Women At Higher Risk For Heart Attack

It’s a commonly known fact that heart disease is the number one killer in the world, but a lesser known fact is that women are at greater risk than men. One reason for this scientists say is that women are harder to diagnose.

Men suffer heart attacks primarily because of blocked arteries, and these can be detected easily enough by an angiogram. Unfortunately angiograms don’t work as well with women and its failure to detect irregularities puts women at greater risk through a false sense of security. As a result, upward of 18 million women of all ages, die annually from heart problems. It’s not just a concern for older women. The good news is that 95% of heart disease is preventable. It’s as simple as reducing the risks

Reducing the risk can be as simple as getting educated about good heart health and having your blood pressure, cholesterol levels and other risk factors for heart disease checked regularly. It also means not smoking, controlling or avoiding diabetes, reducing body fat by regular exercise, reducing stress and maintaining a healthy diet. Diet is very important. Make sure to get more fish, whole grains, nuts, vegetables, and fruits and cut down on salt intake and transfats.

Vegetables Reduce Heart Attack Risk

A new study says that people at high risk for heart disease can reduce that risk by simply eating more fruits and vegetables. Apparently there is a unique gene which predisposes certain people to heart disease by up to thirty percent. So what scientists did was to round up 27,000 of those persons in order to find out if dietary alterations could modify that gene, which they named 9p21. They found that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables reduced their risk of heart attack to 1.0, which is the level of someone with no risk factors or the 9p21 gene.

The results of the study, suggest that as few as two servings a day of raw fruits, and vegetables can negate the effects of the gene significantly enough, but they recommend even more servings to prevent heart disease. The findings support previous ones which have pointed to fruits and vegetables as the best weapons to combat chronic diseases like stroke and cancer. This they say is even more critical if there is a history of heart disease in your family.

Vitamin B12 Deficiency Linked to Brain Shrinkage

A new study has drawn a link between a decline in brain function and a deficiency in Vitamin B12, especially in older adults. The study done on subjects aged 65 and older found that if there isn’t enough Vitamin B12 in the body, the brain begins to shrink. It also found that the deficiency was also affected by certain habits, including too much alcohol consumption. In addition anemia and digestive disorders can also block the body’s ability to absorb the nutrient.

So while you can get Vitamin B12 from fish, meat, dairy products, protein rich foods, as well as various cereals and supplements if you drink excessively or have a digestive disorder, your body may not be absorbing the Vitamin like it should and your brain may be paying for it ultimately.

Scientists have found that the Vitamin plays an important role in cognition, since it feeds the neurons in the brain. They discovered that Vitamin deficient subjects had smaller brain volume and had lower cognitive scores. 

Doctors are suggesting that people begin taking more B12 supplements in order to prevent loss of brain function and to avoid developing cognitive impairment.

The Link Between Vitamin E and Prostate Cancer

If you’re fifty years or over, you may want to avoid taking Vitamin E. The results of a recent study suggest that there is a link between Vitamin E and an increased risk of prostate cancer. The multi-million dollar study was conducted between 2001and 2008, and was undertaken to determine the role of the supplement as well as Selenium, in preventing or causing disease.

Tests done on skin and lung cancers, suggested that Selenium and Vitamin E might reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Scientists tested 35,000 men over 50, from across the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. The study did not achieve the 25% cancer risk reduction scientists were hoping for. In fact it found that the participants who took the Vitamin E supplement showed a higher tendency toward developing prostate cancer. The results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and suggest that there was no benefit to the men who took the supplement.

An eighteen month long follow up of participants showed that the supplement continued having an effect on the men well after they’d stopped taking it.