In particular, we need to take extra care with our circulation, which during the summer can often be hindered by hot weather, swelling and inflammation. And in the case of travel, whether by planes, trains or automobiles, sitting for long periods can be quite dangerous.

Researchers have found that long-distance travel can raise your risk of deadly venous thromboembolism (VTE) as much as threefold. In addition, the risk increases relative to the duration of your trip — by a whopping 26 percent for every two hours of air travel and by 18 percent for every two hours of any other kind of travel — even if you’re otherwise healthy.

But travel can be safe with a few precautions…

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What is VTE ?

VTE comprises deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). DVT is marked by abnormal clot formation(s) in the deepest veins in your body, including those in your legs or pelvis.

A pulmonary embolism occurs when a clot becomes dislodged and travels to your lungs, blocking the pulmonary artery and resulting in difficulty breathing, rapid heart rate and, sometimes, sudden death.

Perhaps the most important precaution you can take is to familiarize yourself with the symptoms of VTE. This knowledge can save your life.

Pain, swelling, redness and warmth in your legs are red flags that a blood clot may have formed — and sudden shortness of breath, chest pain and a bloody cough are all warning signs that it may have traveled to your lungs.

Who’s at risk?

Long-distance travelers are at higher risk for these serious events, due to the sedentary nature of travel, but other factors can increase that risk, including:

• Being over the age of 40
• A body mass index (BMI) greater than 30
• Having undergone surgery in the past three months
• Using estrogen-containing contraceptives or hormone replacement therapies
• Pregnancy or having given birth in the last three months
• A history of blood clots previously or a family history of them
• Currently undergoing active cancer treatment
• Having limited mobility due to a cast or a walking boot
• Having varicose veins

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Reducing your risk

Getting up and moving, if possible, is paramount to decreasing the risk of blood clots from prolonged sitting. But when traveling, that’s not always possible. But even a little movement can do some good…

In one study, researchers asked healthy men and women to sit for three hours. During that time, they were told to fidget one leg intermittently by tapping their foot for one minute and then resting it for four minutes. Their other leg remained still for the entire three hours.

After the time was up, researchers compared the blood flow in each leg. Participants had significantly better blood flow in the fidgety leg than the one they kept still. 

High-quality botanical and nutritional supplements can also help. In my clinical practice, I recommend a Tibetan herbal formula that has been clinically studied for decades; published studies show it significantly reduces abnormal clotting factors and boosts circulation.

Other helpful nutraceutical ingredients include the enzyme nattokinase from natto, a fermented soy product and traditional food from Japan. Hawthorn berries and omega-3 fats are also helpful for promoting circulation and cardiovascular health.

Beets or beet powders help the body produce nitric oxide, a natural vasodilator that supports normal blood flow.

If you suspect VTE during or after your next long trip, be sure to seek medical attention immediately. Quick intervention and proper prevention can help ensure that you enjoy many more trips — and all of the long-distance travel they might require — for years to come. Safe and happy travels!

For more health information, visit www.dreliaz.org.

The post Reduce the travel risks of deep vein thrombosis appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

You may be among the approximately six percent of the general population living with orthostatic hypotension (OH), a fairly common condition, especially in people over age 65 where your blood vessels react too slowly to changes in blood pressure.

But it’s also possible that you may have a condition that is far less common and, though it also involves the body’s reaction to a change of posture, has different symptoms and different diagnostic criteria.

This condition is known as Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome or POTS.

It’s important to know the difference between these two since they affect the body differently and therefore call for different treatments.

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POTS vs. OH: What’s the difference?

Orthostatic hypotension and POTS both involve a failure of the autonomic nervous system to regulate blood pressure in response to postural change.

However, one key difference between the two is in their diagnostic criteria.

Presentation of symptoms, including dizziness and lightheadedness, takes place within 3 minutes for orthostatic hypotension and within 10 minutes for POTS.

Also, and perhaps more significantly, OH results in a drop in blood pressure, while POTS results in an elevated heart rate (tachycardia).

Also, POTS most commonly affects females between the ages of 15 and 50, while OH is more common in people over age 65.

What causes POTS?

POTS is a form of dysautonomia — a disorder of the autonomic nervous system. This branch of the nervous system regulates functions we don’t consciously control, such as heart rate, blood pressure, respiration and digestion.

Experts have yet to pinpoint the actual cause of POTS, but they have identified three different classifications:

Neuropathic POTS — associated with damage to the small fiber nerves (small-fiber neuropathy). These nerves regulate the constriction of the blood vessels in the limbs and abdomen.

Hyperadrenergic POTS — associated with elevated levels of the stress hormone norepinephrine.

Hypovolemic POTS — associated with abnormally low levels of blood (hypovolemia).

Secondary POTS — associated with another condition known to potentially cause autonomic neuropathy, such as diabetes, Lyme disease or autoimmune disorders such as lupus or Sjogren’s syndrome.  

To confound things even further, a person may experience more than one of these at once. In addition, POTS can be triggered by toxins, including heavy metals and chemotherapy.

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What are the symptoms?

POTS symptoms vary from person to person and may include:

1. Severe and/or long-lasting fatigue
2. Lightheadedness with prolonged sitting or standing that can lead to fainting
3. Brain fog: trouble focusing, remembering or paying attention
4. Forceful heartbeats or heart palpitations (a feeling of the heart pounding or skipping a beat)
5. Nausea and vomiting
6. Headaches
7. Excessive sweating
8. Shakiness
9. Intolerance of exercise or a prolonged worsening of general symptoms after increased activity
10. A pale face and purple discoloration of the hands and feet if the limbs are lower than the level of the heart

How is it diagnosed?

The most common way is with a tilt table test.

The person is secured on a table while lying flat. Then the table is raised to an almost upright position. Heart rate, blood pressure and often blood oxygen and exhaled carbon dioxide levels are measured during this test.

You might have POTS if you meet all three of these criteria:

• Your body produces an abnormal heart rate response to being upright
• Your symptoms worsen when upright
• You don’t develop orthostatic hypotension in the first three minutes of testing

Treatments for POTS

If you experience any of the symptoms mentioned above to the extent they are distressing and interfere with your daily activities, you should talk to a healthcare professional. They can help you determine if you have POTS, OH or another disorder.

For POTS, an individualized regimen of diet, exercise and/or medication based on each person’s symptoms is typically recommended. Medications that have been used for POTS include beta blockers, midodrine and fludrocortisone.

Doctors will often also recommend increasing fluid intake by two to three liters per day, and increasing salt intake — which is not something to do on your own. Compression stockings are often recommended to help maintain blood flow.

But another source of therapy involves the vagus nerve — the longest nerve in the body that begins in the part of the brain that connects to the spinal cord and extends throughout the body. The vagus nerve sends signals to various parts of the body along the way, especially having to do with the autonomic nervous system.

Since POTS is considered a disorder of the autonomic nervous system, studies have looked into stimulating the nerve via transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS treatment), and seen an improvement in symptoms. Most recently researchers are considering this therapy to help symptoms associated with long COVID fatigue.

Sources:

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) — Johns Hopkins Medicine

What is the Difference Between Orthostatic Hypotension and POTS — differencebetween.com

The post 10 signs you may have this blood circulation disorder appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

You take the antibiotics and spend weeks on the couch re-watching every season of Downton Abbey. But you still aren’t feeling better. So, you go see your doctor again. This time she looks more concerned. She sends you for a CT scan. The diagnosis? Lung cancer.

Lung cancer is a very treatable disease if you catch it early. But those weeks you spent immersing yourself in early 20^th century aristocratic Britain, your cancer was spreading. And now your odds of surviving are lower.

Talk about a nightmare. But it’s more than a nightmare for hundreds of thousands of Americans. In fact, diagnostic errors are one of the most common — and serious — medical mistakes. Over 100,000 Americans die or are permanently disabled because of them.

The question is… how do you prevent a nightmare like this from becoming your reality?

Well, it’s helpful to know which conditions are most likely to be misdiagnosed in the first place. And lucky for you, a new study just revealed the top three…

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Misdiagnosing these serious conditions leads to death and disability

Researchers from Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality just figured out the three disease categories that are most likely to be misdiagnosed: vascular events, infections and cancers.

They did a thorough analysis of 11,592 malpractice insurance claims and found that these three types of disorders make up three-fourths of all misdiagnoses that lead to death or permanent disability. More specifically, they found that:

• 8 percent of serious misdiagnoses were cancer
• 8 percent of serious misdiagnoses were vascular events
• 5 percent of serious misdiagnoses were infections

If you’d like to know even more precisely what conditions to look out for, researchers identified the most misdiagnosed condition in each of these three categories:

• The most misdiagnosed cancer is lung cancer
• The most misdiagnosed vascular event is stroke
• The most misdiagnosed infection is sepsis

Besides the big three listed above, several other conditions were likely to be misdiagnosed and lead to death or disability, like:

• Heart attack
• Venous thromboembolism (blood clots in the legs and lungs)
• Aortic aneurysm and dissection (a rupture of the aorta)
• Arterial thromboembolism (a blockage of the blood supply to internal organs)
• Meningitis
• Encephalitis
• Spinal infection
• Pneumonia
• Endocarditis (a heart infection)
• Breast, colorectal, prostate and skin cancers

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Don’t become a misdiagnosis statistic

How can you use this information to decrease your odds of becoming one of the people a misdiagnosis harms?

Well, I’d start by paying close attention to the big three: lung cancer, stroke and sepsis. If you ever develop symptoms that correspond with these diseases, don’t be shy about asking your doctor whether he or she has ruled these serious conditions out. And if you have a gut feeling that your doctor’s diagnosis is wrong, seek out a second opinion. It’s your life on the line, after all.

Sources:

Researchers identify health conditions likely to be misdiagnosed — MedicalXpress

Serious misdiagnosis-related harms in malpractice claims: The “Big Three” – vascular events, infections, and cancers — Diagnosis

The post 3 serious conditions most likely to be misdiagnosed appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It’s also easy to brush it off as just a matter of being cautious of what you eat or adjusting medication. But poorly managed diabetes can tear your body down — from your heart to your limbs.

One of the most common complications for diabetics is a foot ulcer. These wounds can take anywhere from 90 to 150 days to heal and are at high risk of infection.

In fact, foot ulcers often lead to hospitalization due to complications — and for 14 to 24 percent of diabetics will lead to amputation and increase their death risk by 2.5 times.

With numbers like these, it’s no wonder researchers are exploring ways to speed the healing of diabetic foot ulcers. One biomedical engineering team at Michigan Technological University is seeking to reduce the healing time from three months to three weeks by amplifying the body’s natural healing processes…

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The healing power of nitric oxide

The technology they’re using involves nitric oxide (NO), a chemical naturally produced by the body…

NO is a signaling molecule and in addition to promoting healthy circulation, it helps immune system cells communicate. Unfortunately, in patients with diabetes, nitric oxide production is impaired, lessening the healing power of skin cells.

“Nitric oxide is a powerful healing chemical, but it’s not meant to be heavy-handed,” says Megan Frost, a professor who runs a polymeric biomaterials lab at Michigan Tech. “We’re looking at the profiles of healthy and diabetic cells to find a more nuanced way to recover wound function.”

She and her team assessed NO under normal and diabetic conditions in skin cells called dermal fibroblast cells. Fibroblasts play a key role in the healing process, and past studies have shown their delayed response could be a major factor in slow healing time for diabetic foot ulcers.

