Eat better for better mental health, heart health, immune health!

Have mental health, heart health, or immune health issues? Consider altering your diet for better gut microbe colonies. The gut, brain, and immune system are all related and interact.

At this time “There is currently no ‘silver bullet’ probiotic or antibiotic, although certain combinations of probiotics are providing promising research results.”



However, one can most likely foster good bacteria through following a Mediterranean diet.


Read more about this at The American Heart Associations May 28, 2020 article –> https://www.heart.org/en/news/2020/05/28/how-bacteria-in-your-gut-interact-with-the-mind-and-body

[Reblog] Women’s Health Issues: Special Collection on Women’s Heart Health | Full Text Reports…

Women’s Health Issues: Special Collection on Women’s Heart Health | Full Text Reports….

Women’s Health Issues: Special Collection on Women’s Heart Health

View image | gettyimages.com

February 3, 2015

Special Collection on Women’s Heart Health
Source: Women’s Health Issues

For American Heart Month 2015, the editorial team at Women’s Health Issues has assembled a special collection of research on women’s cardiovascular health published in the journal since mid-2011, following the release of updated American Heart Association guidelines on the prevention of cardiovascular disease in women. The articles address healthcare services for women at risk for cardiovascular disease; social determinants of health; and physical activity in specific populations of women.

These articles will be accessible for free during the month of February 2015 so that they are available to a wider interested audience.

Related articles

• Heart Disease Symptoms Different for Women
• Two weeks away from National Wear Red Day.
• Top 10 Heart Health Stories of 2013
• American Heart Month: Local woman shares her story of heart disease
• February Is American Heart Month
• Mind and Body: Your mental health affects your physical heart

[press release] One in three people would risk shorter life rather than take daily pill to avoid heart disease

Study does not address why, which I would really like to know!
My cholesterol is high, but I do not take a statin, against the advice of the doctor. Still not convinced they work after reading several evidence based biomedical journal articles. But I admit I am not consistent. Am exercising and watching what I eat.

From the 3 February 2015 American Heart Association press release

Study Highlights

• In a survey, one in three adults say they would risk living a shorter life rather than taking a daily pill to prevent cardiovascular disease.
• About one in five say they were willing to pay $1,000 or more to avoid taking a daily pill for the rest of their lives.
• Most respondents weren’t willing to trade any weeks of life to avoid daily medication.

Embargoed until 3 p.m. CT/4 p.m. ET Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015

DALLAS, Feb. 3, 2015 — One in three people say they would risk living a shorter life instead of taking a daily pill to prevent cardiovascular disease, according to new research inCirculation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.

Researchers at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill surveyed 1,000 people (average age 50) via the Internet hypothetically asking how much time they were willing to forfeit at the end of their lives to avoid taking daily medication. They were also asked the amount of money they would pay and the hypothetical risk of death they were willing to accept to avoid taking medications to prevent cardiovascular disease.

The survey showed:

• More than 8 percent of participants were willing to trade as much as two years of life to avoid taking daily medication for cardiovascular disease; while roughly 21 percent would trade between one week and a year of their lives.
• About 70 percent said they wouldn’t trade any weeks of their lives to avoid taking a CVD pill daily
• About 13 percent of participants said they would accept minimal risk of death to avoid taking a pill daily; 9 percent said they’d risk a 10 percent chance; and about 62 percent weren’t willing to gamble any risk of immediate death.
• About 21 percent said they would pay $1,000 or more to avoid taking a pill each day for the rest of their lives, but 43 percent said they wouldn’t pay any amount.

 

[Press release] Healthy gut microbiota can prevent metabolic syndrome, researchers say

Healthy gut microbiota can prevent metabolic syndrome, researchers say.

From the press release

Posted On November 25, 2014

ATLANTA—Promoting healthy gut microbiota, the bacteria that live in the intestine, can help treat or prevent metabolic syndrome, a combination of risk factors that increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke, according to researchers at Georgia State University and Cornell University.

Their findings are published in the journal Gastroenterology.

The study, a follow-up to the research team’s previous paper in Science, uses an improved technical approach, making the results more significant.

The research team includes Dr. Andrew Gewirtz, a professor in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State; Dr. Benoit Chassaing, a post-doctoral student at Georgia State; and Dr. Ruth Ley of the departments of Microbiology and Molecular Biology at Cornell.

“These results suggest that developing a means to promote a more healthy microbiota can treat or prevent metabolic disease,” Gewirtz said. “They confirm the concept that altered microbiota can promote low-grade inflammation and metabolic syndrome and advance the underlying mechanism. We showed that the altered bacterial population is more aggressive in infiltrating the host and producing substances, namely flagellin and lipopolysaccharide, that further promote inflammation.”

