Swedish women studied for antioxidant-rich diet
Swedish women who ate an antioxidant-rich diet had fewer strokes regardless of whether they had a previous history of cardiovascular disease, in a study reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.Antioxidant foods inhibit oxidative stress and inflammation

“Eating antioxidant-rich foods may reduce your risk of stroke by inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammation,” said Susanne Rautiainen, M.Sc., the study’s first author and Ph.D. student at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. “This means people should eat more foods such as fruits and vegetables that contribute to total antioxidant capacity.” 

Oxidative stress is an imbalance between the production of cell-damaging free radicals and the body’s ability to neutralize them. It leads to inflammation, blood vessel damage and stiffening.Real foods contain vital nutrients

Antioxidants such as vitamins C and E, carotenoids and flavonoids can inhibit oxidative stress and inflammation by scavenging the free radicals. Antioxidants, especially flavonoids, may also help improve endothelial function and reduce blood clotting, blood pressure and inflammation. 

“In this study, we took into account all the antioxidants present in the diet, including thousands of compounds, in doses obtained from a usual diet,” Rautiainen said.Researchers collected dietary data through a food-frequency questionnaire.

They used a standard database to determine participants’ total antioxidant capacity (TAC), which measures the free radical reducing capacity of all antioxidants in the diet and considers synergistic effects between substances.Researchers categorized the women according to their TAC levels — five groups without a history of cardiovascular disease and four with previous cardiovascular disease.

For women with no history of cardiovascular disease who had the highest TAC, fruits and vegetables contributed about 50 percent of TAC.Other contributors were whole grains (18 percent), tea (16 percent) and chocolate (5 percent).

The study found:
•    Higher TAC was related to lower stroke rates in women without cardiovascular disease.
•    Women without cardiovascular disease with the highest levels of dietary TAC had a statistically significant 17 percent lower risk of total stroke compared to those in the lowest quintile.
•    Women with history of cardiovascular disease in the highest three quartiles of dietary TAC had a statistically significant 46 percent to 57 percent lower risk of hemorrhagic stroke compared with those in the lowest quartile.
“Women with a high antioxidant intake may be more health conscious and have the sort of healthy behaviors that may have influenced our results,” Rautiainen said. “However, the observed inverse association between dietary TAC and stroke persisted after adjustments for potential confounders related to healthy behavior such as smoking, physical activity and education.”

For the study, researchers used the Swedish Mammography Cohort to identify 31,035 heart disease-free women and 5,680 women with a history of heart disease in two counties. The women were 49-83 years old. 

Researchers tracked the cardiovascular disease-free women an average 11.5 years and the women with cardiovascular disease 9.6 years, from September 1997 through the date of first stroke, death or Dec. 31, 2009, whichever came first. 

Researchers identified 1,322 strokes among cardiovascular disease-free women and 1,007 strokes among women with a history of cardiovascular disease from the Swedish Hospital Discharge Registry. 

“To the best of our knowledge, no study has assessed the relation between dietary TAC and stroke risk in participants with a previous history of cardiovascular disease,” Rautiainen said. “Further studies are needed to assess the link between dietary TAC and stroke risk in men and in people in other countries, but we think our results are applicable.” 

Co-authors are Susanna Larsson, Ph.D.; Jarmo Virtamo, M.D.; and Alicja Wolk, Dr.Med.Sci. Authors’ disclosures are on the manuscript. The Swedish Research Council for Infrastructure and the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research funded the study. 

photo credit: Tarter Time Photography

Photo Credit: Aonghus Flynn

(originally on nutriplexformulas.com)

Hawthorne berry extract is a key ingredient in our VasCor formula.

The health of the cardiovascular system depends on several important functions:

First, there has to be adequate electrical impulses to stimulate the heart muscle and keep it in rhythm.

Second, there must be an unobstructed flow of blood.

Third, the blood vessels must be kept pliable and strong.

Focusing on clogged arteries

When blood vessels become cracked or damaged, the biochemistry responds by sending calcium, cholesterol and other material as “patching” material.

Unfortunately, this “patching” material can cause unwanted obstructions.

Obstructed blood vessels starve the heart and rest of the body — with the ability to cause heart attack, stroke and ischemia (not enough oxygen) to not just the heart and brain, but also to muscles and other cells.

Hawthorne is a vasodilator

Dilating the blood vessels means more blood flow and increased oxygen.

Hawthorne Berry has been shown to help with blood vessel dilation.

While there’s no replacement for sound nutrition, avoiding bad fats, exercise, not smoking and keeping the blood vessels pliable, hawthorne berry extract can be a good adjunctive supplement.