When NO steps in, it helps get the healing process back into balance. But simply flooding the wound with nitric oxide isn’t the solution.

“The old approach is to add nitric oxide and sit back to see if it works,” Frost says. “What we’re finding is that it’s not enough to apply and leave; we have to keep tabs on how much nitric oxide is actually needed.”

To that end, Frost’s lab built its own nitric oxide-measuring device by hand. This device will be produced commercially to improve cell chemistry research.

The research team next plans to create bandages infused with NO that adjusts the release of the chemical based on the condition of the wound’s cells.

A little background in nitric oxide

In 1998, three pharmacologists won the Nobel Prize for identifying NO as a signaling molecule for the cardiovascular and nervous systems. Subsequent research has recognized it as an important player in the immune system as well.

NO was found in the endothelial cells that lined artery walls — where its chief function was as a powerful vasodilator. But because of its positive effect on circulation, it’s believed to also help white blood cells (infection-fighting cells) move efficiently within the body. According to the University of Reading, high amounts of nitric oxide produced by macrophages is toxic to bacteria.

NO is produced via the nitrate–nitrite–nitric oxide pathway. When we eat foods containing dietary nitrates, like spinach or beets (don’t confuse this with sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate food preservatives used in lunch meats and hot dogs), a chemical reaction occurs with good bacteria or microflora on the tongue. The result is that the nitrates are converted to nitrites and then nitric oxide.

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Avoiding foot ulcers

Diabetes is associated with poor blood flow in the legs and feet. Additionally, many diabetics are prone to a type of nerve damage known as peripheral neuropathy which can decrease the perception of pain. That means a small scrape can go unnoticed until it has become an infected hard-to-treat wound.

Experts recommend diabetics check their feet daily for any blisters, cuts, scratches and ingrown toenails, all of which can cause an ulcer to form. And they advise smokers to stop smoking because it can slow the healing process.

Above all, proper management of blood sugar is imperative to avoid foot ulcers. Part and parcel of that is maintaining a healthy weight. Carrying extra weight increases stress on the feet which can lead to the breakdown of the skin.

In addition, diabetics need to maintain healthy vitamin D levels. In one study, researchers discovered that low vitamin D levels were significantly associated with a higher prevalence of foot ulcers in older patients with diabetes. Also, foot ulcers were more severe in patients with lower vitamin D levels.

Of course, following a healthy nutrient-rich diet is of utmost importance to successfully managing diabetes and avoiding complications. Most experts recommend variations of low-carb diets. Be sure yours include the nutrients most beneficial to your unique health needs.

Sources:

Nitric Oxide Technology Helps Quickly Heal Diabetic Foot Ulcers — Michigan Technological University

Investigative Study on Nitric Oxide Production in Human Dermal Fibroblast Cells under Normal and High Glucose Conditions — Medical Sciences

Frequently Asked Questions: Diabetic Foot Ulcers — University of Michigan Health

Preventing Diabetic Foot Ulcers — NYU Langone Health

Healthy foods to boost nitric oxide production — WedMd

The post ‘Miracle’ molecule may speed diabetic foot ulcer healing appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Millions of women find themselves looking longingly at a pair of shorts or a new swimsuit wishing they could put them on.

But instead, they throw on the same old beach cover-up they’ve worn for years. Why?

They’re too embarrassed by their varicose veins.

If you have varicose veins, this internal struggle is probably pretty familiar to you. You want to get into the spirit of the season and wear cute clothes. But those dang varicose veins keep cramping your style. Or maybe you’ve learned to wear what you want and embrace your body exactly how it is — varicose veins and all. And if that’s your approach, you rock! More power to you!

But either way — whether you’re self-conscious about your varicose veins or you don’t let a few veins get you down — you should know that varicose veins are more than a cosmetic issue. They could put you at increased risk for blood clots.

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Varicose veins signal blood clot trouble

Varicose veins are generally a benign condition, but they can increase your risk for another condition that’s a lot more concerning…

A new study from researchers at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan found that varicose veins can significantly increase the risk for dangerous blood clots.

The study included data from more than 425,000 people. Half of these people had varicose veins, and those who did had a 5.3 times higher risk of developing deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

If you’re not familiar with it, deep vein thrombosis is a blood clot that forms in veins deep within your body. Typically, it occurs in your legs and causes symptoms like leg swelling, pain, red or discolored skin or a feeling of warmth in the affected leg. Sometimes, however, it doesn’t cause any symptoms.

Deep vein thrombosis is dangerous because the blood clot that develops in your leg can travel to other parts of your body. It can even cause something called a pulmonary embolism, where the clot gets lodged in your lungs and prevents you from breathing. And that can be deadly.

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Tackling the serious side of varicose veins

So now you may have forgotten all about your seasonal struggle with shorts — you’ve got blood clots on the brain. But don’t let this latest information about blood clots stress you out. Instead, let it inspire you to tackle those varicose veins and lower your blood clot risk. Here are six natural ways you can do that:

1. Try compression. Compression socks are one of the more popular ways to improve and prevent varicose veins. They’re far from glamorous, but they do work… and that’s what counts. Compression socks promote healthy circulation in your legs, and poor leg circulation is something most varicose vein sufferers struggle with. Compression socks are affordable, easy to find, and they even come in fun prints and patterns nowadays. These aren’t your grandparents’ compression socks! Compression socks won’t completely get rid of varicose veins, but they will make them less noticeable. They’ll also help prevent new varicose veins from forming.
2. Exercise more. Varicose veins are often caused by a sedentary lifestyle. Sitting at a desk (or even standing) all day can take a toll on your circulation. That’s why exercise is so important if you’re prone to varicose veins. Most experts agree that exercise is one of the best ways to prevent new varicose veins from forming. But it can also lessen the appearance of existing varicose veins, especially if it leads to weight loss. Extra body weight puts more pressure on veins, which can make them bulgy and more noticeable.
3. Eat more fiber. Some research suggests there might be a connection between varicose veins and constipation. In fact, one study found that countries that have fiber-deficient diets (like the U.S.) also tend to have more issues with varicose veins. Researchers suspect that’s because a lack of fiber leads to constipation, and the straining that accompanies constipation puts enormous pressure on your veins, which can lead to that bulging effect.
4. Give horse chestnut a whirl. The herb horse chestnut is probably the most popular supplement used to treat varicose veins. Studies show it can help with chronic venous insufficiency, a condition where the vein valves in the legs don’t work properly leading to leg circulation issues. Many people who have varicose veins also have chronic venous insufficiency and vice versa.
5. Turn to gotu kola. Gotu kola is another herb that can help with chronic venous insufficiency. Studies show it can even relieve symptoms like swelling and leakage from the veins, so you may want to give this Asian herb a try.
6. Be sure to eat your bioflavonoids. Bioflavonoids found in foods like berries, leafy greens, garlic and onions promote healthy veins. So make sure to eat plenty of these foods. The flavonoids found in the bioflavanoid rutin have also been shown to strengthen the walls of the veins and ease the symptoms of varicose veins. You can get rutin in a supplement or in foods like apples, citrus fruits, figs, black tea, green tea and buckwheat.

Sources:

1. Varicose Veins — Mayo Clinic. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
2. Deep Vein Thrombosis — Mayo Clinic. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
3. Varicose veins tied to higher odds for blood clots — MedicalXpress. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
4. Varicose Veins: 7 Myths You Shouldn’t Believe — Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
5. P. Burkitt. “Varicose Veins, Deep Vein Thrombosis, and Haemorrhoids: Epidemiology and Suggested Aetiology” — British Medical Journal, June 1972.
6. Varicose Veins — University of Maryland Medical Center. Retrieved March 5, 2018.

The post 6 ways to make your varicose veins and blood clot risk vanish appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Made from fermented soybeans, Natto has been a staple of Japanese dining for over a thousand years. It’s sometimes referred to as “Japanese Cheese” because of its gooey texture, high calcium content, and how it easily mixes with other Japanese dishes. For those trying natto for the first time, you won’t forget its distinct smell and “unforgettable” taste.

Regardless, don’t let that discourage you from trying it. Not only is it chockful of beneficial nutrients like proteins, carbohydrates, fiber, calcium, iron, and vitamin K2, natto also has a unique protein-based enzyme not found in any other food…

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A mighty benefit in a tiny package

The ancient samurai credited natto as one of the foods that gave them exceptional endurance and high energy levels. And just like it did for those warriors of the past, it is doing the same for those who eat natto today.

What is it that makes natto so special?

Dr. Hiroyuki Sumi discovered it when trying to find a way to naturally dissolve blood clots. Blood clots impact more than 600,000 Americans each year. On average, one person every minute is diagnosed with a blood clot and the American Journal of Preventative Medicine and other leading journals report that one person every six minutes will die from blood clots.

Blood clots restrict blood flow to our organs and tissues, especially those that are the furthest from the heart like our hands and feet. Symptoms associated with blood clots include cold hands & feet, joint pain & swelling, cognition decline, digestive issues, and more.

Dr. Sumi eventually narrowed the possibilities down to 173 different substances. As you can imagine, his task was quite daunting.  

One day, by accident, Dr. Sumi dropped some natto in a Petri dish containing a blood clot. To his surprise, the blood clot slowly started dissolving. Compared to everything else he tested, nothing worked as fast and efficiently as natto. And within 18 hours, the blood clot dissolved without a trace. Upon further inspection, the Dr. Sumi identified a protein-based enzyme — which he named “Nattokinase” (Pronounced “Nat-toe-ken-ace”) — that easily dissolved fibrin, the mesh-like material your body uses to clot blood.  

Nattokinase: A Circulation Miracle

Our bodies produce fibrin to clot blood. Without it, we would bleed to death whenever we got a cut.  Once the bleeding stops, fibrin is no longer necessary and the body creates an enzyme called plasmin to break down the blood clot, dissolving it back into the blood stream.

Under normal, everyday circumstances, this is part of the normal process.

But as you get older — starting in your early 40s — your body doesn’t make plasmin like it used to. Eventually, blood clots may become a problem, slowing your blood’s natural circulation.  

Since its discovery, Nattokinase has had over 17 scientific studies — including human trials — and here’s what some of the research had to say:

• Miyazaki Medical College: “The results obtained suggest that [Nattokinase] represents a possible drug for use not only in the treatment of embolism but also in the prevention of the disease, since [Nattokinase] has a proven safety and can be mass produced.”

• University of Cincinnati: “…A single-dose of [Nattokinase] administration appears enhancing fibrinolysis and anti-coagulation via several different pathways simultaneously.”

• NIS Labs: “The data suggest that Nattokinase consumption in a North American population is associated with beneficial changes to [Blood Pressure] in a hypertensive population…”

And this is just the tip of the Nattokinase benefits iceberg. So, if you are struggling with…

• Blood clots
• Blood sugar imbalances
• Numbness and tingling
• Blood pressure concerns
• Cold hands and feet
• Varicose veins
• Bleeding gums
• Hemorrhoids

…Improving your body’s blood circulation can help.

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Simple ways to get more Nattokinase in your diet

Eat Natto: Aside from eating natto straight from the container, the “Traditional Natto Japanese Breakfast” is one of the simplest dietary ways of increasing your Nattokinase intake.

Total prep time for this dish is under ten minutes, making it the perfect thing to eat when you’re in a rush, have a short break, or just feel hungry.

