMI table found in many pharmacies and medical offices. If you have access to the Internet, there are many interactive BMI calculators that will do the math for you after you enter your height and weight. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: body mass index, calculate your bmi, Canada, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, food, Health Canada, heart disease, main food groups, the Food Guide, www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide­alimenVindex_e.html, www.nutritionrc.ca/guide.html

The Chinese have used green tea to treat ailments for several centuries. Nowadays, Western culture is beginning to understand the benefits of green tea. Recent research has revealed some of the health benefits of using green tea including the possible prevention of arthritis, cardiovascular disease, cataracts and also cancer.

Besides the disease-fighting benefits, Green Tea also aids weight loss programs. Studies have shown that drinking green tea helps you burn more calories. So what makes green tea so beneficial?

Green tea is the most popular types of Chinese tea. Many people, consider it as the best drink for hot summers. The main reason for this claim is the fact that green tea is cool and fights off irritation. Many have even claimed that it relieves fever.

The health benefits of Green Tea have been known throughout the world, and are appreciated a lot more these days. The Chinese have known about these medicinal benefits since ancient times, as they have been using green tea to treat everything from headaches to depression, and a long list of other ailments. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: antioxidant, arthritis, Asia, cancer, cardiovascular disease, cataracts, depression, esophageal cancer, fever, green tea, headaches, heart attacks, irritation, National Cancer Institute, prevention of arthritis, stroke, thrombosis, University of Purdue

Any man can have a problem getting or maintaining an erection once in a while. When this happens repeatedly, the problem is known as erectile dysfunction, or simply ED.

It is normal for a man to experience changes in his sexual patterns as he ages. It may take longer for him to develop an erection, his penis may not become as rigid, or it may take more stimulation to bring about an erection. It is not uncommon for older men to have less intense orgasms than they used to, and it may take them longer to recover between erections.

An erection begins with stimulation. This can be a mental image, physical contact, or both. The stimulation causes the brain to send a signal to the muscles in the penis telling them to relax. This permits blood to flow in and fill the spongy interior of the penis, causing it to expand. Once a man has an erection, the muscles contract to stop blood from flowing in. When the blood begins to flow out, the erection reverses. When something happens to disrupt this chain, the result can be ED.

What causes Erectile Dysfunction?
The most common cause of Erectile Dysfunction is damage to nerves, arteries, muscles, and other tissues that may be the result of a health problem such as diabetes, kidney disease, chronic alcoholism, multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular disease, or neuro¬logic disease. An injury to the penis, spinal cord, prostate, bladder, or pelvis can harm nerves, muscles, or arteries and can lead to Erectile Dysfunction.

Erectile Dysfunction may also occur as a side effect of certain medicines, including some blood pressure drugs, antihistamines, antidepressants, tranquilizers, and appetite suppressants.

Psychological factors such as stress, anxiety, guilt, depression, low self-esteem, and fear of sexual failure can also influence a man’s ability to achieve and maintain an erection.

Other possible causes include smoking (which affects blood flow in the veins and arteries), heavy alcohol consumption, and hormonal abnormalities such as low testosterone levels.

Tags: alcoholism, cardiovascular disease, depression, diabetes, erectile-dysfunction, kidney disease, multiple sclerosis, neuro¬logic disease

We hear very often about the importance of antioxidants and the role they play in improving our health so I thought I would check the great Wikipedia and US government research sites to see if I could find some good info on the role that antioxidants play in good health and how to get them.

Antioxidants are present in foods as vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, and polyphenols, among others. Many antioxidants are often identified in food by their distinctive colors—the deep red of cherries and of tomatoes; the orange of carrots; the yellow of corn, mangos, and saffron; and the blue-purple of blueberries, blackberries, and grapes. The most well-known components of food with antioxidant activities are vitamins A, C, and E; ß-carotene; the mineral selenium; and more recently, the compound lycopene.