Hawthorne’s Heralded Heroism

Noted herbalist Christopher Hobbs writes:

In pharmacological tests on both animals and humans, hawthorn has been shown to improve the contractility of the heart muscle (which can lead to a stronger pumping action of the heart), increase cardiac performance and output, lower the peripheral vascular resistance (reducing the workload of the heart), steady the heartbeat (antiarrhythmic effect), as well as increasing the heart’s tolerance to oxygen deficiency, such as might happen during stress or excitement, or in diseases where the arteries are partially blocked.

( Hobbs, Christopher, Hawthorne for the Heart, 1998, christopherhobbs.com)

WebMD on hawthorne:

Research suggests that hawthorne can lower cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL, or “bad cholesterol”), and triglycerides (fats in the blood). It seems to lower accumulation of fats in the liver and the aorta (the largest artery in the body, located near the heart). Hawthorn fruit extract may lower cholesterol by increasing the excretion of bile, reducing the formation of cholesterol, and enhancing the receptors for LDLs. It also seems to have antioxidant activity.

(Hawthorne, webmd.com)

Hawthorne Berry Found in Vascor

While VasCor has a number of very important foods and herbs to support cardiovascular health, hawthorne berry extract is valuable for chronic and acute situations.

And, while VasCor is good for the heart, several doctors use it as well for situations wherein blood flow and increased oxygenation is needed — for athletics, pain, headaches and injuries.

Read more about the valuable nutrients we’ve put in our VasCor formula – click here.

photos:
heart illustration © 2009 K Sandberg
hawthorne berries: © 2008 Aonghus Flynn

Modern scientific research shows that all you have to do is follow a natural course and you can not just avoid heart disease — but actually reverse it.

Most people just need to realize that heart disease is something that you can avoid by staying away from bad fats, sedentary lifestyles, smoking and failing to eat real whole foods that include a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, berries and a little white meat and fish.

The amazing thing is that if you keep a few ideas in mind, it’s enough to keep you healthy.

Just a few ideas:

1. Only eat real, whole foods. Avoid red meat.
2. Never eat chemicals (check product labels for nonfood words, chemical names)
3. Only eat these oils: coconut butter, organic butter, extra virgin cold pressed olive oil and flaxseed oil. NO OTHER OILS
4. Exercise four times a week doing an activity that increases your heart rate
5. Participate in a stress-reducing, relaxing daily enterprise. This can range from meditation to golf to yoga.
6. Scientific studies have shown that certain emotions, such as grief, fear and loss will constrict blood vessels, so be sure to follow number 5 above.

Vascor contains supportive foods discovered through scientific research.

Heart problems abound in America. With all the modern medical approaches to heart disease, natural health care still presents two traditional foods that continue to support the entire cardiovascular system.

Medical research continues to show the fantastic properties of grape seed and green tea, two ancient foods, in cardiovascular prevention and healing. One of the active ingredients of note, now found in VasCor, are oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPC). “Proanthocyanidins deserve their stellar reputation as antioxidants that quench free radicals and potentiate other antioxidants. A recent mouse study by Debasis Bagchi, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Creighton University School of Pharmacy in Omaha, Neb., also found that their grape seed extract protected tissue from oxidation better than the antioxidant vitamins C and E or beta-carotene.1

OPCs appear to inhibit several factors contributing to atherosclerosis according to animal studies. Proanthocyanidins may help explain the “French Paradox,” or why low coronary heart disease rates exist in French provinces known for high-fat foods and red wine consumption. Red wine could be considered an alcohol tincture of several potent flavonoids, including proanthocyanidins from grape seeds.1

Bilberry, hawthorn and grape seeds, found in VasCor, have all been cited as beneficial in venous insufficiency and other cardiovascular support.
Sources:

1. Sterling, RD, Marilyn, Proanthocyanidin Power, Pine bark and grape seed contain the flavonoids OPCs, which offer antioxidant protection against heart disease and cancer, New Hope Media, Nutrition Science News, Jun 00

I have been writing for years that vitamin C foods feed your heart, and now another research item has come across my desk:

“Writing in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, researchers from Ulleval University Hospital in Norway report that increased intakes of vitamin C and fruit and berries were associated with less thickening of the carotid artery.”1 The carotid artery is the one leading from the heart up through the neck and is a frequent site of plaque-removing surgeries. As vitamin C fruits and berries support the carotid artery, more blood flow is able to go into the head and brain.

Vitamin C won a great deal of popularity when researcher Linus Pauling fought to popularize the notion that the common cold can be treated with a lot of vitamin C ascorbic acid. However, this is NOT THE BEST source of vitamin C because it is artificial. The BEST SOURCE is from real, natural, whole foods and not vitamin C pills.