For this recipe, you’ll need:

• Half cup of cooked rice (Ideally a short-grain, white rice)
• 1 50-gram packet of natto
• 1 tsp. of soy sauce (tamari also can be substituted)

Here are the steps to make it:

1. Put the warm rice in a bowl.
2. In another bowl, mix the natto along with any seasonings or food you like. Popular seasonings include mayonnaise, kimchi, tuna, and spicy yellow mustard.
3. Pour the natto on top of the warm rice.
4. Add soy sauce/tamari to taste.
5. Enjoy!

Supplement Nattokinase: According to the University of Cincinnati, a single dose of Nattokinase at 100 mg was enough to show an enhancement in both thrombolysis while also assisting anti-coagulation profiles.

Some studies have recommended that in severe cases, taking 100 mg three times a day was helpful. Nattokinase has been shown to be safe even at doses as high as 1000 mg.

However, if you take medications check with your doctor to see if adding natto to your diet is right for you.

Sources:

Venous thromboembolism: a public health concern — American Journal of Preventative Medicine

Deep vein thrombosis: pathogenesis, diagnosis, and medical management  — Cardiovascular Diagnosis and Therapy

Enhancement of the fibrinolytic activity in plasma by oral administration of Nattokinase  — Acta Haematologica

Nattokinase: An Oral Antithrombotic Agent for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease — International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Consumption of Nattokinase is associated with reduced blood pressure and von Willebrand factor, a cardiovascular risk marker: results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter North American clinical trial — Integrated Blood Pressure Control

A single-dose of oral Nattokinase potentiates thrombolysis and anti-coagulation profiles — Scientific Reports

The post Natto: The Japanese secret to healthy circulation appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Turns out I should have explored this habit a bit more thoroughly…

While it may seem comfortable to sit with our legs crossed, this action has a lot of downsides when it comes to our health.

12 consequences of crossing your legs

1. Hip misalignment. Crossing your legs can cause one hip to shift higher than the other. This can lead to the pelvis becoming misaligned.

2. Spine and shoulder misalignment. Because of the way your skeleton is connected, a misalignment of the pelvis can lead to a misalignment of the spine and shoulders.

3. Misaligned head position. When you cross your legs, your spine compensates to keep your center of gravity above the pelvis. And when this happens, this can change the bones of the neck, throwing your head position out of alignment.

4. Muscle weaknesses. When your hips become misaligned, prolonged stretching of the gluteal muscles on the higher hip side weakens those muscles. The resulting poor posture, stresses and strains caused by sitting with your legs crossed can also cause weakness in the muscles of the pelvis, lower back and neck. The more you cross your legs when you sit, the more pronounced these imbalances and weaknesses will become.

5. Increased scoliosis risk. When you constantly sit with your legs crossed, you increase the odds of developing an abnormal alignment of the spine known as scoliosis, as well as other deformities.

6. Greater trochanteric pain syndrome risk. Sitting with your legs crossed raises your risk of developing trochanteric pain syndrome, a common and painful condition that affects the outer side of the hip and thigh.

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7. Leg and foot abnormalities. Consistently crossing your legs when you sit can compress and injure the peroneal (or fibular) nerve in your lower leg. Two symptoms of this condition are weakness when trying to lift the side of the foot where your little toe is located and foot drop, where the whole of the foot hangs down. Usually, these symptoms are short-lived and return to normal within a few minutes.

8. Higher risk of blood clots. Crossing your legs changes the speed at which blood moves through the blood vessels in the lower limbs. This can raise the risk of blood clots forming. If a clot forms in one of the deep veins of the legs, that’s known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and can cause leg pain and swelling. DVT can lead to pulmonary embolism, a dangerous condition where the clot breaks off and travels to the lungs, blocking blood flow there.

9. Cuts off circulation. Sitting with your legs crossed can cut off circulation. This can contribute to a sudden drop in blood pressure known as orthostatic hypotension, which can cause dizziness upon standing too quickly.

10. Causes leg cramps. Long periods of sitting with your legs crossed can deplete the nutrients your muscles need to function properly. This can lead to painful leg cramps. 

11. Increased blood pressure. Have you ever noticed that the nurse always tells you to keep your feet flat on the floor when taking your blood pressure? That’s because crossing your legs at the knees can cause your blood pressure to rise. What happens is when you cross your legs, your blood pools in the veins, causing your heart to have to work harder to pump blood through the body. This can increase the risk of blood vessel damage.

12. Reduced sperm production. For optimal sperm production, the temperature of the testicles needs to be between 2 and 6 degrees Celsius below standard body temperature. Crossing the legs could reduce sperm count and quality because it raises the temperature of the testicles by as much as 3.5 degrees Celsius.

What about the lotus pose?

There’s more than one way to sit cross-legged. When you’re sitting in a chair, you can either cross your legs at the knee or the ankle. Crossing at the ankle isn’t as hard on the body as crossing at the knee, though it still can cause misalignment and muscle imbalances.

Then there’s the common yoga or meditation pose known as lotus position, where you sit on the floor with your legs crossed like a pretzel rather than straight in front of you. There isn’t a lot of data as to whether long periods of time spent in this position can cause the same issues as sitting cross-legged in a chair. But both yoga and meditation have so many health benefits that they probably offset any downsides to the short amount of time spent in the lotus position.

Overall, when you’re sitting in a chair, it’s best to sit with your legs uncrossed and feet flat on the floor. Using a footrest should be fine as long as your legs face forward and your feet rest evenly on the footrest.

It’s also crucial that you not sit still in the same position for too long. Try to take breaks every hour, at minimum, and stand up or walk around for a few minutes before resuming your seat.

Sources:

Don’t Sit With Your Legs Crossed. An Anatomy Expert Explains Why. — ScienceAlert

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) — Mayo Clinic

Best Posture for Sitting at a Desk all Day — Sydney Sports & Exercise Physiology

The post 12 reasons to stop sitting with your legs crossed appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

That’s why the most noticeable symptom of PAD is claudication — leg pain and leg cramps that occur most often when walking, caused by too little blood flow to the muscles.

If you’re over 60, have kidney disease or a family history of heart disease, you’re at higher risk for PAD. If you’re African American, your risk of PAD is twice as high. Now, there’s no cure for PAD, but lifestyle changes — pretty much the same that apply to heart disease — can help reduce symptoms.

Better yet, putting those lifestyle changes, like regular exercise and following a healthy diet, to work early on will go a long way in helping you avoid PAD.

Just be sure to put the most recently discovered modifiable risk factor associated with PAD to work for you, or else your risk of developing this clotting condition could shoot up almost 75 percent…

The effect of short sleep on PAD

Insufficient night-time sleep and daytime napping have previously been associated with a raised risk of coronary artery disease which, like PAD, is caused by clogged arteries, according to Dr. Shau Yuan of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. And that’s concerning…

“In addition, sleeping problems are among the top-ranked complaints in PAD patients. There are limited data on the impact of sleep habits on PAD and vice versa, and our study aimed to fill that gap.”

The study was conducted in two parts and involved more than 650,000 participants. First, they analyzed the links between sleep duration and daytime napping and the risk of PAD.

Then, they used genetic data to examine causality and show whether the sleep habits were causing PAD or the other way around.

The strongest evidence indicated that fewer hours of sleep impacted PAD — and it was a two-way street…

• They found that sleeping less than 5 hours a night was associated with a 74 percent greater likelihood of developing PAD when compared with sleeping 7 to 8 hours a night.
• In the causal part of the study, getting less than 5 hours of sleep increased the risk of PAD, and having PAD increased the likelihood of short sleep duration.

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Regarding long-duration sleep, in an analysis of 53,416 adults, they found sleeping 8 hours or more was linked to a 24 percent higher risk of PAD than sleeping 7 to 8 hours. Napping was linked to a 32 percent greater risk of PAD. But the second part of the study failed to identify causal links.

“More studies are needed on the relationships between lengthy night-time sleep, daytime napping and PAD,” said Dr. Yuan.

Another argument for the sleep sweet spot

Getting good sleep matters — so much so that the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 acknowledge the research that getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep helps people better manage various aspects of their heart health — and how shortchanging that can have dire consequences.

Dr. Yuan’s study seems to be right in line with that, or at least pretty close: sleeping less than 5 hours a night greatly increased the risk for PAD, compared to sleeping 7 to 8 hours. Maybe sleeping no more than 8 hours is a sleep sweet spot to shoot for.

But because having PAD was also a causal reason for short sleep duration, people living with PAD may have to work harder at sleeping longer. That means managing the leg pain that accompanies PAD.

One supplement that may help is vitamin D…

It’s known that both vitamin D deficiency and vitamin D insufficiency are significantly associated with PAD. And that short-coming may also impact pain levels.

A review of the scientific literature related to vitamin D and pain management conducted by researchers at The Federal University of São Paulo in Brazil found vitamin D affects the body’s inflammation response in a way that lowers the sensation of pain.

Those same researchers believe vitamin D’s ability to regulate the sleep cycle may add to its ability to reduce pain as well. Vitamin D also works well with melatonin, the sleep hormone available in supplement form. Some research argues that melatonin has a role in cardiovascular health.

If you’re on medication for PAD, it’s a good idea to discuss these supplements with your doctor before adding them.

Sources:

Short night-time sleep linked with nearly doubled risk of clogged leg arteries — European Society of Cardiology

Sleep duration, daytime napping, and risk of peripheral artery disease: multinational cohort and Mendelian randomization studies — European Heart Journal Open

Life’s Essential 8 – How to Get Healthy Sleep Fact Sheet — American Heart Association

The post Peripheral artery disease: How sleep contributes to the pain in your legs appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

This time, at the request of the FDA, Ascend Laboratories LLC. began voluntarily recalling lots of the blood thinner, Dabigatran Etexilate Capsules on March 22, 2023.

Some Dabigatran Etexilate Capsules may contain levels of a nitrosamine impurity — N-nitroso-dabigatran — that is above what is considered the acceptable daily limit.

Nitrosamines can be found in water and foods, including cured and grilled meats and dairy products. There is a connection between cooking some foods at high heat levels and nitrosamines.

However, these impurities may increase the risk of cancer if people are exposed to them above acceptable levels over long periods of time.

In the last couple of years, there have been previous recalls due to unacceptable levels of nitrosamines…

In March of 2022, Pfizer performed a voluntary recall for blood pressure medication.

And in December of 2023, Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc. also issued a voluntary recall for a blood pressure-lowering drug.

As of today, Ascend Laboratories LLC. has not received reports of adverse events.

Is your medication in the drug recall?

Dabigatran Etexilate Capsules is used as an oral anticoagulant to lower the risk of stroke and blood clots.

In all, 10 lots of the drug have been recalled. You can view the entire list here.

Pharmacies, wholesalers and distributors have received the list of affected lots and have been advised to stop use and distribution and to quarantine the product immediately.

If you take this medication, your pharmacist should be able to help you discover if your current prescription is on the recall list.

What should you do?

They are advising that patients who have received impacted lots of Dabigatran Etexilate Capsules, USP 75 mg and 150 mg to continue taking their medication and contact their physician for advice regarding an alternative treatment.

Customers with medical-related questions, who wish to report an adverse event, or quality issues about the products being recalled should contact Ascend Laboratories LLC., by phone at: 877- 272-7901, 24 hrs., 7 days a week.

Adverse reactions or quality problems experienced with the use of this product may also be reported to the FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program either online, by mail, by fax or by calling 1-800-332-1088 to request a reporting form.