The research continues to grow regarding the knowledge of antioxidants as healthful components of food. Oxidation, or the loss of an electron, can sometimes produce reactive substances known as free radicals that can cause oxidative stress or damage to the cells. Antioxidants, by their very nature, are capable of stabilizing free radicals before they can react and cause harm, in much the same way that a buffer stabilizes an acid to maintain a normal pH. Because oxidation is a naturally occurring process within the body, a balance with antioxidants must exist to maintain health.

Why do you need antioxidants?

While the body has its defenses against oxidative stress, these defenses are thought to become less effective with aging as oxidative stress becomes greater. Research suggests there is involvement of the resulting free radicals in a number of diseases associated with aging, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, immune dysfunction, cataracts, and macular degeneration. Certain conditions, such as chronic diseases and aging, can tip the balance in favor of free radical formation, which can contribute to ill effects on health. This leads to the idea that antioxidants can help improve health and aging.

Consumption of antioxidants is thought to provide protection against oxidative damage and contribute positive health benefits. For example, the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin engage in antioxidant activities that have been shown to increase macular pigment density in the eye. Whether this will prevent or reverse the progression of macular degeneration remains to be determined.10 An increasing body of evidence suggests beneficial effects of the antioxidants present in grapes, cocoa, blueberries, and teas on cardiovascular health, Alzheimer’s disease, and even reduction of the risk of some cancers.

Taking Vitamins for Antioxdants

Despite the clear role of oxidative stress in cardiovascular disease, controlled studies using antioxidant vitamins have observed no clear reduction in the risk or progression of heart disease. This suggests that other substances in fruit and vegetables (possibly flavonoids) at least partially explain the better cardiovascular health of those who consume more fruit and vegetables.

During exercise, oxygen consumption can increase by a factor of more than 10. This leads to a large increase in the production of oxidants and results in damage that contributes to muscular fatigue during and after exercise. The inflammatory response that occurs after strenuous exercise is also associated with oxidative stress, especially in the 24 hours after an exercise session. The immune system response to damage done by exercise peaks 2 to 7 days after exercise, the period during which adaptation resulting in greater fitness is greatest. During this process, free radicals are produced by neutrophils to remove damaged tissue. As a result, excessive antioxidant levels have the potential to inhibit recovery and adaptation mechanisms.

The evidence for benefits from antioxidant supplementation in vigorous exercise is mixed. There is strong evidence that one of the adaptations resulting from exercise is a strengthening of the body’s antioxidant defenses, particularly the glutathione system, to deal with the increased oxidative stress. It is possible that this effect may be to some extent protective against diseases which are associated with oxidative stress, which would provide a partial explanation for the lower incidence of major diseases and better health of those who undertake regular exercise.

After looking at this research and it is really thorough research it looks as though it is more important to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables instead of taking the pills that promise the same effect. I have taken vitamins for years but mostly to supplement what I do not get in my diet not to replace my diet with antioxidants in pill form.

You can read more at fitness health and diet tips

Tags: Alzheimer�s disease, cancer, cancers, cardiovascular disease, cataracts, cognitive impairment, food, heart disease, immune dysfunction, macular degeneration, United States, Wikipedia and US government

We have all heard about the great effects of green and black teas and their effect on people with heart problems lately but here is something that I had heard nothing about until today. Reauters is reporting a new study that shows that taking milk in your tea will significantly reduce the benefits of drinking the tea.

Drinking tea can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke but only if milk is not added to the brew, German scientists said on Tuesday.

Research has shown that tea improves blood flow and the ability of the arteries to relax but researchers at the Charite Hospital at the University of Berlin in Mitte found milk eliminates the protective effect against cardiovascular disease.

“The beneficial effects of drinking black tea are completely prevented by the addition of milk, said Dr Verena Stangl, a cardiologist at the hospital.

“If you want to drink tea to have the beneficial health effects you have to drink it without milk. That is clearly shown by our experiments,” she told Reuters.

