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Tag: heart health
Study: A Single Energy Drink May Increase Heart Disease Risk In Young Adults

Study: A Single Energy Drink May Increase Heart Disease Risk In Young Adults

From Mayo Clinic News Network (TNS)

ORLANDO, Fla. – New research shows that drinking one 16-ounce energy drink can increase blood pressure and stress hormone responses significantly. This raises the concern that these response changes could increase the risk of cardiovascular events, according to a study presented recently at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2015. The findings also are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“In previous research, we found that energy drink consumption increased blood pressure in healthy young adults,” says Dr. Anna Svatikova, a Mayo Clinic cardiology fellow and the first author. “We now show that the increases in blood pressure are accompanied by increases in norepinephrine, a stress hormone chemical, and this could predispose an increased risk of cardiac events _ even in healthy people.”

Mayo Clinic researchers conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study on 25 healthy volunteers with an average age of 29. Each participant consumed a 16-ounce energy drink and placebo drink within five minutes, in random order, on two separate days, with a maximum of two weeks apart. The placebo drink was similar in taste, texture and color but lacked caffeine and other stimulants of the energy drink, such as taurine, guarana and ginseng.

In addition to the blood pressure increase in study volunteers, their norepinephrine levels increased by almost 74 percent after energy drink consumption, compared with a 31 percent increase after the placebo drink, Dr. Svatikova says. Systolic blood pressure increased after energy drink consumption by 6 percent, compared to 3 percent with placebo consumption.

“These results suggest that people should be cautious when consuming energy drinks due to possible health risks,” Dr. Svatikova says. “Asking patients about energy drink consumption should become routine for physicians, particularly when interpreting vital signs in the acute setting.”

(Mayo Clinic News Network is your source for health news, advances in research and wellness tips.) (c)2015 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Most Americans Have Hearts That Are Aging Too Fast, CDC Says

Most Americans Have Hearts That Are Aging Too Fast, CDC Says

By Alan Bavley, The Kansas City Star (TNS)

Most Americans have hearts that are aging faster than they are, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
Based on risks associated with smoking, being overweight or having high blood pressure or diabetes, average American adults have hearts about 6.6 years older than their chronological age.

The CDC estimates that just 30 percent of Americans are young at heart, with heart ages the same or lower than their chronological age.

“It’s scary, and it should be,” CDC director Tom Frieden said.

But he added that “you can turn back the clock on your heart age.”

The CDC on Tuesday released the first study on how old our hearts are based on sex, race and where we live.

And the agency provided a heart age calculator for determining your heart age. It’s based on work by the Framingham Heart Study, which has been examining links between lifestyle and heart health among several generations of residents of a town in Massachusetts and came up with the concept of heart age.

To use the calculator, you’ll need to know your blood pressure and your body mass index, then go to cdc.gov.

Heart age is a way of looking at your risk of having a heart attack or stroke or developing chronic heart disease. For example, a 50-year-old man who smokes, is overweight and has untreated high blood pressure may have a predicted heart age of 72 years, meaning his risk of heart disease or stroke is that of a man of 72.

The CDC study, based on national telephone survey data, found that men, on average, had hearts 7.8 years older than their chronological age and women had hearts 5.4 years older. Altogether, 69 million American adults have heart ages 5 years or more higher than their chronological age.

The highest heart ages were found in Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas and Kentucky. The lowest: Utah.

Heart age also tended to be higher among African-Americans and Latinos than among whites and higher among people with less education or lower incomes.

Frieden said the CDC hopes heart-age calculations will encourage people to improve their health by losing weight or getting high blood pressure under control. Quitting smoking can lower heart age by 14 years, he said.

Photo: Don’t break your heart. Olivier Kaderli via Flickr

Low-Carb Eating May Be Best For Weight Loss, Heart Health

Low-Carb Eating May Be Best For Weight Loss, Heart Health

By whatdoctorsknow.com (Tribune Content Agency)

If you’re looking for a heart-healthy weight-loss diet to try, it appears that low-carbohydrate might be more effective than low-fat.