If you can eat enough lemons, limes, oranges, apples and other fruits, you’re getting a great source of vitamin C. If you need an extra boost, you may want to try some amazing WHOLE FOOD SUPPLEMENTS. FlavoC, by NutriPlex Formulas, contains vitamin C-rich foods as well as berry power for flavonoids. Camu Camu is a rainforest fruit that has the highest concentrated source of vitamin C known! Both of these products are excellent for your body.

Not just your heart, but all cells in your body require vitamin C, from bones to gums and from arteries to skin.

Sources
1. Daniells, Stephen, “Vitamin C-rich foods may boost artery health, nutraingredients.com,Feb-2009
2. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, Volume 19, Issue 1, Pages 8-14

Is red wine good for your heart or is this just an excuse to get sauced? Researchers have been showing that wine contains a great source of antioxidants, chief of which is resveratrol. But before you assault your liver by drinking Cabernet until you can’t see straight, you should know that a single glass of red wine seems to be okay, while too much alcohol may lead to health problems.Plus, there are other sources of resveratrol that requires no drinking at all — grapes, grape seeds and grape skins (also found in SuperGreens whole food supplement). Wine is made from grapes, so this only makes sense.

Resveratrol is a natural constituent of grapes, pomegranates, red wine and other foods. And, a glass of wine or food or supplements that contain even small doses of resveratrol are likely to represent “a robust intervention in the retardation of cardiac aging, This research may  explain the remarkable heart health of people who live in some regions of France where diets are soaked in saturated fats but the incidence of heart disease, a major cause of mortality in the United States, is low. In France, meals are traditionally complemented with a glass of red wine.1

Grapes are ancient to civilization. The peoples along the Mediterranean thrived on them. They’re also the ones, by the way, who invented wine. But as we march ever into the future, more and more information is coming forth about the good ole grape. It shows promise in bone health, heart health, and even fighting pancreatic cancer.3

Sources

1. “Substance In Red Wine, Resveratrol, Found To Keep Hearts Young,” Science Daily, Jun 08
2. Devitt, Terry, “Agent in red wine found to keep hearts young,” University of Wisconsin, Madison, jun 08
3. Mohit, Joshi, Red wine antioxidant may help destroy pancreatic cancer, citing Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, Mar 08

Simply, bad fats destroy the linings of arteries. As a way to “patch” destroyed arteries, the body uses cholesterol and calcium. Therefore, it’s not the cholesterol that you eat that causes heart problems, but rather the foods you eat that lead to damaged arteries. An important difference!

The Healthy Skeptic blog makes several good and sobering points:

“For over 50 years, the medical establishment has vigorously promoted the notion that high cholesterol is a primary risk factor for coronary heart disease, and that a diet high in saturated fat and cholesterol causes heart disease. These hypotheses are widely accepted as fact by physicians and the general public alike, despite the overwhelming body of evidence that suggests otherwise.”

1. High cholesterol is not the primary of cause heart disease..
2. Diets high in saturated fat and cholesterol don’t cause heart disease.
3. Consumption of so-called “heart healthy” vegetable oils is linked to heart disease, cancer and many other conditions.
4. Statin drugs don’t reduce the risk of death for most people, and have dangerous side effects and complications.

Good fats include unrefined olive oil, unrefined hemp oil, unrefined coconut oil, fats found in vegetables, fish oils and seeds and nuts. Bad fats, which break down arteries, include most fried oils, cotton seed oil (used in making most supplements, but NOT NutriPlex Formulas’ supplements), stearates, stearic acid, canola oil, fake fats and others.

What few people realize is that the body absolutely NEEDS and MUST HAVE good fats. So, in all the talk about how bad fats are, we can’t forget that GOOD fats are necessary for the health of the heart, nerves, brain, skin, hormones and other bodily systems.

Music, selected by study participants because it made them feel good and brought them a sense of joy, caused tissue in the inner lining of blood vessels to dilate (or expand) in order to increase blood flow. This healthy response matches what the same researchers found in a 2005 study of laughter. On the other hand, when study volunteers listened to music they perceived as stressful, their blood vessels narrowed, producing a potentially unhealthy response that reduces blood flow.

The results of the study, conducted at the University of Maryland Medical Center, were presented at the Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association, on November 11, 2008, in New Orleans.

“We had previously demonstrated that positive emotions, such as laughter, were good for vascular health. So, a logical question was whether other emotions, such as those evoked by music, have a similar effect,” says principal investigator Michael Miller, M.D., director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center and associate professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “We knew that individual people would react differently to different types of music, so in this study, we enabled participants to select music based upon their likes and dislikes.”

Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA — High consumption of trans fat, found mainly in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and widely used by the food industry, has been linked to an increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). New York and Philadelphia have passed measures eliminating its use in restaurants, and other cities are considering similar bans. A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) provides the strongest association to date between trans fat and heart disease. It found that women in the U.S. with the highest levels of trans fat in their blood had three times the risk of CHD as those with the lowest levels. The study was published online on March 26, 2007, and will appear in the April 10, 2007 print issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

“The strength of this study is that the amount of trans fatty acid levels was measured in blood samples from the study population. Because humans cannot synthesize trans fatty acids, the amount of trans fat in red blood cells is an excellent biomarker of trans fat intake,” said senior author Frank Hu, associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH.

Clinical trials have shown that trans fatty acids increase LDL cholesterol and lower HDL cholesterol, making them the only class of fatty acids, which includes saturated fat, to have this dual effect. HDL (high-density lipoprotein) is considered a “good” cholesterol; LDL (low-density lipoprotein) a “bad” cholesterol.

The researchers, led by Hu and lead author Qi Sun, a graduate research assistant at HSPH, set out to test the assumption that higher trans fatty acid levels in erythrocytes—red blood cells—were associated with a higher risk of heart disease among U.S. women. Blood samples collected in 1989 and 1990 from 32,826 participants in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital-based Nurses’ Health Study were examined. During six years of follow-up, 166 cases of CHD were diagnosed and matched with 327 controls for age, smoking status, fasting status and date of blood drawing.

After adjusting for age, smoking status and other dietary and lifestyle cardiovascular risk factors, the researchers found that a higher level of trans fatty acids in red blood cells was associated with an elevated risk of CHD. The risk among women in the top quartile of trans fat levels was triple that of the lowest quartile. “Positive associations have been shown in earlier studies based on dietary data provided by the participants, but the use of biomarkers of trans fatty acids is believed to be more reliable than self-reports. This is probably the reason why we see an even stronger association between blood levels of trans fat and risk of CHD in this study,” said Sun.

“These data provide further justifications for current efforts to remove trans fat from foods and restaurant meals,” said Hu. “Trans fat intake in the U.S. is still high. Reducing trans fat intake should remain an important public health priority.”

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

“A Prospective Study of Trans Fatty Acids in Erythrocytes and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease,” Qi Sun, Jing Ma, Hannia Campos, Susan Hankinson, JoAnn Manson, Meir Stampfer, Kathryn M. Rexrode, Walter Willett, Frank Hu, Circulation, April 10, 2007.

Artichoke leaf extracts may lower cholesterol, according to a new study published in Phytomedicine. This study confirms prior research demonstrating that certain plant extracts have cholesterol-lowering, antioxidant, and other health-promoting properties.

High total cholesterol is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease, a serious condition that can lead to heart attacks and stroke. The authors report, “On a global level, the World Health Report estimates that about 8% of all disease burden in developed countries is caused by raised cholesterol levels.” Lifestyle changes such as healthy eating, exercise, and weight loss can help lower cholesterol.

When lifestyle changes aren’t enough, cholesterol-lowering medication may be necessary, especially when there is a need to lower a person’s cholesterol quickly and aggressively (for example, if a person also has severe diabetes, another risk factor for cardiovascular disease).

In this study, 131 adults with mildly to moderately high total cholesterol were randomly assigned to receive 1,280 mg of artichoke leaf extract (Cynara scolymus) or placebo capsules for 12 weeks, while continuing their usual medications, supplements, and diet.

Total cholesterol decreased in the artichoke extract group by more than 4% and increased in the placebo group by nearly 2%. There was no difference between the two groups in their blood levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol, LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, or triglycerides. The authors concluded that artichoke leaf extract has a modest but favorable impact on lowering total cholesterol.

Healthy habits lower cardiovascular disease risk
Here are some tips to help lower your risk for developing cardiovascular disease:

• Keep cholesterol levels healthy—If you don’t know your cholesterol level, see a doctor.
• Follow a healthy diet—People who stick with a low-fat diet that is also low in refined sugar and starches and rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains have a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease compared with people who eat less of these foods and more fat and sugar.
• Exercise regularly—Experts recommend moderate physical activity most days of the week along with three days of more vigorous activity and strength training two to three times a week.
• Lower your stress—People who are highly stressed are more likely to have a heart attack compared with people who have learned to take the trials and tribulations of life in stride. If you are chronically stressed, learn techniques to help you relax.

(Phytomedicine 2008;15:668–75)