Risk Factors in Heart Disease

Extensive clinical and statistical studies have identified several factors that increase the risk of coronary heart disease and heart attack. Major risk factors are those that research has shown significantly increase the risk of heart and blood vessel (cardiovascular) disease. Other factors are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, but their significance and prevalence haven't yet been precisely determined. They're called contributing risk factors.

The American Heart Association has identified several risk factors. Some of them can be modified, treated or controlled, and some can't. The more risk factors you have, the greater your chance of developing coronary heart disease. Also, the greater the level of each risk factor, the greater the risk. For example, a person with a total cholesterol of 300 mg/dL has a greater risk than someone with a total cholesterol of 245 mg/dL, even though everyone with a total cholesterol greater than 240 is considered high-risk. 

What are the major risk factors that can't be changed?

Increasing age: About 82 percent of people who die of coronary heart disease are 65 or older. At older ages, women who have heart attacks are more likely than men are to die from them within a few weeks. 

Male sex (gender): Men have a greater risk of heart attack than women do, and they have attacks earlier in life. Even after menopause, when women's death rate from heart disease increases, it's not as great as men's. 

Heredity (including Race): Children of parents with heart disease are more likely to develop it themselves. African Americans have more severe high blood pressure than Caucasians and a higher risk of heart disease. Heart disease risk is also higher among Mexican Americans, American Indians, native Hawaiians and some Asian Americans. This is partly due to higher rates of obesity and diabetes. Most people with a strong family history of heart disease have one or more other risk factors. Just as you can't control your age, sex and race, you can't control your family history. Therefore, it's even more important to treat and control any other risk factors you have. 

Major risk factors you can modify, treat or control by changing your lifestyle or taking medicine

Tobacco smoke: Smokers' risk of developing coronary heart disease is 2–4 times that of nonsmokers. Cigarette smoking is a powerful independent risk factor for sudden cardiac death in patients with coronary heart disease; smokers have about twice the risk of nonsmokers. Cigarette smoking also acts with other risk factors to greatly increase the risk for coronary heart disease. People who smoke cigars or pipes seem to have a higher risk of death from coronary heart disease (and possibly stroke) but their risk isn't as great as cigarette smokers'. Exposure to other people's smoke increases the risk of heart disease even for nonsmokers. 

High blood cholesterol: As blood cholesterol rises, so does risk of coronary heart disease. When other risk factors (such as high blood pressure and tobacco smoke) are present, this risk increases even more. A person's cholesterol level is also affected by age, sex, heredity and diet. Here’s the lowdown on where those numbers need to be:

Total Cholesterol: Less than 200 mg/dL
 
LDL (bad) Cholesterol:

• If you're at low risk for heart disease: Less than 160 mg/dL
• If you're at intermediate risk for heart disease: Less than 130 mg/dL
• If you're at high risk for heart disease (including those with existing heart disease or diabetes): Less than 100mg/dL

HDL (good) Cholesterol: 40 mg/dL or higher for men and 50 mg/dL or higher for women
 
Triglycerides: Less than 150 mg/dL 

High blood pressure: High blood pressure increases the heart's workload, causing the heart to thicken and become stiffer. This stiffening of the heart muscle is not normal, and causes the heart not to work properly.  It also increases your risk of stroke, heart attack, kidney failure and congestive heart failure. When high blood pressure exists with obesity, smoking, high blood cholesterol levels or diabetes, the risk of heart attack or stroke increases several times. 

Physical inactivity: An inactive lifestyle is a risk factor for coronary heart disease. Regular, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity helps prevent heart and blood vessel disease. The more vigorous the activity, the greater your benefits. However, even moderate-intensity activities help if done regularly and long term. Physical activity can help control blood cholesterol, diabetes and obesity, as well as help lower blood pressure in some people. 

Obesity and overweight: People who have excess body fat — especially if a lot of it is at the waist — are more likely to develop heart disease and stroke even if they have no other risk factors. Excess weight increases the heart's work. It also raises blood pressure and blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and lowers HDL ("good") cholesterol levels. It can also make diabetes more likely to develop. Many obese and overweight people may have difficulty losing weight. But by losing even as few as 10 pounds, you can lower your heart disease risk. 

Diabetes mellitus : Diabetes seriously increases your risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Even when glucose levels are under control, diabetes increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, but the risks are even greater if blood sugar is not well controlled. At least 65% of people with diabetes die of some form of heart or blood vessel disease. If you have diabetes, it's extremely important to work with your healthcare provider to manage it and control any other risk factors you can. Persons who are obese or overweight should lose weight to keep blood sugar in control.    

What other factors contribute to heart disease risk?

Stress: Individual response to stress may be a contributing factor. Some scientists have noted a relationship between coronary heart disease risk and stress in a person's life, their health behaviors and socioeconomic status. These factors may affect established risk factors. For example, people under stress may overeat, start smoking or smoke more than they otherwise would.

Alcohol: Drinking too much alcohol can raise blood pressure, cause heart failure and lead to stroke. It can contribute to high triglycerides, cancer and other diseases, and produce irregular heartbeats. It contributes to obesity, alcoholism, suicide and accidents. The risk of heart disease in people who drink moderate amounts of alcohol (an average of one drink for women or two drinks for men per day) is lower than in nondrinkers. One drink is defined as 1-1/2 fluid ounces (fl oz) of 80-proof spirits (such as bourbon, Scotch, vodka, gin, etc.), 1 fl oz of 100-proof spirits, 4 fl oz of wine or 12 fl oz of beer. It's not recommended that nondrinkers start using alcohol or that drinkers increase the amount they drink. 