A recent study found that a low-carb diet is better for losing weight and reducing cardiovascular disease risk than a low-fat one.

Researchers at Tulane University randomly assigned 148 men and women to follow either a low-carbohydrate diet or a low-fat diet. None of the participants had heart disease or diabetes when the study began.

Participants assigned to the low-carbohydrate diet were told to maintain an intake of digestible carbohydrate — meaning total carbohydrate minus total fiber — of less than 40 grams daily. Those assigned to the low-fat diet were told to maintain less than 30 percent of their daily energy intake from fat, with less than 7 percent coming from saturated fat and 55 percent from carbohydrates.

Neither diet included a specific calorie or energy goal. And the participants in each group were asked to avoid changing their physical activity levels during the study.

After a year, people on the low-carb diet had greater decreases in weight, fat mass and other cardiovascular disease risk factors, such as cholesterol levels, than those on the low-fat diet.

Those in the low-carb group lost an average of almost 8 pounds more than those in the low-fat group and blood levels of certain fats that are predictors of risk for heart disease, also decreased more in the low-carb group.

The researchers say that the underlying mechanisms that may account for the differences in weight loss by diet are not fully known. But another recent study indicates that low-carbohydrate diets may have a more favorable effect than low-fat diets on how your body burns calories.

The researchers say that low-carb diets have been a popular strategy for weight loss, but their cardiovascular effects have been unknown until now.

“A low-carb diet is effective way to lose weight and improve cardiovascular risk factors. However, the diet is difficult to maintain long-term,” says registered dietitian Kate Patton, M.Ed., R.D., C.S.S.D., L.D. Patton, a registered dietitian in Cleveland Clinic’s Preventive Cardiology and Rehabilitation Section, did not take part in the study.

“Once you transition off a low-carb diet, follow a Mediterranean diet for a heart-healthy approach to reducing cardiovascular risk factors,” Ms. Patton says.

Complete findings for the study, “Effects of Low-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diets: A Randomized Trial,” appear in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

(WhatDoctorsKnow is a magazine devoted to up-to-the minute information on health issues from physicians, major hospitals and clinics, universities and health care agencies across the U.S. Online at www.whatdoctorsknow.com.)

(c) 2015 WHATDOCTORSKNOW.COM DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.

Photo: t_l_lynch via Flickr

A Healthy Diet Can Help You Look Years Younger

A Healthy Diet Can Help You Look Years Younger

Here’s a new reason to eat more oily fish, fruits, and vegetables to keep your heart healthy: Having a healthier heart may help you look younger. When researchers showed people photos of women about 60 years of age, they thought the women with the lowest risk of cardiovascular disease looked two years younger compared to those with a higher risk.

The key to achieving a youthful appearance may be tied to your systolic blood pressure (that’s the top number). Researchers think that when your blood pressure is too high, it may impede your skin’s microvascular system, responsible for delivering nutrients and oxygen.

When those beneficial elements aren’t delivered optimally, it may strain your skin and possibly diminish that youthful glow. High blood pressure may also be linked to women who looked older because it’s related to other lifestyle factors like stress and lack of exercise, which can be detrimental for your skin.

If you have high blood pressure (defined as any number higher than 140/90), don’t despair. There are several things you can do to help lower your numbers. Try eating more potassium-packed fruits and vegetables and healthy fats like nuts and avocados. Or try these other foods to lower blood pressure.

Maybe you already know that what you put in your body can affect how you looks on the outside, but the motivation to knock a couple of years off your age may help you pay attention to keeping your blood pressure in a healthy range.

Need even more motivation? Other studies have found that women who led healthier lifestyles — less smoking and sunbathing and better healthy-eating habits — had skin that looked younger.

(EatingWell is a magazine and website devoted to healthy eating as a way of life. Online at www.eatingwell.com.)

(c) 2015 EATING WELL, INC. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC

Photo: Sammy Jay Jay via Flickr