Heart Disease Prevention - What Is Myocarditis And Its Complications?

Also known as viral heart disease, myocarditis is the inflammation of the heart muscle (myocardium), usually caused by viral infections. The inflammation of the heart muscle causes degeneration or death of heart muscle reducing heart's ability to pump. Certain viruses are known to cause myocarditis but the exact mechanism leading to the weakening of the heart muscle is still unknown. Find out more at:

Heart Disease Prevention - What Is Myocarditis And Its Complications?

Heart Disease Prevention - Syncope Can Be A Sign Of Heart Disease!

Syncope can be benign or a symptom of an underlying medical condition. In most cases, syncope is a transient condition. But syncope can sometimes be a sign that a dangerous or even life-threatening underlying medical condition may be present. For example, syncope can be result of an underlying heart disease. Find out more at:

Heart Disease Prevention - Syncope Can Be A Sign Of Heart Disease!

Heart Disease Prevention - Are Heart Palpitations Caused By Heart Disease?

Sometimes, one may feel the heart pounds, flutters, or seem to skip beats. These are called palpitations that may be bothersome or even frightening, but most of them are not serious and seldom require treatment. They often go away on their own. Most of the time, they are caused by stress and anxiety, or because one had too much caffeine, nicotine, or alcohol.

Click the following link to find out if they are caused by heart disease.

Heart Disease Prevention - Are Heart Palpitations Caused By Heart Disease?

Is Fish The Only Source Of Omega3 Fat For Heart Disease Prevention?

Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fats that that may reduce inflammation throughout the body. Inflammation in the body can damage the blood vessels and lead to heart disease and strokes. 

Research has shown that omega-3 fatty acids decrease risk of arrhythmias (abnormal heartbeats) that can lead to sudden death, decrease triglyceride levels, slow growth rate of atherosclerotic plaque, and lower blood pressure (slightly). Hence, omega-3 fatty acids are not only essential for the brain and nervous system function properly but also good for heart disease prevention.

When talking about omega-3 fatty acids, people usually think of fish. Being a good source of protein, fish are some of the richest sources of 2 forms of omega-3 fatty acids called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Fatty fish, such as salmon, lake trout, halibut, herring, sardines and tuna, contain the most omega-3 fatty acids.

Despite of the health benefits of fish, people should not eat too much fish. This is because most fish come from ocean, and many parts of the ocean are contaminated by pollution. Some types of fish may contain high levels of mercury, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), dioxins and other environmental contaminants. Consumption too much of these fish may be harmful for the body.

According to health experts, the risk of getting too much mercury or other contaminations from fish is generally outweighed by the health benefits that omega-3 fatty acids have if people consume fish in moderation. That is why the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends eating 2 servings of fish every week for adults. A serving size is 3.5 ounces (99 grams).

Eating a variety of fish will generally help minimize any potentially adverse effects due to environmental pollutants. 5 of the most commonly eaten fish or shellfish that are low in mercury are shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish. Avoid eating shark, swordfish, king Mackerel, or tilefish because they contain high levels of mercury. Nevertheless, any fish can be unhealthy depending on how it is prepared. For example, broiling or baking fish is a healthier option than is deep-frying.

For people who do not like or are sensitive to fish, there are other non-fish options. Plants like flaxseed oil, chia seeds, walnuts, soybeans and spinach do contain high omega-3 fatty acids. These plants create alpha-linolenic acid (ALA. Although human body can convert ALA to DHA or EPA as needed, fish are probably still the best source of omega-3s. 

Meanwhile, there are health supplements containing omega-3 fatty acids. However, the evidence of heart-healthy benefits from eating these foods is not as strong as it is from eating fish.

Heart Disease Prevention - Why Is Coronary Artery Disease Treated Differently Now?

Traditionally, CAD happens when there is buildup of plaque (known as atherosclerosis) in the inner walls of arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle. As atherosclerosis grows, the blood flow to the heart will be restricted and the heart will become starved of oxygen. Over time, CAD can weaken… Find out more at:

Heart Disease Prevention - Why Is Coronary Artery Disease Treated Differently Now?

How To Differentiate Heartburn From Heart Attack?