Metabolic syndrome is a serious health condition that affects 34 percent of American adults, according to the American Heart Association. A person is diagnosed with metabolic syndrome when he or she has three of these risk factors: a large waistline, high triglyceride (type of fat found in the blood) level, low HDL cholesterol level, high blood pressure and high fasting blood sugar. A person with metabolic syndrome is twice as likely to develop heart disease and five times as likely to develop diabetes, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Because metabolic syndrome is becoming more common, scientists are exploring possible causes. In their previous study in Science, Gewirtz, Ley and other researchers showed altered gut microbiota play a role in promoting metabolic syndrome.

Gut microbiota perform key functions in health and when it becomes deregulated it can promote chronic inflammatory diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. In addition, altered gut microbiota promote inflammation that leads to metabolic syndrome.

“We’ve filled in a lot of the details about how it works,” Gewirtz said. “It’s the loss of TLR5 on the epithelium, the cells that line the surface of the intestine and their ability to quickly respond to bacteria. That ability goes away and results in a more aggressive bacterial population that gets closer in and produces substances that drive inflammation.”

Normally, the bacteria are in the mucous layer at a certain distance away from epithelial cells. The researchers showed altered gut microbiota is more aggressive in infiltrating the host and gets very close to the epithelium. This altered population produces flagellin and lipopolysaccharide, which further promote inflammation.

The research team improved the study by comparing mice that were siblings and littermates, making all conditions in the study the same. The mice only differed by whether they were missing a specific gene, TLR5. Previously, the researchers studied mice that were from two different strains and lived in separate environments. In this study, they found the absence of TLR5 on the intestinal surface leads to alterations in bacteria that drive inflammation, leading to metabolic syndrome.

This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.

[Press release] Majority of Americans have their heart health facts wrong

From the 6 February 2014 ScienceDaily article

Summary:

Despite the fact that heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the U.S., about three-quarters (74 percent) of Americans do not fear dying from it, according to a recent survey.

Despite the fact that heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the U.S., about three-quarters (74 percent) of Americans do not fear dying from it, according to a recent survey from Cleveland Clinic.

Conducted as part of its “Love Your Heart” consumer education campaign in celebration of Heart Month, the survey found that Americans are largely misinformed about heart disease prevention and symptoms, and almost a third (32 percent) of them are not taking any proactive steps to prevent it. Even among those Americans with a family history of the disease (39 percent), who are at a significantly higher risk, 26 percent do not take any preventative steps to protect their heart health, according to the survey.

Perhaps even more concerning is that the majority (70 percent) of Americans are unaware of all the symptoms of heart disease, even though two out of three (64 percent) have or know someone who has the disease. Only 30 percent of Americans correctly identified unusual fatigue, sleep disturbances and jaw pain as all being signs of heart disease — just a few of the symptoms that can manifest.

Related Slide show at the Cleveland Clinic Web site
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/default.aspx

“Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of men and women in this country, so it’s disappointing to see that so many Americans are unaware of the severity of not taking action to prevent heart disease, or how exactly to do so,” said Steven Nissen, M.D., Chairman of Cardiovascular Medicine at Cleveland Clinic. “This is a disease that can largely be prevented and managed, but you have to be educated about how to do so and then incorporate prevention into your lifestyle.”

…

Many Americans believe the myth that fish oil can prevent heart disease.

…

Vitamins are viewed — mistakenly — as a key to heart disease prevention.

…

There is a lack of awareness about secret sodium sources.

…

Americans believe there is a heart disease gene.

 …

There is no single way to prevent heart disease, given that every person is different,” Dr. Nissen added.
“Yet there are five things everyone should learn when it comes to their heart health because they can make an enormous difference and greatly improve your risk:

eat right,
exercise regularly,
know your cholesterol,blood pressure, and body mass index numbers,
do not use tobacco,
and know your family history.
Taking these steps can help lead to a healthier heart and a longer, more vibrant life.”

Read the entire article here

Related articles (variety of views, for informational purposes only)

• New heart guidelines could put more Americans on statins
• Study: ‘Low T’ Therapy Increases Heart Attack, Stroke Risk in Men
• Heart and Stroke Study Hit by a Wave of Criticism
• Why Do People Still Die Of Heart Disease?
• FDA Approves Controversial Cholesterol-Fighting Drug Despite Criticism From Cardiologists
• Liptruzet Approved By FDA, Fails To Lower Heart Disease Risk
• Risk Calculator for Cholesterol Appears Flawed
• [Reblog] Saying No to “Know Your Numbers” campaigns – Health News Watchdog blog
• [NY Times Article] Risk Calculator for Cholesterol Appears Flawed
• [Press release] Taking statins to lower cholesterol? New guidelines