Treadmill Tests for Heart Function Missing A Key Piece

The New England Journal of Medicine reported that Doctors evaluating treadmill examinations for heart function are missing a key element in determining how effective the heart is working. That element is looking at the way the heart is beating during the recovery period after the work-out. The Journal reported that looking at the irregular heart beats during recovery is a better indicator of the risk of death over the next five years.

So...if you're going to be having a stress test on a treadmill, make sure the Doctor records and analyses what happens during the recovery period.

HERE'S A SURPRISE FOOD THAT REDUCES CHOLESTEROL

It's avocado! The Journal of the American Dietetic Association reported that avocados have a chemical called beta-sitosterol that reduces the amount of cholesterol absorbed in food. And avocados have more beta-sitosterol than any other fruit. The fat in avocado (30 grams) is even the good heart healthy kind - monounsaturated fats!

VITAMIN C FOR ALLERGIES

 

One of my Teplitz Report readers shared with me that his wife's vision was affected by taking too much Vitamin C. I checked with a friend of mine who is a Holistically oriented MD and he had never heard of this condition (he's given doses as high as 150,000 mg per day with no side effects). Since I'm recommending these large dosages of C only for use during the hay fever season, the likelihood of a negative response is minimal. However, if your vision is affected simply discontinue the Vitamin C.

Another use for Vitamin C relates to Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). People with CHF have arteries that are too constricted. A study in Germany found that Vitamin C caused the arteries to open wider letting more oxygen and nutrients get to the tissues hat need them. The patients were given an injection of Vitamin C first and then they took 2 grams of oral Vitamin C

AVOID BYPASS SURGERY

There's now a safer alternative to bypass surgery, it's called Enhanced External Counterpulsation (EECP). It's approved by Medicare for patients with the angina. EECP is a nonsurgical therapy that dramatically improved circulation by pumping blood from the legs to the heart thus creating circulatory pathways around blockages in coronary arteries. The amazing part is that EECP is without risk while roughly 1 in 30 patients undergoing bypass surgery dies on the operating table.

IT'S VITAL TO KEEP YOUR STRESS LEVEL DOWN

A study of 33,000 men found that chronic or serious anxiety increased the likelihood of sudden cardiac death six times more than those who scored low on an anxiety symptom questionnaire. Since 200,000 men die each year, reducing your stress level is even more important than ever!

TENDER LOVING CARE EVEN AFFECTS STROKES

  
A study of 46 first-time stroke patients who thought they received the most attention and affection from friends and family members recovered best.
        Six months after the stroke this group scored 65% higher on a measurement of their ability to do daily tasks such as eating, walking, etc.
        This means if you know someone who has had a stroke, give them lots of support, attention and affection.  Be a good listener for the person, don't be overprotective, accept change and help them learn to cope with the disability and support their efforts while they're relearning basic tasks.

An easy way to increase your risk of having a stroke: drink diet sodas.

According to a study reported at the American Stroke Association Conference, diet soda drinkers had a 61% higher risk of heart attack and stroke.  The researchers followed 2,500 New Yorkers for one plus years and found that people who drink diet soda every day had this increased risk. Just think for a moment what’s in a diet soda – phosphoric acid, artificial colors, artificial favors and other assorted chemicals. Yummy! So…water anyone?

Add In Watching TV And Computer Time For A Negative Result

 Your cardiovascular health is really affected negatively by too much sitting, time spent in front of a TV, computer or video game.

 Researchers from the United Kingdom followed 4,500 Scottish men and women, looking at the impact of screen time. They found that people who spent at least two hours of leisure time in front of a TV or computer were more than twice as likely to have a heart attack or other cardiac event.

 Those who spent four or more hours in front of the screen were 50% more likely to die.

 For these screen people, their weight was higher, their cholesterol, C-reactive protein and other metabolic risk factors were all higher.

 Interestingly, there were no negative links with activities such as reading, playing cards or board games.