Tea is second only to water in worldwide consumption so any benefits could have important public health implications. But until now it was not known whether adding milk had an impact.

Stangl and her team discovered that proteins called caseins in milk decrease the amount of compounds in tea known as catechins which increase its protection against heart disease.

They believe their findings, which are reported in the European Heart Journal, could explain why countries such as Britain, where tea is regularly consumed with milk, have not shown a decreased risk of heart disease and stroke from drinking tea.

Protective against cancer
The researchers compared the health effects of drinking boiled water and tea with and without milk on 16 healthy women. Using ultrasound, they measured the function of an artery in the forearm before and two hours after drinking tea.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Britain, cancer, Cardiologist, cardiovascular disease, Charite Hospital, heart disease, Mario Lorenz, molecular biologist and co-author, Reuters, stroke, Tea Milk, the European Heart Journal, tumor, ultrasound, University of Berlin, Verena Stangl

I have found a list of 99 ways to get more exercise. These tips range from stuff to do at home and around the neighborhood to things to do around the city with your family and neighbors.

Exercise Getting started…

1. Schedule a regular time throughout the week for physical activity.
2. Take turns selecting an activity for the family to do as a group each week.
3. Start a log of daily fitness activities for each family member.
4. Adapt all activities to suit those with special needs and preferences.
5. Help everyone to find something active that makes them feel successful.

Exercise Tips for the Home

6. Designate indoor and outdoor play areas where rolling, climbing, jumping, and tumbling are allowed.
7. Buy toys or equipment that promote physical activity.
8. Select fitness-oriented gifts with the recipient’s skills and interests in mind.
9. Limit time spent watching television programs, videotapes, and playing computer games.
10. Use physical activity rather than food as a reward (e.g. family goes in-line skating).
11. Include grandparents, other relatives, and friends whenever possible.
12. Emphasize the importance of having fun and learning; avoid a push “to win”.
13. Get off the couch and change the channel manually — or better yet, turn it off!
14. Spend as much time outdoors as possible.

Exercise Tips for the Kitchen

15. “Pack your own” nutritious snacks and meals for family outings.
16. Keep fresh fruit and vegetables washed, cut-up, chilled and readily available for post-exercise snacking.
17. Have attractive containers of water available during and after workouts.
18. Take the family grocery shopping so everyone can learn to read the nutrition labels (find the cereal that offers the most fiber per serving; find the tastiest non-fat cheese).
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, co-worker, cycling, diabetes, family member, fever, food, Golf, hypertension, kite flying, modified backyard sports, Olympic, physical education teacher, school board, school physical education teacher, skiing, Softball, stroke, Tennis, volleyball, water sports

I really enjoy making scrambled eggs and toast for me and the kids on a Saturday morning but I have always been careful not to eat to many eggs because you know, we have always heard that they are bad for the heart…or are they?

The American Heart Association says “A single egg contains about 213 milligrams of dietary cholesterol. So an egg a day could fit within an individual’s dietary budget only if dietary cholesterol from other sources, such as meats, poultry and dairy products were limited.”

Eggs could actually protect against heart disease, breast cancer and eye problems and even help you to lose weight.

For years people assumed eggs were bad for cholesterol levels. But a review just published in the British Nutrition Foundation’s Nutrition Bulletin found they ‘have no clinically significant impact’ on heart disease or cholesterol levels.
Dr Bruce Griffin of the University of Surrey’s school of biomedical and molecular science analysed 30 egg studies, among them one from Harvard University which showed people who consumed one or more eggs a day were at no more risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease than non-egg eaters.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: American Heart Association, blindness, breast cancer, British Egg Information Service, British Nutrition Foundation, Bruce Griffin, cancers, cardiovascular disease, dairy products, Detroit, diabetes, end product, food, Harvard University, heart attacks, heart disease, Joanne Lunn, macular degeneration, nutrition scientist, obesity, the American College, University of Surrey, vitamin a, Vitamin D, Wayne State University in Detroit