Source:

Ascend Laboratories LLC. Issues Voluntary Nationwide Recall of Dabigatran Etexilate Capsules, USP 75 mg and 150 mg, Due to the Detection of N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) Impurity — U.S. Food & Drug Administration

The post Alert: Blood thinner recalled for cancer-causing impurity appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

A few extra pounds and some joint stiffness have me taking more care than I used to when using a stepladder, or even when going out for a walk. My biggest fear is breaking a hip or sustaining a head injury in a fall.

Here is a list of a dozen things that can throw your balance off. If any of them apply to you, this list will help you take precautions now, before unsteadiness becomes a problem.

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A dozen things that can impair your balance

1. Diabetes. Poorly controlled diabetes can result in peripheral neuropathy (also known as small fiber neuropathy. Nerve damage causes a lack of sensation in the bottoms of the feet, which makes it hard to balance.

Peripheral neuropathy can be caused by conditions other than diabetes (see #9 below).

2. Inner ear conditions. The vestibular system is a maze-like bony structure in the ear that helps you maintain your balance. Any condition that damages this system, whether an infection, a virus, or a tumor, can cause loss of balance and vertigo.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) occurs when calcium crystals in your inner ear are dislodged from their normal position in the inner ear. This is the most common inner ear problem in adults that affects balance. A study published in the journal Neurology found that taking vitamin D and calcium twice daily may reduce your chances of getting BPPV again.

3. Migraines. Research has pinpointed a condition known as migraine-associated vertigo. Like a traditional migraine, it alters blood flow to the brain. Unlike the migraine itself, though, migraine-associated vertigo attacks areas of the brain responsible for balance.

4. Foot pain and foot conditions. Foot problems ranging from bunions to hammertoes to corns can make your footing unsteady and increase the chances of a slip or fall. Low thyroid can also lead to foot pain that could knock you off balance.

5. Low blood pressure. Orthostatic hypotension is a sudden drop in blood pressure that makes you feel dizzy and lightheaded. It occurs most often when you stand up too quickly, but for some people, it just happens. The world falls away, and you become lightheaded and dizzy and lose your balance.

Related: 12 reasons to stop sitting with your legs crossed

6. Multiple sclerosis. One of the first signs of this autoimmune disease is often loss of balance or numbness on one side of the body. MS attacks the myelin sheath surrounding the nerves. Damage to the myelin surrounding nerves in the cerebellum will affect balance and cause instability and lack of limb control.

7. Medications. The CDC has identified certain sedatives, antidepressants, antihistamines, and blood pressure medications that have been linked to vision issues, dizziness, and inner ear damage, all of which cause impaired balance.

8. Eye diseases. Something as simple as wearing the wrong prescription can make you dizzy. But there are also eye diseases such as glaucoma and cataracts that mess with depth perception and cause dizziness and imbalance.

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9. Nerve damage. As mentioned in #1 (above), peripheral neuropathy isn’t only caused by diabetes. Infection, vitamin deficiencies, genetic disorders, alcoholism, and other nerve damage can cause it. While nerve damage is almost always irreversible, catching it early can help treat symptoms more effectively.

10. Parkinson’s disease. This neurologically-based disease results in a decline of muscle control in the arms and legs and a “shuffling” gait that can cause falls. Also, it affects the substantia nigra, the part of the brain that produces dopamine which, among other things, allows us to perform smooth, coordinated muscle movements.

11. Brain tumor. Clearly, there are less dire diagnoses that could be causing difficulty with balance. But a tumor on the cerebellum or substantia nigra of the brain, or on a nerve connecting the ear to the brain, would cause problems with balance.

12. Ramsay Hunt Syndrome. Ramsay Hunt Syndrome (RHS) is caused by the virus that also causes chickenpox and shingles. If you’ve had either of these, the virus could remain and cause a painful rash, weakness and ear pain.

It can also affect the facial, auditory and vestibular nerves of your ears, which is what causes impaired balance.

Sources:

Older Adults and Balance Problems — National Institute on Aging

Health Conditions That Affect Balance — Beat

The post 12 conditions that throw you off balance appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

The latter describes the traditional Japanese superfood, natto.

It contains an enzyme known as nattokinase, which has proven to be a natural wonder for healthy head-to-toe circulation.

But have you heard it can be a panacea for your sinus problems as well?

As we enter fall allergy season, you’ll want to know all about it…

What is natto and nattokinase?

Natto is a traditional Japanese food made from fermented soybeans. It’s been a staple for thousands of years, known not only for its unique taste, smell and cheese-like flavor — but most importantly for the health benefits attributed to it.

In fact, studies have linked higher natto consumption with a lower risk of heart problems and normal circulation. And it’s very likely one of the reasons the Japanese peoples enjoy long, healthy lifespans.

Those health benefits are due to a natural enzyme, known as nattokinase, that’s produced during natto’s fermentation…

Nattokinase for sinus relief

While natto is packed with vitamins (it’s the food highest in vitamin K2!), minerals and protein — nattokinase is the component we’re interested in when it comes to getting ready for allergy season, especially if you’re prone to sinus problems.

In fact, if you’re hit hard year after year with painful sinus problems, like chronic sinusitis, hold on to your hat…

Researchers from Fukai University in Japan were able to demonstrate that the benefits of nattokinase aren’t limited to the cardiovascular system.

Believe it or not, fibrin (the enzyme that can lead to blood clotting) is a feature of numerous other health conditions — including sinus issues. And surprisingly, nasal polyps are actually made up of fibrin.

Researchers found that when they incubated nasal polyps in nattokinase, the polyps began to dissolve!

If that weren’t enough, when the researchers tested the effects of nattokinase on the nasal discharge of patients with chronic sinus problems — that mucus that stops up your sinus passageways and causes intense pressure and pain and can lead to infection — they found that the enzyme significantly reduced its viscosity.

In other words, nattokinase works to support sinus health in two ways:

• First, the enzyme works to shrink the nasal polyps which can lock mucus in your sinus cavities, setting you up for an infection.
• And nattokinase thins mucus, allowing your sinuses to drain.

Because research on the enzyme has been so promising teams are now delving into how it could be used to improve symptoms of other respiratory problems, like bronchitis and even COPD.

How to use nattokinase for better sinus health

There are two ways you can get the nattokinase you need to enjoy better sinus health as allergy season gets underway.

First, you can eat natto itself, which can usually be found at your local Asian or Japanese market.

While the most traditional Japanese way of serving natto is simply on a bowl of rice, many also like to consume it in hot miso soup. However, you’ll want to avoid excessively high temperatures, which could destroy the nattokinase enzyme you’re looking for.

Of course, hands-down the easiest way to ensure you’re getting appropriate levels of nattokinase (especially if you’re not a fan of natto’s taste), is to take a supplement.

Since nattokinase does a great job of promoting normal circulation, if you’re taking blood thinners you should consult with your health care practitioner first. But if you’re not and want to breathe a lot easier throughout the year — give it a go!

Sources:

Health Benefits of Nattokinase – WebMD

Nattokinase, profibrinolytic enzyme, effectively shrinks the nasal polyp tissue and decreases viscosity of mucus – NIH

The post The superfood enzyme that ‘dissolves’ sinus pain and pressure appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Its effects aren’t so sweet. It starts by turning the body against its master hormone, insulin. And while blood sugar problems are developing below the surface, above the surface extra weight and inches begin to appear.

That’s why so many of us shun sugar and turn to no-calorie or low-calorie sweeteners.

However, like the sugar cartel, the sweetener industry has a dirty little secret all of its own.

When it comes to your health, sweeteners aren’t all they’re cracked up to be…

In fact, fake sweeteners, like aspartame, sucralose and saccharine, have already been linked to everything from heart disease to asthma and autoimmune disorders.

Yet, there’s one you may think is a safe alternative – erythritol – a sugar alcohol that’s been making its way into more and more low-sugar, sugar-free and keto reduced-sugar products.

But don’t be fooled…

According to researchers at the Cleveland Clinic, erythritol could simply be one more bitter health danger disguised as a sweet treat.

Sugar substitute leads to sticky blood

It’s easy to see why erythritol may have been identified as a safer alternative to sugar in the beginning. It’s naturally present in fruits and vegetables — but in very small amounts. But processed low-sugar, sugar-free and no-carb foods can contain amounts of the sugar alcohol that are 1,000-fold higher!

So what dangerous secret is erythritol hiding?

Sticky blood and a dramatically increased risk for a cardiovascular event!

Yup, those Cleveland researchers studied over 4,000 people altogether in the U.S. and Europe, comparing blood levels of erythritol levels to heart dangers and the results were frightening.

Here’s a breakdown of the most important facts:

• In a group of 1,157 participants who agreed to undergo tests at a cardiovascular clinic, those with the highest erythritol levels had twice the risk of dying from or experiencing a major cardiovascular event, like a heart attack or stroke, in the next three years.
• After volunteers consumed an erythritol-sweetened drink, their blood levels of the compound peaked and remained high for two to three days before returning to normal. These levels were well above the value known to increase risk of blood clots.
• When erythritol was added to whole blood samples blood stickiness and other measures associated with blood clotting increased markedly, confirming that the sweetener heightens dangerous clot formation.

“Sweeteners like erythritol, have rapidly increased in popularity in recent years but there needs to be more in-depth research into their long-term effects,” said senior author Stanley Hazen, M.D., Ph.D.

Erythritol is also the largest ingredient by weight in many stevia and monk fruit products where it is used as a filler, according to Dr. Hazen.

Support healthy blood flow

So what can you do if you’ve been regularly using a sweetener or eating a food that contains erythritol because you believed it was a healthier alternative?

For starters, I hope you’ll give it up — right away. And until we know more about any lingering effects, let me share some circulation 101 with you…

Clotting of the blood is a normal bodily function. When things go as planned, blood clots any time there is an injury to a blood vessel, such as when you cut yourself. Tiny bits in your blood called platelets get “turned on” when an artery or vein is damaged. They stick to the walls of the blood vessel, and to each other, forming a plug that stops blood from leaking out.

Special proteins keep the clot from spreading farther than it needs to. And as the damaged tissue heals and the clot isn’t needed anymore, it dissolves back into the blood.

But sometimes the clotting process doesn’t go like it’s supposed to… whether erythritol is to blame or not. So, instead of risking it, I promote healthy blood flow naturally with nattokinase.

Nattokinase is an all-natural enzyme discovered over 40 years ago by a Japanese medical researcher named Hiyosuki Sumi, M.D.  It was isolated from a traditional Japanese food made from fermented soybeans called “natto” and demonstrated the ability to support healthy blood flow.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: avoid the processed foods, the additives (as much as you can) and the artificial “this and that’s.” It’s a jungle out there.

Sources:

Popular Artificial Sweetener Appears to Make Blood ‘Stickier’, Linked to Stroke Risk – Microsoft Start

Cleveland Clinic study finds common artificial sweetener linked to higher rates of heart attack and stroke – EurekAlert!

The post Erythritol: The sugar substitute linked to sticky blood and stroke appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t until June of 2022 that sleep habits were added to that list.

Studies had already shown that not sleeping enough and having irregular bedtimes and wake-up times can put your heart at risk.

Now, researchers from major medical centers across the country have used a large body of research to connect poor sleep habits with a health condition that’s a major risk for heart disease and stroke.