Heartburn is a symptom of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) that is caused by gastric acid flowing backwards into the oesophagus. It often occurs after eating and gets worse after bending over or lying down. It is also common in pregnant women, and might be triggered by consuming food in large quantities, or specific foods containing certain spices, high fat content, or high acid content.

During heartburn, there will be a burning feeling in the chest, just behind the breastbone or in the epigastrium, the upper central abdomen. The pain usually rises in the chest and may radiate to the neck, throat, or angle of the jaw. Often, there is a sour taste in the mouth or a feeling of food being stuck in the throat.

Heart attack, on the other hand, happens when the flow of oxygen-rich blood to a section of heart muscle suddenly becomes blocked and the heart could not get oxygen. If blood flow is not restored quickly, the section of heart muscle begins to die. Heart attack occurs as a result of coronary heart disease, and it can be associated with or lead to severe health problems like heart failure and life-threatening arrhythmias.

Victims of heart attack can have symptoms such as chest pain or discomfort, feeling pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, shoulders, neck, jaw, or upper part of the stomach, and shortness of breath. They can have other symptoms like breaking out in a cold sweat, feeling unusually tired for no reason, nausea (feeling sick to the stomach) and vomiting, and light-headedness or sudden dizziness.

Clearly, heartburn and chest pain or a heart attack can feel very similar. It is not easy to differentiate heartburn from heart attack just based on a medical history and physical examination.

In a group of people presenting to a hospital with GERD symptoms, only 0.6 percent might be due to ischemic heart disease. Up to 30 percent of chest pain patients who have undergone cardiac catheterization have findings that do not account for their chest discomfort. They are often defined as having atypical chest pain or chest pain of undetermined cause. According to data recorded in several studies based on ambulatory pH and pressure monitoring, it is estimated that between 25 percent and 50 percent of these patients have evidence of abnormal GERD.

As a rule of thumb, if a person has symptoms of a heartburn that is accompanied by other symptoms like shortness of breath, radiation of the pain to the arm or back, giddiness or cold sweats, he or she should seek help from a doctor immediately. He or she might be victim of heart attack, especially if he or she has risk factors for coronary heart disease such as hypercholesterolemia or the presence of high levels of cholesterol in the blood, hypertension, diabetes, smoking and family history of heart disease.

How About A Biological Pacemaker?

Pacemakers are, small devices placed in the chest or abdomen, used to treat arrhythmias. Arrhythmias are problems about the rate or rhythm of the heartbeat: the heart can beat too fast, too slow or with an irregular rhythm.

While most arrhythmias are harmless, some can be serious or even life threatening. The inability of the heart to pump enough blood to the body during arrhythmias could damage the brain, heart and other organs. By using electrical pulses, a pacemaker can prompt the heart to beat at a normal rate.

In a recent study, researchers from Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles, California found that inserting a gene into ordinary heart cells of guinea pigs can turn the cells into rare biological pacemakers that regulate cardiac rhythm. The findings, which were published on December 16, 2012 in the journal ‘Nature Biotechology’, showed that out of a total 7 guinea pigs being injected with the virus, 5 later had heartbeats that were originated from their new pacemaker.

While 10 billion cells are found in the heart, fewer than 10,000 of them are pacemaker cells that can generate electrical activity to spread to other cardiac cells making the heart contract rhythmically and pump blood.

A virus was used to deliver human gene called Tbx18, whose normal role is to transform immature cells into pacemaker cells. These new cells generate electrical impulses spontaneously and were indistinguishable from native pacemaker cells. Tbx18 is normally active when pacemaker cells are formed during normal development in an embryo.

Besides limited battery life that require regular recharging, electronic devices also have other complications like displacement, breakage, entanglement of the leads that could be life threatening. Moreover, there are a growing number of patients contracting bacterial infection because of using electronic pacemakers. The biological pacemaker created, on the other hand, could solve most of these problems.

Building on the decade-long research into biological pacemakers, the technique has so far been tested on animals like pigs and rats. It is, however, expected this to work in humans as well. Hopefully in another 2 to 3 years, the technique can be used with the first target patients who have pacemaker device infection, according to researchers.

Until then, it is important that more studies should be carried out to understand if these findings could really help people with heart disease in the future.