Heart Disease Prevention - How Blood Vessels Can Predict One’s Health?

Scientists believe blood vessels play an important role in many health conditions. For instance, stroke and vascular dementia patients whose blood vessels are actually damaged before brain cell deficits happen. Studies have already shown it could be something that precedes neuron damage. Find out more at:

http://www.howtopreventheartdisease.com/how-blood-vessels-can-predict-one's-health.html

Why People Should Have Mediterranean Diet?

Mediterranean diet is not new. As shown by numerous studies, it can help people live longer and prevent heart disease. Mediterranean diet emphasizes eating fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts, fish and poultry, and limiting intake of red meat. It may incorporate cooking with olive oil, herbs and spices. If desirable, red wine may also be added as part of the diet but in moderation and is not compulsory.

Researchers from Institut d'Investigacions Biomediques at Hospital Clinic, Barcelona and other institutions found that Mediterranean diet supplemented with olive oil or nuts might help prevent age-related cognitive decline in older population. Their findings were released online May 11, 2015 and published in July 2015 in the ‘Journal of the American Medical Association's JAMA Internal Medicine’.

A group of 447 volunteers (233 of them were women) in Spain, who had an average age of 67, were followed. They were considered at high risk of heart disease, which has somehow been known to relate to dementia: people with a higher risk of one frequently have a higher risk of the other.

The volunteers were divided into 3 groups: 155 were assigned in the group with 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil added each day, 144 belonged to the group with 30 grams of nuts (a mix of walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds) added a day, and the remaining people were asked to have the low-fat diet.

From time to time, the volunteers were tested on memory skills. The group who ate the extra nuts did better in terms of memory and the group given extra virgin olive oil performed better on tests that required quick thinking.

Slightly more than 13 percent of those in the group getting extra olive oil and about 7 percent of those in the group getting nuts were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment that may or may not lead to Alzheimer’s disease. Around 13 percent of those in the group with low-fat diet developed memory loss. 

Over the period of 4 years, many of the volunteers actually had their memories get better. On average, those in the low-fat group lost some memory and thinking skills but those who got extra nuts had their memory skills improve, and those who got olive oil had improvement in problem-solving and planning skills.

In view of the lack of effective treatments for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, it is necessary to have preventive measures to delay the start or minimize the effects of these conditions. Though the current findings on Mediterranean diet is encouraging, according to researchers, further studies are still necessary for confirmation.

Does It Matter Which Arm Is Used For Measuring Blood Pressure?

When a person visits a doctor to find out if he or she has hypertension (high blood pressure), the doctor would probably measure the blood pressure in both arms. If blood pressure is higher on one arm, the doctor will very likely use the blood pressure reading from that arm to monitor the blood pressure on subsequent visits.

But according to a study by researchers from the University of Exeter, doctors should measure blood pressure on both arms every time for their hypertensive patients because this could help identify the likelihood of heart disease or even death. The findings were published on January 30, 2012 in the British medical journal ‘The Lancet’.

After reviewing 28 studies with data on the differences in systolic blood pressure between arms, they concluded that a difference of 15 mm of mercury or more was associated with an higher risk of the narrowing and hardening of the arteries that supply blood to the legs and feet.

It was also linked to pre-existing cerebrovascular disease, which is a group of brain dysfunctions related to disease of the blood vessels supplying the brain. Cerebrovascular disease can lead to a number of disorders including stroke or dementia.

Most of the cases can hardly be detected but double-arm checks should help reveal those patients who are at risk. Both-arm blood pressure checks should therefore be adopted as the standard practice. Especially patients who are monitoring their blood pressure at home should pay attention to the difference and should immediately inform or seek help from their doctors if the difference exceeds 15 mmHg.

As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), a person is said to have high blood pressure when the readings are 140/90 mmHg or more. The first number is systolic reading that measures maximum heart pressure, while the second number is diastolic reading that measures pressure when the heart is in a resting phase. High blood pressure can be the cause of many other diseases including heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and dementia.

Are You Having High Blood Pressure Without Knowing It?

High blood pressure is also known as hypertension. It has been found by previous research that people with high blood pressure will be at a higher risk of getting heart disease, kidney disease, stroke and dementia.

As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), high blood pressure is defined as being 140 over 90 mm of mercury or more. Mercury is the fluid used in the blood pressure gauges. The first number (140 mm), known as systolic, measures maximum heart pressure while the second (90 mm), known as diastolic, measures pressure when heart is in a resting phase (diastolic).

Many people who already have hypertension are just not aware of the condition. In fact, a recent study by Warwick Medical School in Britain and other institutes in Europe reported that more than half of people in 3 European countries who were diagnosed with high blood pressure did not know they had the condition. In addition, half of those who were aware that they had hypertension had managed to have their problems under control.

The findings were published in the International Society of Hypertension's Journal of Hypertension on November 12, 2008.

1,604 persons from Southwest London, Limburg in Belgium and Abruzzo in Italy, who participated in the study, answered questions regarding healthcare and lifestyle habits.

24 percent of the participants were found to have high blood pressure, yet only 44 percent of them were aware of their condition. Among these people, less than half had reduced their blood pressure to below 140 over 80 mm of mercury, the widely accepted benchmark of health.

According to the researchers, management of hypertensive problem is considered better in Britain than in many other European countries, partly because doctors in Britain have incentives to help patients reach targeted blood pressure. However, the incidence of high blood pressure is still rising, as too many patients are still not adequately treated.