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Poor sleep = poor artery health

“This study is one of the first investigations to provide evidence of a connection between irregular sleep duration and irregular sleep timing and atherosclerosis,” says Dr. Kelsie Full, an assistant professor of medicine in the division of epidemiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

Dr. Full is lead author of a study by doctors from major universities and teaching hospitals including Johns Hopkins, Brigham and Women’s, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

The study analyzed data from the Multi‐Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), which ran from 2010 to 2013 and included over 2000 adults with an average age of 69. All were free of atherosclerosis.

For three years, participants wore a wrist device that recorded when they were awake and asleep. They also completed a sleep diary. All participants also completed a one-night sleep study at home to detect any possible sleep disorders.

Here are some of the most significant results of the MESA study:

• Participants whose length of sleep time varied by more than two hours within a week were 1.4 times more likely to have high coronary artery calcium scores (a measure of the amount of calcified plaque in the arteries, which is the main cause of heart attacks and strokes).
• These same participants were 1.12 times more likely to have plaque in the carotid artery (the major blood vessel supplying blood to the brain).
• They also were twice as likely to have abnormal results from an ankle-brachial index, which tests for stiffness in the blood vessels by comparing blood pressure at the ankle to blood pressure in the arm.
• Participants with sleep timing (the time they fell asleep) varying more than 90 minutes within a week were 1.43 times more likely to have high coronary artery calcium scores.

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But what’s the connection?

Dr. Jose Ordovas of Tufts University, who was not involved in the study, explains it this way…

“Our bodies have a natural 24-hour internal clock, known as the circadian rhythm, that regulates many physiological processes, including sleep-wake cycles. When we consistently go to bed and wake up at different times, it can disrupt our circadian rhythm and lead to what’s called ‘social jet lag.’

“The authors suggested that disturbance in sleep regularity promotes cardiovascular disease by disturbing the natural circadian rhythm of the body, thereby affecting inflammation, glucose metabolism and sympathetic neurohormonal response. All of these factors are known to cause cardiovascular disease.”

Granted, this study doesn’t prove that poor sleep causes atherosclerosis. But the connection is strong, and there are lots of other reasons you’d want to do a “check-in” with yourself on your sleep habits.

Matthew Walker, director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at UC Berkeley, has these suggestions for getting more restful sleep:

Vitamin D is important to maintaining your body’s sleep cycle. It is available from food (fatty fish like salmon and sardines, eggs, and dairy products) or through a supplement. Vitamin D helps the body produce the sleep hormone, melatonin.

Exposure to sunlight. Morning sunlight helps reset your body’s sleep clock and increases the likelihood of a good night’s sleep. Conversely, exposure to artificial light, especially blue light that emits from smartphones and other devices, in the evening can disrupt your body clock making it harder to fall asleep.

Get moving! – Even a brief and easy walk each day will have a positive effect on your sleep. Get your exercise earlier in the day so your body has a chance to calm down for sleep.

Watch those bedtime snacks! Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and spicy foods 4-6 hours before bed. Try a light bedtime snack like warm milk or a banana.

Sources:

Irregular sleeping habits may increase risk of atherosclerosis in older adults — Eureka Alert

Sleep Irregularity and Subclinical Markers of Cardiovascular Disease: The Multi‐Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis — JAMA

Cardiovascular health: Irregular sleeping habits may increase atherosclerosis risk — Medical News Today

The post How irregular sleep hardens arteries appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Studies have found links between poor oral health and conditions ranging from severe COVID-19 infection to diabetes and kidney disease and, especially, heart disease.

Other research has shown that not brushing your teeth well, skipping out on dental visits to remove plaque, having missing teeth and gum disease are all factors that contribute to increased stroke risk.

This led the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association, to look more closely into how dental health impacts brain health.

And considering that 3 in 5 Americans will develop a brain disease in their lifetime, it makes sense to modify any behavior that can help you keep your memory and critical thinking skills working in tip-top shape…

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Bad oral health linked to bad brain health

Clearly, the mouth is a gateway to health or disease.

But according to study author Cyprien Rivier, M.D., M.S., a postdoctoral fellow in neurology at the Yale School of Medicine, “What hasn’t been clear is whether poor oral health affected brain health, meaning the functional status of a person’s brain, which we are now able to understand better using neuroimaging tools such as magnetic resonance imaging or MRI.

“Studying oral health is especially important because poor oral health happens frequently and is an easily modifiable risk factor — everyone can effectively improve their oral health with minimal time and financial investment.”

To that end a team of researchers analyzed the potential link between oral health and brain health among 40,000 UK Biobank enrollees with an average age of 57 who had no history of stroke.

The participants were screened for 105 genetic variants known to predispose a person to cavities, dentures and missing teeth later in life. Then, researchers evaluated the relationship between these genetic risk factors for poor oral health and brain health.

Using MRI, the researchers were able to assess signs of poor brain health, mainly white matter hyperintensities and microstructural damage.

According to the analysis, people who were genetically prone to cavities, missing teeth or needing dentures exhibited a 24 percent increase in the amount of white matter hyperintensities visible on the MRI images. This means their burden of silent cerebrovascular disease was higher and so was their risk for impaired memory, balance and mobility.

Also, those with overall genetically poor oral health showed a 43 percent change in microstructural damage to the fine architecture of the brain.

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Genetics versus healthy habits

Cerebrovascular disease refers to a group of conditions that affect blood flow and the blood vessels in the brain. Problems with blood flow may occur from blood vessel narrowing, clot formation, artery blockage or blood vessel rupture.

If that’s not incentive enough to ramp up the care of your mouth, I’m not sure what is. But what about the genetic factor researchers included in this study?

As previous studies diving into genetics and health conditions have shown, lifestyle habits make a significant difference…

Joseph P. Broderick, M.D., FAHA, a professor at the University of Cincinnati Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine and director of the University of Cincinnati Gardner Neuroscience Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio, adds “Environmental factors such as smoking and health conditions such as diabetes are much stronger risk factors for poor oral health than any genetic marker — except for rare genetic conditions associated with poor oral health, such as defective or missing enamel.”

So instead of worrying about any genetic factors that could increase your risk of dental problems, focus on taking care of your mouth.  Keep brushing your teeth at least twice a day, floss at least once a day and visit the dentist at least twice a year for a cleaning and checkup.

If you’re a smoker or smokeless tobacco user, you need to stop. Both these activities raise your risk of gum disease, and smokeless tobacco use can also increase your risk of tooth decay and tooth loss.

Sources:

Poor oral health may contribute to declines in brain health — American Heart Association

 Genetics and Oral Health — American Dental Association

Smokeless Tobacco: Health Effects — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Diabetes and Oral Health — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The post The link between your toothbrush and silent brain damage appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

She explained that her knee’s been bothering her for about five years now, and while she can still walk without difficulty, occasionally the pain gets really uncomfortable.

At her age, that keeps her from feeling confident about getting out and about on her own at times.

When she saw her orthopedic doctor, they performed an MRI that showed some small areas of issues, with a slightly frayed meniscus that could be cleaned up. However, since it wasn’t anything too serious, he left the final decision about proceeding with surgery in her lap.

So, she was left trying to decide if she wanted to actually go through the trouble of knee surgery for a small repair that could still carry the risk of unresolved pain.

Here’s what I told her — and it especially applies to anyone aged 65 or older…

If you don’t absolutely have to have surgery, weigh the risks. Because there’s an even bigger risk to undergoing the pain and trouble of surgery than not coming out any better in the pain department.

I’m talking about silent strokes…

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Surgery and silent strokes

What is a silent stroke?

Well, put simply, it’s one where you have damage, but there are no typical outward symptoms. You can compare that to what is called an “overt stroke” – the type of stroke you normally think of with obvious symptoms like weakness in one arm, speech problems, and even potential paralysis.

This makes a silent stroke hard to recognize since the only way you know for sure if you’ve had one is with a brain scan or an MRI.

And, while research shows that each year approximately 0.5 percent of the 50 million people age 65 and up who have major, non-cardiac surgery will suffer an overt stroke, no one knew what the numbers were for the silent ones.

Until now…

Researchers at McMaster University took a look at the risk of a silent stroke in people over the age of 65 following elective, non-cardiac surgeries.

They followed surgery patients from 12 centers in North and South America, Asia, New Zealand, and Europe, using MRI post-surgery to look for evidence of silent stroke.

And, here’s what they had to say…

“We’ve found that ‘silent’ covert strokes are actually more common than overt strokes in people aged 65 or older who have surgery,” said Dr. PJ Devereaux, co-principal investigator of the NeuroVISION study and professor in the departments of health research methods, evidence and impact, and medicine at McMaster University.

In fact, the Canadian team found that one in 14 people over age 65 who had elective, non-cardiac surgery had a silent stroke. When you extrapolate these numbers, this means that as many as three million people 65 and above globally suffer a covert stroke after surgery each and every year!

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The fallout

Because the symptoms of silent strokes aren’t apparent, they come with big problems.

The research team followed patients for one year after their surgery to assess their cognitive capabilities and discovered that within one year of their surgery, people who had a silent stroke after surgery were more likely to experience:

• Cognitive decline
• Perioperative delirium
• An overt stroke
• A transient ischemic attack or mini-stroke

So, if you’re age 65 or older and considering surgery, know your risks. If the surgery is elective, you’ll need to weigh the chances of a silent stroke and what it could do to your life against the benefits you’ll get from having the surgery. It’s an important topic to discuss with a doctor who knows your health history well.

Sources:

1. Canadian researchers find ‘silent’ strokes common after surgery — EurekAlert!

The post The silent surgery risk your doctor may not know about appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

The evidence shows that when we eat like this, it helps lower risks for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, age-related frailty, autoimmune diseases and premature death.

But as I noted in a previous article, there’s one condition that Harvard researchers discovered was not helped at all by a healthy diet…

And that’s stroke.

I found this result baffling. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a diet high in trans fats, saturated fats, cholesterol and salt can raise our stroke risk. So why on earth wouldn’t eating healthy overall help protect us against stroke?

Turns out there is another very important factor that may have a bigger impact on your stroke risk. And it has nothing to do with diet at all…

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The strongest link to stroke

Mounting evidence shows that constant stress can have a disastrous impact on your health. It increases your chances of developing chronic illnesses like heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. Plus, chronic stress can lead to weight gain and — here’s a big deal — accelerate the aging of your chromosomes.

Now, researchers at the University of Galway in Ireland have discovered a connection between psychosocial stress and stroke. Psychosocial stress can include stress at home and work, as well as any stressful life event like a family death, marital separation or divorce or major intra-family conflict.

The INTERSTROKE study looked at levels of stress in more than 26,000 people worldwide and explored its connection with risk of both types of stroke: ischemic stroke caused by a blood clot and hemorrhagic stroke caused by bleeding in the brain.

Researchers found that the occurrence of just one stressful life event increased the risk of stroke by 17 percent. And two or more stressful life events raised stroke risk by 31 percent.

Work stress was especially dangerous. Those who reported severe work stress were more than twice as likely to have an ischemic stroke and over five times as likely to have a hemorrhagic stroke compared to those reporting no work stress.

Focus on what you can control

Interestingly, the elevated risk was lower in individuals who reported feeling more in control of their situation.

“In people who reported severe home stress, the increase in stroke risk was lower in those who felt that what happens in life is determined by factors within their control,” says Dr. Catriona Reddin of the University of Galway, who led the research.

“Similarly, in individuals who reported severe work stress, the increase in stroke risk was lower in people who felt that they had control over what happens in work in most situations, compared to people who felt that they had little control over their work life,” Reddin adds.

