Cardiovascular

Eating Leafy Green Vegetables (just a wee bit) Lowers Heart Disease Risk

/ SupremeCmdr / 13 Comments

Researchers examined data from over 50,000 people residing in Denmark taking part in the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health Study over a 23-year period. They found that people who consumed the most nitrate-rich vegetables had about a 2.5 mmHg lower systolic blood pressure and between 12 to 26 percent lower risk of heart disease.

Lead researcher Dr Catherine Bondonno from ECU’s Institute for Nutrition Research said identifying diets to prevent heart disease was a priority.

“Our results have shown that by simply eating one cup of raw (or half a cup of cooked) nitrate-rich vegetables each day, people may be able to significantly reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease,” Dr Bondonno said.

Edith Cowan University. “One cup of leafy green vegetables a day lowers risk of heart disease.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210504112604.htm (accessed May 9, 2021).

One cup raw or a half cup cooked daily. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t leafy greens on a daily basis. But now since my awareness level is higher I simply need to try harder.

I love spinach.

I don’t understand kale at all.

I have a package of organic baby bok choy leaves in the fridge which I actually bought before I read this article.

I wonder if parsley counts?

Alcohol (just a wee bit) Lowers CVD Mortality Risk

/ SupremeCmdr / 3 Comments

Moderate alcohol intake – defined as no more than one alcoholic drink for women and two for men per day – may be associated with a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease when compared with individuals who abstain from drinking or partake in excessive drinking, according to a new study. Of the 53,064 participants, 7,905 (15%) experienced a major adverse cardiovascular event: 17% in the low alcohol intake group and 13% in the moderate alcohol intake group. People who reported moderate alcohol intake were found to have a 20% lower chance of having a major event compared to low alcohol intake (in adjusted analysis), and also had lower stress-related brain activity. Kenechukwu Mezue, MD, the study’s lead author, cautions that these findings should not encourage alcohol use, but that they could open doors to new therapeutics or prescribing stress-relieving activities like exercise or yoga to help minimize stress signals in the brain.

SOURCE: American College of Cardiology, news release, May 6, 2021 accessed 05.08.21 — https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2021/05/05/14/48/new-acc-21-research-explores-flu-vaccines-sleep-htn-secondhand-smoke-alcohol-and-stress-acc-2021

My liver understands but does not necessarily agree with the findings of this study.

Cardiac Testing Post COVID-19: Of Echos and MRIs — The Skeptical Cardiologist

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CVCT CardioBrief published online earlier this week a letter from a group of “clinicians, researchers and imaging specialists” who are concerned about the “presentation, interpretation and media coverage of the role of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in the management of asymptomatic patients recovered from COVID-19.” It’s short and sweet but makes many excellent points. Let’s…

Cardiac Testing Post COVID-19: Of Echos and MRIs — The Skeptical Cardiologist

Excellent post. Thanks for sharing your expertise Dr. Pearson.

It’s Now Time to Worry About Long-Term Cardiac Consequences of COVID-19 — The Skeptical Cardiologist

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A study published yesterday in JAMA has the skeptical cardiologist very concerned about the long-term cardiac effects of COVID-19 infection. The investigators performed cardiac MRI (CMR) on 100 patients with documented COVID-19. Cardiac MRI is now considered the gold-standard for noninvasively measuring pathologic changes in cardiac muscle. In this study of a cohort of German…

via It’s Now Time to Worry About Long-Term Cardiac Consequences of COVID-19 — The Skeptical Cardiologist
Thank you Dr. Pearson.

And the following is a link to the Medscape article:

Heart Damage Even After COVID-19 ‘Recovery’ Evokes Specter of Later Heart Failure