Diet and Nutrition:  A healthy diet is one of the best weapons you have to fight cardiovascular disease. The food you eat (and the amount) can affect other controllable risk factors: cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes and overweight. Choose nutrient-rich foods — which have vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients but are lower in calories — over nutrient-poor foods. A diet rich in vegetables, fruits, whole-grain and high-fiber foods, fish, lean protein and fat-free or low-fat dairy products is the key. And to maintain a healthy weight, coordinate your diet with your physical activity level so you're using up as many calories as you take in.

Source: American Heart Association. www.americanheart.org 

Heart Benefits of CoQ10

Coenzyme Q10 or simply CoQ10 is a naturally-occurring enzyme found in all cells of the body hence its alternate name ubiquinone derived from the word ubiquitous which means “found everywhere”. CoQ10 plays a key role in energy production located in the mitochondria, tiny power plants found in every cell that helps fuel the body's daily activity. It is most concentrated in the heart, liver, muscles and other organs with high energy demands.

As a co-factor in the electron transport chain between cells, CoQ10 is a powerful antioxidant, scavenging free radicals. It prolongs the lifespan of another antioxidant, Vitamin E which it recycles to keep it most active. When this body’s important source of cellular energy is depleted, many medical conditions are aggravated and made worse. Low CoQ10 levels are implicated in a number of cardiovascular diseases.

The benefits of CoQ10 are crucial to maintaining cardiovascular health. CoQ10 is a safe and effective treatment for a broad range of cardiovascular diseases. A number of studies and clinical trials around the word attested to CoQ10’s impact on cardiomyopathy, arrhythmia, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure , mitral valve prolapse and hypertension.(1) CoQ10 has been used for years to fight heart disease and to treat the early stages of congestive heart failure in Europe and Japan.

A study of 144 patients with acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) that was published in 1998 demonstrated a halving of total cardiac events in those given CoQ10 compared with placebo.(2) In a study involving 126 patients with cardiomyopathy, 87 percent displayed noticeable improvements in heart function without adverse effects.(3) More than a few studies confirm that dosages of 60 – 100mg per day will significantly lower blood pressure readings.(4) Another recent study concluded that CoQ10 supplementation improves endothelial function in patients with Type II diabetes.(5) Diabetes is the most common metabolic cause of heart disease.These studies clearly show that there is no doubt that CoQ10 helps in protecting us against diseases of the heart and blood vessels.

As we get older, our body's supply of CoQ10 slowly diminishes. Though our bodies still manufacture some amounts of CoQ10 and trace amounts can be obtained from food, it will still be inadequate in the presence of free radicals and other heart risk factors. It is, therefore, important for us to keep an optimal amount of CoQ10 with supplements. CoQ10 has no known side effects and can be readily bought over the counter. Thus, many physicians are not even aware of its many benefits.

Safety Caveats

Supplementation of Co Q10 in persons with heart disease should be done with the supervision of their physician.

• Statin cholesterol-lowering drugs or HMG Co-A Reductase Inhibitors have been found to lower the body's CoQ10 levels.
• CoQ10 has a similar chemical structure to vitamin K, a vitamin involved in the ability of blood to clot. CoQ10 may antagonize the effects of anti-clotting medications such as warfarin or heparin.
• Beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers and diuretics are medications that can lower blood pressure. CoQ10 has been found to lower blood pressure, so it may interact and increase the effects of these drugs.

References:
1 Greenburg, S. and W.H. Frishman, Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 1990; 30: 596 – 608.
2 Cardiovascular Drugs Therapy 1998;12: 347 –53.
3 Langsjoen, P. H., et al., Americal Journal of Cardiology,1990; (65): 521 – 23.
4 Digiesi, V., et al., Current Therapeutic Research, 1992; 1126: 247 –54.
5 Watts G.F., et al., Diabetologia, 2002 March; 45(3):420 – 6).

Love Life. Live Healthy.

Welcome to The VitaminShoppe Co.!

This blog site was created for the purpose of helping you make informed choices on health. What could be more important to life than to be wholly and fully alive? And in more ways it means being responsible to your body, taking control of your health, and keeping an active stance on issues that affects your well-being.

Recently, there has been a growing interest on vitamin and herb supplements. We are bombarded with advertising and promotional hypes on the touted benefits of “natural” and “safe” alternative to drugs in the market. Point in fact, there is overwhelming scientific evidence to the therapeutic effects of many herbs and vitanutrients but there are also real dangers to haphazard and ignorant use of them in place of your doctor’s prescription. The VitaminShoppe Co. believes that both conventional medicine and complementary remedies offer valuable health options. However, a complementary approach balancing the benefits of evidenced-based supplementation and conventional therapies should be the more appropriate course to take for one to truly experience unparalleled health and vitality.

The VitaminShoppe Co. hopes to provide you scientific information usually not within the reach of most people that can have far-reaching implication on your goal to be always at the peak of your health. In our upcoming newsletters, we will feature exciting articles on nutrition and comprehensive up-to-date self-help approach to good health. Watch out also for our product offerings of quality supplements. So make it a habit to drop-by for a dose of healthy wisdom. Don’t hesitate to pitch in your questions, real-life issues and comments. We love to hear how we can be of help to you.

At The VitaminShoppe Co. we hope to offer you great ways of learning how to live your days loving life by living healthy.