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Martin O’Donnell, a professor at the University of Galway and co-lead of the study, notes that stroke is the most common cause of adult disability globally, and that the INTERSTROKE study is giving investigators a better understanding of what is needed to help stroke prevention in different regions and ethnic groups.

He says, “The findings suggest that higher locus of control is associated with lower risk of stroke and may be an important effect modifier of the risk associated with psychosocial stress.”

It’s easy to tell people to control their stress, but not so easy to do. Some stressful situations are inevitable in life. A loved one may die suddenly, or your partner may decide to end your relationship, or you may be laid off at work.

The trick is to determine what you can control and focus on that. But keep in mind there are times in life that are filled with uncertainty and painful emotions.

The best way you can deal with those periods is to turn to stress-reducing habits you should practice regularly — and that serve as a crutch you can lean on harder when times are tough.  Consider yoga, meditation, exercise and yes, still strive for eating healthy.

Then, you’ll be better equipped to take steps to modify your own behavior in ways that can help give you more emotional control over any stressful situations you find yourself in.

Sources:

Psychosocial stress tied to higher risk for acute stroke — University of Galway

Association of Psychosocial Stress With Risk of Acute Stroke — JAMA Network Open

Know Your Risk for Stroke — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

How to Focus on What You Can Control (and Win More Battles) — SoulSALT

The post For lowering stroke risk, diet isn’t the answer (this is) appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And while the idea of spending my senior years with a hand cupped over the good ear and asking people to repeat themselves isn’t unnerving, I’m certainly not looking forward to it.

But what is unnerving is that the causes of hearing loss are not all benign — meaning that trouble hearing could be the least of your problems…

In fact, sometimes hearing loss can be a warning of a future stroke…

Narrowed blood vessels can steal your hearing

Plaque can begin building up and causing our arteries to thicken and narrow as early as our 20s and 30s, but for some, not until their 50s. Researchers decided to look at how thickening of the carotid arteries at midlife might affect, of all things, hearing loss later in life.

And they found a concerning association…

They analyzed data from close to 3,600 participants to compare hearing levels with plaque buildup in the carotid arteries.

They were able to determine that having 0.1 mm thicker carotid thickness due to buildup, on average, was associated with 0.59 decibels higher 4-frequency pure tone average (PTA) — the average hearing level in each ear. That means noises had to reach a higher threshold level for these patients to hear them.

And here’s why thick arteries can impact your hearing…

According to the American Academy of Audiology, our ears, just like other parts of the body require sufficient oxygen-rich blood flow to function optimally.

Not only are the carotid arteries the two major suppliers of blood from the heart to the brain, but very near your ears, they branch out to form the internal and external carotid arteries. From there, additional small artery branches nourish your head, neck and all they contain — including your ears.

Anything that reduces blood flow to the ear can lead to damage in different parts of the auditory system — damage that can be permanent.

Artery TLC may help you keep your hearing

First off, if you’ve noticed changes in your hearing, ask your doctor about performing an ultrasound to examine the blood flow through the carotids. You may have to insist.

Approximately 75 percent of all ischemic strokes occur in the distribution of the carotid arteries in the neck.

Secondly, get serious about taking care of your arteries…

Improve your sleep. Disrupted sleep leads to higher concentrations of inflammatory factors in the blood, specifically white blood cells known as monocytes and neutrophils, known to contribute to the fatty plaques that can build up inside arteries.

Explore EDTA chelation therapy. One of the primary ingredients of plaque is calcium, along with cholesterol and fibrin. Chelation therapy has been shown to bind to heavy metals and minerals which are then flushed out of the body in urine.

Learn to love beets. Beets or beetroot powder boost your body’s production of nitric oxide — the path to better blood vessels, blood pressure and blood flow.

Eat less meat. Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) is a compound that’s produced when you eat red meat. People with more TMAO in their blood have been found to have much worse artery function and more tissue damage in the lining of their blood vessels.

Eat more natto. Natto is a fermented soy dish that happens to be the highest source of vitamin K2 and contains the naturally occurring enzyme, nattokinase, that’s capable of dissolving fibrin.

Sources:

Heart Disease and Hearing Loss – American Academy of Audiology

Association of Carotid Atherosclerosis With Hearing Loss – JAMA Network

The post When hearing loss means your arteries are in trouble appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In fact, studies have linked blood type from everything to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia to an elevated chance of ending up with COVID-19.

A massive population study of over five million people was even able to connect blood type and 49 separate illnesses.

Now a team of scientists at the University of Maryland has once again revealed the importance of knowing your blood type…

That’s because it may play a significant role in whether or not you have a higher risk of suffering a stroke before the age of 60.

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Two types increase risk, one reduces

The four basic blood types — A, B, AB and O. Of course, there are slight variations on genes that cause those to be broken down into additional categories. Knowing the basics, however, is enough to help us understand the ins and outs of what those Maryland researchers discovered…

The scientists compiled data from 48 genetic studies, involving roughly 617,000 people under the age of 60, comparing blood type to stroke incidence.

Overall, they discovered that three blood types appear to have a non-modifiable effect on stroke.

The team was able to pinpoint two blood types that actually increase the chances for stroke at a young age: types A and B.

On the other hand, if you have type O blood, you can consider yourself the winner in the stroke risk lottery.

The scientists found that before the age of 60:

• Having type A blood increases your risk of stroke by 16%
• Blood type B raises your risk of stroke by 11%
• People with O blood type have a 12% lower risk than other types

“We still don’t know why blood type A would confer a higher risk,” said senior author and vascular neurologist Steven Kittner. “But it likely has something to do with blood-clotting factors like platelets and cells that line the blood vessels as well as other circulating proteins, all of which play a role in the development of blood clots.”

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Age: Another non-modifiable factor

However, the scientists say that there is good news for those of us with the risk types.

After the age of 60, blood type is no longer linked to an elevated risk of stroke.

This is likely due to the fact that strokes at a younger age usually go hand-in-hand with clot formation, rather than the build-up of fatty deposits in the arteries, which generally contributes to late-life strokes.

Even though there is little to do about non-modifiable factors, like age and blood type, there are other ways to chip away at stroke risk.

The Harvard T.H. Chang School of Public Health found that “pro-inflammatory” foods increase inflammatory biomarkers in the body. Eating these foods can raise your risk of heart disease by a massive 46 percent and your risk of stroke by 28 percent! Cut them out of your diet.

It’s also important to note that regardless of the level of genetic stroke risk, following a heart-healthy lifestyle has been shown to lower risk for stroke 30 to 45 percent.

Certain nutrients and supplements also have a reputation for lowering this risk.

Anyone, regardless of stroke risk, should know how to recognize and prevent the types of strokes that occur in younger people.

Sources:

Your Blood Type May Affect Your Risk of an Early Stroke, Research Reveals – Science Alert

The post What blood type can reveal about stroke risk appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

What’s less well-known is the effect that too much sodium can have on your brain.

Potassium, too, is important to brain function. In fact, a balance between these two minerals is crucial to keeping your brain healthy and functioning well as you age.

In a recent study, researchers have shown that when this balance is off, the damage that’s done can be irreversible…

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Replacing sodium with potassium protects against dementia

China is not only home to the largest elderly population in the world, it’s also one of the fasting aging — and dementia poses a great health and socioeconomic threat.

It also presents a unique opportunity to examine the effects of a nutrient imbalance on the risks of developing dementia.

To that end, researchers examined levels of sodium and potassium in the diets, as well as the ratio of sodium to potassium — and how that balance (or imbalance) affects memory and brain function — in 4,213 adults aged 50 and over.

They based their results both on subjects’ self-reporting of diet and on cognitive testing.

Findings of the study show that eating more than around 5,560mg of sodium per day increased the risk of memory impairment.

On the other hand, adding potassium to the diet (a potassium intake of more than 1653mg a day) was associated with higher cognitive scores.

And replacing sodium with potassium had an even greater effect. The average cognitive test score increased by a full point when 1000mg of sodium each day was replaced by 1000mg of potassium.

Potassium does triple duty in protecting the brain

So why does potassium have such a positive effect on cognitive functioning?

The answer is threefold.

First, potassium helps rid the body of excess sodium. The more potassium you eat, the more sodium you process out of the body.

Second, potassium helps relax blood vessel walls, which supports blood flow to the brain.

And third, potassium is crucial for the transmission of electrical signals in the brain. These signals travel through channels that are “opened” and “closed” by potassium. Memory loss and confusion are common signs of a lack of potassium.

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Finding your potassium/sodium balance

It’s not really difficult to maintain a good sodium-to-potassium balance in your diet.

There are a few keys to staying away from sodium:

Avoid processed foods. Ultra-processed foods like packaged soups, chicken nuggets and soft drinks are full of sodium.

Read food labels. Even “good for you” foods like packaged bread and cheese contain a good deal of sodium.

Use fresh cuts of meat instead of processed. Fresh cuts of chicken, beef, or pork contain natural sodium, but things like bacon or sausage contain added sodium as well. If it can keep in the fridge for days, that’s a tip-off that the sodium content is too high.

Choose fresh fruit and vegetables. When buying frozen, choose “fresh frozen.” Read the ingredients, and avoid those with added seasoning or sauces, which are full of salt.

Use other seasonings. Cooking without salt is easy when you use fresh and natural herbs and spices to season your dishes.

And as far as getting more potassium into your diet, there are lots of good options:

• Dried fruits (raisins, apricots)
• Beans, lentils
• Potatoes
• Winter squash (acorn, butternut)
• Spinach, broccoli
• Beet greens
• Avocado
• Bananas
• Cantaloupe
• Oranges, orange juice
• Coconut water
• Tomatoes
• Dairy and plant milks (soy, almond)
• Yogurt
• Cashews, almonds
• Chicken
• Salmon

Sources:

Consuming a high sodium, low potassium diet can increase the risk of cognitive decline Eureka Alert

Association of dietary sodium, potassium, sodium/potassium, and salt with objective and subjective cognitive function among the elderly in China: A prospective cohort study Science Direct

Surprising findings on how salt affects blood flow in the brain Science Daily

A Primer on Potassium American Heart Association

Potassium and memory SF Gate

Potassium Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

The post Less salt, more bananas could save your memory appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

At my annual physical, I’m always reassured that my cholesterol levels are in tip-top shape. But other than having a blood test, how would I know if that were to change?

Turns out there are some common symptoms that can forewarn you. The trouble is, many people ignore them, writing these signs off as a result of too much or not enough walking, sitting too much, or sometimes even just a common occurrence with age.

If you’re experiencing leg spasms or cramps, you may be one of them…

When leg cramps aren’t just leg cramps

When arteries narrow, and the smooth flow of blood to your body parts is disrupted, often the first noticeable sign something is awry is often felt in the legs.

Leg spasms or cramps can be the first sign of peripheral artery disease. They can feel like clenched muscles and are very painful.

Leg cramps have various causes, but the pain of PAD usually shows up as something called intermittent claudication.

This pain in your leg muscles happens when you’re active and stops when you are at rest. Intermittent claudication can also make your legs feel numb, weak, heavy or tired.

Peripheral artery disease can also lead to burning or aching in the feet and toes while at rest, especially while in bed and lying flat. (But if your feet are tingling and you feel that “falling asleep” numbing sensation, it may be another problem.)

There are other signs, too — cool skin on the feet, redness or other color changes of the skin, and toe and foot sores that don’t heal.

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Testing and dealing with symptoms

Although there are many signs and symptoms of PAD, just as often there are none at all. But if you do experience any of the signs of PAD discussed here, don’t wait to see your doctor.