Almonds Have Earned The Claim That It Protects Your Heart

The FDA has given almonds a qualified health claim that it protects the heart when you eat 11/2 ounces a day.
Now, the difficulty has been that this totaled only 12 whole almonds, and you might not be able to stop at 12.
This has now changed. Recently, food scientists discovered that almonds have 32 fewer calories than previously thought.
So…how about a big bunch of chocolate covered almonds, yummy!
(Reported deliciousliving.com, February 2013)

The Super-Slow-Motion Way To Super Effective Strength Training

Dr. Doug McGuff has developed a high-intensity training program using weights. What you do is perform each movement in super-slow-motion, with minimal rest between the exercises.

The result is a very high-intensity workout by working your cardiovascular system, which improves strength and endurance. It also promotes the production of human growth hormone.

Now, the most interesting part is that you only need to do the exercises 12 minutes once a week to get the benefits.

So…anyone got a spare 12 minutes. To learn more about his approach, go to http://ultimate-exercise.com/.

The Importance Of Magnesium

Magnesium is a critical co-factor in more than 300 enzymatic reactions in our bodies. It also affects virtually every organ in the body, which makes it an extremely important mineral that is has been underutilized in this country.

Recently docs have been using magnesium to treat patients with acute heart attacks, chronic cardiovascular disease, heart arrhythmias, diabetes, asthma, and chronic fatigue syndrome which are just a few of its positive impacts.

A blood test for magnesium is not the best way to tell if you have enough magnesium in your system since magnesium is found primarily in the cells. This means you could be deficient in magnesium even though your blood levels are normal.

A better test is the magnesium loading test. In this test, you collect a 24 hour urine sample and the total magnesium is measured. Then the person is given an injection of a specified amount of magnesium and another 24 hours urine sample is collected. If the body retains more than a certain amount of magnesium, then it is concluded that the body is deficient in magnesium.

The best forms of magnesium supplements are chelated magnesium, magnesium glycinate, magnesium aspartate and magnesium taurate. The prescription form of magnesium chloride is also useful.

(The Importance of Magnesium to Human Nutrition, by Michael B. Schachter, M.D., F.A.C.A.M.)

Eating Nuts To Stop Disease And Illnesses

A study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition looked at the diets of 13,000 people.

They found that those who ate nuts decreased body mass and waist circumference, lowered systolic blood pressure, lowered weight and reduced the risk factors for metabolic syndrome.

The researchers said that “nut consumption was associated with a decreased prevalence of selected risk factors for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.”

Nuts work because they are composed of healthy fat which your body needs.

By the way, peanuts are not a nut, they are a legume.

So…make sure to eat nuts two or more times per week and see if you can get organic nuts which have not be irradiated or pasteurized.

Reported Dr. Mercola, March 29, 2012

The Benefits Of Dark Chocolate Just Got Better

A recent meta-analysis of seven studies found that chocolate consumption can reduce the risk factors that cause heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.
The researchers found that the highest levels of dark chocolate consumption reduced cardiovascular disease by 37%, and stokes by 29%.
 
Researchers in 2008 found that a specially formulated raw cocoa powder had the potential to prevent cardiovascular disease in diabetics.
The patients were given a cocoa drink with this formula and they found it brought blood vessels back to normal. The improvement was actually as large as had been observed with exercise and many common diabetic medications.

(Reported Mercola.com September 21, 2011)

Bad Cholesterol May Be Losing Its Bad Image

As you probably know, docs want you to raise your good HDL cholesterol and lower your bad LDL cholesterol. This advice may not apply any more.

Scientists at Texas A&M University have found that LDL cholesterol is actually needed by the body to build new muscle. This finding is as important for children developing new muscle as it is for older folks who are losing muscle. LDL cholesterol also helps circulate Vitamin D around our body.

Now here’s the kicker, Dr. Harlan Krumholz of Yale’s Department of Cardiovascular Medicine found that old people with low cholesterol died twice as often from a heart attacks as did old people with high cholesterol.

In addition, a review of nineteen studies of more than 68,000 deaths by the Division of Epidemiology at the University of Minnesota found that low cholesterol predicted an increased risk of dying from gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases.