In the meantime, there are ways to relieve the uncomfortable muscle cramping associated with PAD…

Applying heat to muscles using a heating pad or even taking a warm bath can help. This can help increase blood flow to the cramping muscle so it can relax. On the other hand, applying an ice pack to sore muscles can help relieve pain.

Stretching is also relieving but a certain kind, called passive stretching, was actually found to improve blood flow, blood vessel dilation and stiffness.

Keep cholesterol under control

Doctors recommend statins for cholesterol. Cardiologist Dr. Elizabeth Klodas provides the information here that she tells her patients.

But as with most health problems, there are lifestyle adjustments you can make that can help you work towards healthy cholesterol levels.

Nutrition is an important part of that. Studies have shown that people with PAD have lower a lower omega-3 index compared to people who don’t have the disease. Oily fish such as salmon, sardines and herring are high in omega-3s.

Weight training is a form of exercise that’s been shown to improve the benefits of HDL (“good cholesterol”) for your heart and circulatory system.

Finally, if you’re a smoker, make every effort to cut back or quit.

Smoking is a “double whammy” when it comes to cholesterol and PAD. Not only does it make LDL stickier, so it clings to your artery walls and clogs them, but it lowers levels of HDL, which work to clean those LDLs from your artery walls. 

Here are seven things that can make quitting easier.

Source:

Peripheral artery disease symptoms and causes — Mayo Clinic

High cholesterol early symptom: Spasms or leg cramps could be the first noticeable sign of clogged arteries —Times of India

New research shows people with PAD could have an omega-3 deficiency — Eureka Alert

The post When leg cramps may be a serious warning sign appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

There are some small differences in what nutrition experts consider to be bad for you. For instance, some advise that red meat can be relatively safe if it’s lean and grass-fed — and consumed in moderation.

But experts largely agree that these categories are best avoided: refined grains and sugars (especially sodas), foods high in saturated fat (like deep-fried foods), high sodium foods and processed meats like sausage and deli meats.

What happens when we eat a diet high in these foods?

Nothing good.

Poor diet can lead to weight gain and obesity, heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes and cellular damage. Also, eating too many fatty, sugary and processed foods can damage our kidneys and liver and contribute to chronic pain and memory problems — not to mention what it can do to our blood vessels…

And that one thing may be the surest single factor of how a poor diet drives down overall health.

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Vascular dysfunction drives all major disease

Obesity has become one of the leading causes of death worldwide, with roughly 650 million adults now classified as obese. In an effort to better understand why, a team of scientists in Germany decided to investigate how this obesity is impacting the molecular structure of the blood vessels.

What they discovered was fascinating.

Metabolic disease — the underlying root of obesity — affects blood vessels in each of our organs in a different way.

For instance, blood vessels in the liver and fat tissue struggle to process excess lipids, which can influence heart health.

The blood vessels in the kidney develop metabolic dysfunction, something that can exacerbate type 2 diabetes.

Lung vessels become highly inflammatory, which is especially dangerous for someone already suffering from a lung disease like asthma.

In addition, transport across the brain vessels becomes defective — not good if you’re trying to get plenty of oxygen and nutrients to your brain cells to stave off cognitive decline.

“As vascular dysfunction drives all major pathologies, from heart failure to atherosclerosis and neurodegeneration, our research shows how bad eating habits molecularly promote the development of diverse diseases,” says Dr. Olga Bondareva, the first author of the study.

“We want to elucidate molecular mechanisms of obesity in order to be able to offer patients tailor-made therapies in the future,” adds HI-MAG director Professor Matthias Blüher.

The researchers then tried to answer whether a healthy diet could reduce the disease-causing molecular signatures caused by a bad diet. What they found was somewhat encouraging….

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Can a good diet turn things around?

Results show that a healthy diet can partly improve the molecular health of some blood vessels. When looking at the blood vessels of the liver, the researchers found they recovered nearly completely with a healthy diet.

However, despite a healthy diet and significant weight loss, the blood vessels in the kidneys retained the disease signature. What this means is some of our blood vessels can develop a sort of “memory” of metabolic disease that’s difficult to reverse.

But don’t give up hope. The benefits of adopting a healthy diet are still enough to outweigh the damage already done by poor eating habits.

Start by ditching those packaged ready-to-eat foods in favor of meals prepared with fish, lean meats and fresh fruits and vegetables. Add in some whole grains and healthy monosaturated fats like olive oil, nuts and avocados and you’ll have a healthy eating plan that goes a long way toward mending the poor-diet damage. If you need a little help, this Food Compass may help.

Sources:

Poor Diet Damages Our Blood Vessels — Universität Leipzig

Single-cell profiling of vascular endothelial cells reveals progressive organ-specific vulnerabilities during obesity — Nature Metabolism

Poor Nutrition — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The post Vascular dysfunction: A direct path to disease appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Scientists continue to work to trace exactly how AMD develops in an effort to come up with new, innovative therapies. Despite the continued growth in AMD cases, the treatment options for the disease remain cumbersome and ineffective.

One study found a link between AMD and a blood protein known as vitronectin. Researchers found that when vitronectin is put under pressure, it changes into a shape that causes it to bind more easily to calcium ions in the blood. This leads to a build-up of calcified plaque deposits in the blood vessels of the eye.

Turns out these deposits aren’t the only condition that can impede blood flow to the eye and lead to AMD….

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The difference between drusen and SDDs

A study by the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai analyzed the eyes of 200 AMD patients with retinal imaging to try to determine which patients had a specific form of the disease that involves subretinal drusenoid deposits (SDDs).

One major form of early AMD involves small yellow cholesterol deposits called drusen. These form under a part of the retina called the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and can restrict blood and oxygen flow to the retina, leading to vision loss. The formation of drusen can be slowed by supplementing with certain nutrients, including vitamins C and E, lutein, zeaxanthin, zinc and copper.

SDDs are present in the other major form of early AMD. They are less well-known and can only be detected using high-tech retinal imaging. SDDs contain a different form of cholesterol than drusen and form above the RPE and just beneath the light-sensitive retinal cells. This is where the damage occurs, and vision is lost. Unlike with drusen, there is no known treatment for SDDs.

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How cardiovascular disease fits in

When the Mount Sinai researchers analyzed the eyes of the AMD patients, they also had them answer a questionnaire about their history of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Conditions like heart damage from heart failure or heart attack, serious valve disease and stroke involving the carotid artery were classified as severe CVD.

Of those patients who said they had severe CVD, 86 percent also had SDDs, compared with 43 percent of patients who did not have severe CVD. The researchers concluded that AMD patients with severe CVD were nine times more likely to have SDDs than those without severe CVD.

Researchers hope these findings could prompt increased screening to save vision, diagnose undetected heart disease and prevent adverse cardiovascular events.

“This study is the first strong link between the leading cause of blindness, AMD, and heart disease, the leading cause of death worldwide,” says lead author Dr. R. Theodore Smith, professor of ophthalmology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“Furthermore, we also have strong evidence for what actually happens: the blood supply to the eye is directly diminished by these diseases, either by heart damage that diminishes blood supply throughout the body, or from a blocked carotid artery that directly impedes blood flow to the eye,” Smith adds. “A poor blood supply can cause damage to any part of the body, and with these specific diseases, the destroyed retina and leftover SDDs are that damage. Retinal damage means vision loss and can lead to blindness.”

Co-investigator Richard B. Rosen, chief of the retina service for the Mount Sinai Health System, says the study also shows that ophthalmologists may be the first physicians to detect systemic cardiac disease, especially in patients with no other symptoms.

“Detecting SDDs in the retina should trigger a referral to the individual’s primary care provider, especially if no previous cardiologist has been involved,” Rosen says. “It could prevent a life-threatening cardiac event.”

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Reducing your risk of AMD-related vision loss

Even though there’s no treatment for SDDs, if you do end up with AMD, there are certain things you can do to reduce your risk of early vision loss.

If you’re a smoker, you should quit right away. People who smoke have a two-to-three times higher risk for developing AMD than people who have never smoked.

It’s also a good idea to eat a heart-healthy diet low in saturated fat, like the Mediterranean diet, to prevent AMD progression.

A Mediterranean-style diet can help with weight loss and reduce blood pressure, cholesterol levels and heart disease risk, all of which can lower your AMD risk and promote a healthier heart.

It’s also great for supplying you with plenty of eye-healthy foods such as dark leafy greens, carotene-rich vegetables like carrots, squash, bell peppers and antioxidant-rich berries.

Sources:

Blinding Eye Disease Strongly Associated With Serious Forms of Cardiovascular Disease — Mount Sinai

Subretinal drusenoid deposits are strongly associated with coexistent high-risk vascular diseases — BMJ Open Ophthalmology

Macular Degeneration Guide — American Foundation for the Blind

The post The condition that can skyrocket your risk for AMD appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

When you’re eating a healthy diet low in refined sugar and fats, here’s what happens:

The food you eat is broken down into blood sugar (glucose), and insulin (produced by your pancreas) helps it enter your bloodstream. 

Insulin then helps glucose move from your blood into your body’s cells so it can be used for energy. It also signals your liver to store any extra glucose for later use.

Naturally, when glucose enters your cells, there’s less of it in your bloodstream. You don’t need as much insulin anymore, so insulin levels decrease.

But when you eat a diet high in sugar, your pancreas works overtime to pump out more and more insulin to that sugar into your cells.

Eventually, your cells start ignoring all that insulin. It’s like someone talking incessantly. After a while, you just tune them out.

That’s when the risk for diabetes goes way up. But that’s not all…

It turns out men can face double the danger in the form of vascular disease…

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Why men are more vulnerable than women

Prior to menopause, estrogen protects women against insulin resistance.

A 2021 study by researchers at McMaster University in Canada showed that estrogen improves insulin sensitivity in fatty tissue, stimulates muscle tissue to absorb glucose more readily, and improves the liver’s response to insulin.

A newer study from the University of Missouri School of Medicine set out to demonstrate how men and women react differently to sudden, unhealthy changes in their diet.

“We know that incidence of insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease is lower in premenopausal women compared to men, but we wanted to see how men and women reacted to reduced physical activity and increased sugar in their diet over a short period of time,” said Dr. Camila Manrique-Acevedo, associate professor of medicine.  

In the study, 36 young men and women had their physical activity dramatically reduced for ten days — from 10,000 steps a day to just 5,000. They also increased their sugary beverage intake to six cans of soda per day.

The result?

Only the men showed decreased insulin-stimulated leg blood flow (a sign of vascular insulin resistance), a drop in a protein called adropin, which regulates insulin sensitivity and is an important biomarker for cardiovascular disease, and a drop in nitrite (a precursor to nitric oxide).

Vascular insulin resistance is a feature of obesity and type 2 diabetes that contributes to vascular disease — including diseases of the arteries and disorders that affect circulation. In addition to its connection to insulin sensitivity, adropin is a fat-burning hormone believed to contribute to body weight regulation.

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“These findings underscore a sex-related difference in the development of vascular insulin resistance induced by adopting a lifestyle high in sugar and low on exercise,” said Dr. Manrique-Acevedo.

“To our knowledge, this is the first evidence in humans that vascular insulin resistance can be provoked by short-term adverse lifestyle changes, and it’s the first documentation of sex-related differences in the development of vascular insulin resistance in association with changes in adropin levels.” 