This means the prescriptions that are written for cholesterol lowering drugs may not be saving lives at all; instead they may be causing more deaths by lowered cholesterol.

As a matter of fact, the medical community recently lowered acceptable cholesterol levels to below 200 mg/dl. This reduction put many more people on cholesterol drugs.

To make matters worse, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute is now urging cholesterol screening for all children between the ages of 9 and 11. The American Academy of Pediatrics has endorsed this recommendation.

These are probably not great ideas! These results point to a big oops since a lot of modern medicine is focused on reducing bad cholesterol.

It’s your heart.

(Reported by the Alliance for Natural Health, November 29, 2011)

Being Real Busy Can Be Healthy

You’re busy, busy, busy. It turns out that you may be healthier than people who say they are often bored.

British researchers found that the bored people were more likely to die of a heart attack.

Boredom may be linked to skipping workouts and junk food, which can lead to depression and poor health.

So…if you’re going to be busy, busy, busy - make sure you eat healthy and leave time to exercise, too.

A Way To Have More Strokes: Drink Diet Sodas

There’s an easy way to increase your risk of having a stroke: drink diet sodas.

According to a study reported at the American Stroke Association Conference, diet soda drinkers had a 61% higher risk of heart attack and stroke.

The researchers followed 2,500 New Yorkers for one plus years and found that people who drink diet soda every day had this increased risk.

Just think for a moment what’s in a diet soda – phosphoric acid, artificial colors, artificial favors and other assorted chemicals. Yummy!

So…water anyone?

Coronary Disease And L-arginine

Since I’m writing about the heart, let’s explore another way to heal it. A study published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology found that the long-term use of L-arginine supplements reduced the risk to patients with multiple cardiovascular risk factors.

L-arginine is an amino acid that is the precursor to nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is a gas released by the body to help promote healthy blood vessel flexibility and dilation. The improvement noted in the study was associated with a decrease in systolic blood pressure, peripheral vascular resistance as well as a decrease in aldosterone levels.

The only time not to use L-arginine is if you are experiencing an active herpes infection.

So… you now have two ways to protect your heart in one post!

Magnesium – The Powerful Healer

The mineral magnesium is a powerful therapeutic healer. It has the capability to smooth out irregular heartbeats, save lives after heart attacks, lower blood pressure, halt asthma attacks, prevent diabetes and its complications, and improve sleep and endurance.

Let me give you some examples of the research supporting many of these benefits.

1. A double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial found that administering IV magnesium sulfate to 2,000 patients within 24 hours of a heart attack resulted in 24% fewer deaths. Following up on these patients for one to five years later, the researchers additionally discovered that the patients initially treated with magnesium had a cardiovascular death rate 21% lower than those who did not receive the magnesium.

2. A Korean study found that patients with hypertension who took 300 mg of magnesium daily for three months lowered their systolic/diastolic blood pressure 17.1 and 6.7 mmHG. The researchers also found that for every dose increase of 240 mg of magnesium the patient was taking, the patient’s blood pressure dropped another 4.3 and 2.3 mmHG. These numbers mean an enormous drop in the risk of having a stroke or a heart attack.

3. On the use of magnesium for stopping an acute asthma attack, an interesting survey was conducted of emergency room doctors in 2006. This survey found that even though the majority of the docs knew about the research supporting using magnesium for asthma only 2.5% of the patients having an acute asthma attack were treated with IV magnesium. So…if you or a loved one has an acute asthma attack, question the doc as to why IV magnesium is not being used.

4. A review of studies found that for every 100 mg increase in the daily intake of magnesium there was a 15% decrease in the risk of developing type-2 diabetes. Taking magnesium is important for type-2 diabetics because increased urination causes the loss of water-soluble nutrients. Low levels of magnesium may cause severe diabetic retinopathy.

How much magnesium should you be taking? Dr. Julian Whitaker recommends 400 to 1000 mg daily. Since large amounts of magnesium can cause diarrhea, build up your dose gradually.

(Reported Health & Healing August 2009)

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