Avoid double the trouble

It’s pretty clear that men would be well advised to pay close attention to their exercise habits as well as their diets in order to stay off the road to diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The good news is, even though this research demonstrated bad habits can do a lot of damage in a short period of time — previous research has also shown that cutting back on sugar for less than two weeks reduces liver fat and lowers blood sugar.

So if you’re facing the holidays or planning some vacation time and know you’ll be consuming more sugary foods and getting less exercise — at least you know you can quickly get back to healthier habits and back on track to healthy living.

Sources:

Sedentary lifestyle and sugary diet more detrimental to men — Eureka Alert

Young Women Are Protected Against Vascular Insulin Resistance Induced by Adoption of an Obesogenic Lifestyle — Endocrinology

Insulin Resistance and Diabetes CDC

The Role of Estrogen in Insulin Resistance: A Review of Clinical and Preclinical Data — American Journal of Pathology

The post Sedentary habits and sugar worse on men than women appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

This is a condition known as shingles (herpes zoster). And 1 in 3 Americans will have it at some point in their lifetime.

Now, no one wants shingles. But it may seem like it’s not that big a deal. A course of antivirals is usually all it takes to knock out the rash and its accompanying pain and itching.

But it’s not always that simple.

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The hidden dangers of shingles

The deep, burning pain from shingles can sometimes linger for months or years after the rash disappears. This post-herpetic neuralgia (PHT) can also cause insomnia, depression and anxiety.

There’s a chance shingles can develop in or around your eyes. If you’re unlucky enough to get this ophthalmic form of shingles, it can cause complications like corneal ulcers, inflammation and glaucoma. And in rare cases, it can lead to acute retinal necrosis, which causes blindness.

A rare form of shingles known as Ramsey Hunt syndrome occurs when the virus attacks a major facial nerve and blisters appear in and around the ear or mouth on one side of the face. Ramsey Hunt can result in ear pain, loss of hearing, facial paralysis and changes in the ability to taste.

Shingles can also develop inside the body without causing an external rash. Symptoms are very similar to those of the flu, but they also include tingling and burning under the skin. Internal shingles can be dangerous and result in pneumonia, hepatitis or encephalitis if left untreated.

In addition, having shingles can raise your risk of two potentially deadly cardiovascular problems: One study found shingles raised the risk of stroke by 35 percent and the risk of heart attack by 59 percent. These risks were highest in the first year after the onset of shingles and decreased with time.

Those under the age of 40 had the highest risk of stroke. The risk was also greatest in people whose shingles rash appeared on their face, which could be due to the rash’s proximity to the brain.

“Most people know about the painful rash associated with shingles, but they may not know that the risk of stroke is elevated for a year after infection,” says Dr. Andrew Bubak, a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “Importantly, the rash is often completely healed and individuals feel normal but nonetheless are walking around with this significant elevation in stroke risk.”

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Exosomes could explain the shingles-stroke link

In a separate study, scientists decided to further investigate the link between shingles and stroke by taking a close look at exosomes. These lipid vesicles act as cellular couriers by moving proteins and genetic information between neighboring and distant cells.

In patients with shingles, the researchers found prothrombotic exosomes, which could cause blood clots, and proinflammatory exosomes, which could also increase stroke risk.

“Exosomes carry pathogenic cargo that can cause thrombosis and inflammation distant from site of actual infection,” Bubak says. “That could ultimately lead to a stroke in patients.”

The findings suggest that in certain people with shingles, the circulating exosomes that cause a prolonged prothrombotic state could persist even after antiviral therapy is complete and the rash has disappeared.

According to Bubak, longer use of antivirals, along with the addition of antiplatelet and anti-inflammatory agents, could help decrease the risk of stroke.

The researchers say healthcare practitioners could also seek to increase shingles vaccine uptake, particularly in those with known preexisting stroke risk factors. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people age 50 and older get two doses of the shingles vaccine. The vaccine has been shown to reduce the incidence of shingles by 51 percent and the PHT associated with shingles by 67 percent.

Sources:

Scientists Find Probable Cause of Shingles/Stroke Link — University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Shingles linked to stroke, heart attack — Novant Health

Shingles Vaccination — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The post What you should know about shingles and stroke appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Well, that’s kind of where some recent research into diabetes and dementia puts us.

Controlling diabetes is essential to preventing dementia. Insulin resistance can, and does, occur in the brain. And studies show that untreated diabetes can make Alzheimer’s develop nearly twice as fast.

But sometimes, shortcuts to controlling diseases like diabetes and Alzheimer’s come with a price tag that we may not want to pay.

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A toxic drug that may prevent Alzheimer’s

Thiazolidinediones (TZDs), are an old class of diabetes drug sold under the brand names Actos or Avandia.

In 2010, the FDA severely restricted Avandia after it was linked to an increased risk of heart attack. The United Kingdom went so far as to completely ban its use.

Actos has also been linked to heart issues, as well as bladder cancer and liver toxicity. Though it has not been banned in the US or UK, it’s been subjected to warnings and recalls and bans in other countries.

TZDs are also strongly associated with loss of bone mass and unexplained weight gain.

But researchers from Arizona University are hoping these toxic drugs can find a new lease on life as a preventive measure against Alzheimer’s disease.

In a study that gathered data from 560,000 type 2 diabetics for nine years, they found that people who used a TZD for diabetes had a 22 percent lower risk of developing dementia than those who used metformin.

It’s thought that TZDs prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s by reducing bad cholesterol in the blood and boosting blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain.

It kind of makes sense that a diabetes drug might hold promise for preventing Alzheimer’s, often referred to as “type 3 diabetes.”

But really, aren’t there safer ways to do that?

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Safe ways to lower Alzheimer’s risk

While it might make sense that a diabetes drug could prevent dementia, and while it may seem to hold out hope, is it really worth the other health risks?

Most people would say “no.”

But, as with most health concerns, often risks can be lowered by making simple lifestyle changes, starting with the foods we eat (and don’t eat).

Well, let me fill you in on a few ways you might reduce bad cholesterol and boost your blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain — without the risks of a TZD drug…

Have you ever eaten beets?

I’ve always avoided them, but I may be changing my tune.

Beets are full of dietary nitrates, and nitrates boost the production of nitric oxide in the lining of your blood vessels, which in turn means better blood flow and oxygenation to your brain.

And as for what not to eat…

Did you know that too much salt can produce the same conditions in your brain as Alzheimer’s?

That’s right — over-consumption of salt stimulates your brain, but in the wrong way. It triggers the production of hormones that constrict your blood vessels and prevent the free flow of blood to the brain.

If you want to improve blood flow to your brain and lower your LDL cholesterol all at once, try adding cranberry juice to your diet. Just make sure it’s 100 percent juice, and not juice cocktail, which is full of added sugar.

Not a fan of cranberries? Not a problem. People who consumed a drink made with powdered blueberries saw brain changes in just 6 months because they’re full of anthocyanins — compounds that boost brain blood flow.

Sources:

Old diabetes drugs slash the risk of dementia by more than a FIFTH, study finds — UK Daily Mail

Association Between Age at Diabetes Onset and Subsequent Risk of Dementia — JAMA

The post Old diabetes drug with a dangerous past may treat Alzheimer’s appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

A blood clot is a collection of blood in the body that has changed from liquid to a semi-solid mass. The body does this to stop bleeding when injured, but sometimes a clot forms inside a blood vessel and does not dissolve on its own.

Platelets — cells that float in the blood — become sticky in response to injury and begin to attach to one another as well as to a blood vessel wall. Next, web-like strands in the blood, called fibrin, attach to the platelets and form a net that traps red blood cells. This reaction usually stops when the injury is repaired, and the body breaks down the clot. Sometimes, the action continues and becomes a blood clot that prevents blood from flowing through that vessel.

The most common type of blood clot is called deep vein thrombosis or DVT. This is a clot in one of the deep veins of the body, usually in the leg. When the clot is new, a piece of it can break off and travel to the lungs. This is known as a pulmonary embolism.

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2. What are the symptoms of a blood clot?

Symptoms of a DVT include swelling of the affected leg, pain, redness, warmth and new visible veins in the area. Symptoms of a pulmonary embolism include shortness of breath, chest pain, cough or coughing up blood and fast breathing.

Although these symptoms can be associated with many different health problems, if you suspect you have a clot, call your health care provider right away or go to the nearest emergency room.

3. How is a blood clot diagnosed?

Your provider will ask you a series of questions. If a blood clot is suspected, you will likely undergo one of these tests:

A blood test called a d-dimer. This is a compound released from blood clots. It is high when you have a new clot.

An ultrasound of the leg. This uses sound waves to watch blood flow in the veins.

A CT scan of the chest if a pulmonary embolism is suspected.

4. What causes a blood clot?

Many risk factors and illnesses increase your risk of getting a blood clot. Risk factors include:

• Inactivity related to an injury or a long car or plane trip
• Having surgery or being in the hospital for an extended period
• Damage to your blood vessel from an injury
• Taking some medications such as birth control pills
• Inherited blood clotting tendencies
• Cancer
• Pregnancy
• Being over 60 years’ old
• Obesity

5. Why do those factors increase the risk of a blood clot?

Much of the risk is due to blood flow slowing down when you’re not able to move around. Blood that is stagnant or still tends to clot. Injury also causes a reaction in your blood that increases the risk of clotting. The genetic makeup of your blood, as well as illness, can also make clotting more likely.

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6. How can I prevent blood clots?

The best way to prevent blood clots is to stay active and avoid sitting for long periods of time. Other things to keep in mind:

• When traveling by car or plane, take frequent breaks and move around.
• Maintain a good body weight and stay hydrated.
• Don’t smoke.
• Talk to your doctor about preventing clots after surgery.
• Know your family history of blood clotting.

7. How is a blood clot treated?

If you’re diagnosed with a blood clot, you may have to take a blood thinning medication, also called an anticoagulant. This type of medication stops the clot from growing and allows your body to break it down naturally, before it can travel to other areas of your body.

If the clot is very large or life threatening, you may need to be hospitalized to receive clot-dissolving medication or to get a clot removal. Blood thinners are usually prescribed for three months, or until the health issue that caused the clot is gone. The decision of when to stop taking your blood thinning medication should be made with your doctor.

8. Once I have a blood clot, am I more likely to have another one?

A blood clot sometimes leaves a scar in the vein where it occurred. This makes the vein “abnormal” or different and more likely to clot again. Being aware of this risk and taking the necessary precautions helps to prevent another clot.

Credit:

Blood Clots: 10 Things to Know — by Clare Harris, NP, Michigan Health, CC BY-3.0 US

The post 10 things to know about blood clots appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

After all, research has shown that too much alcohol can hasten cognitive decline during three key periods in your life. It has linked alcohol with heart rhythm problems. It has given us mounting evidence that drinking and cancer may go hand-in-hand.

Yet, for all that, there’s confusion has still ruled the day, since many studies have focused solely on heavy drinking, leaving us to wonder if there is a safe level of alcohol we can enjoy.

This is especially true when it comes to the connection between alcohol and stroke risk.

“While high alcohol intake is known to increase stroke risk, there is some uncertainty about whether low-moderate alcohol intake affects stroke risk and whether the association of alcohol intake with stroke varies by region and population,” said Professor Martin O’Donnell, Professor of Neurovascular Medicine at University of Galway and Consultant Stroke Physician at Galway University Hospitals.

So, he and his team decided to rectify that lack of information as part of a worldwide study, known as INTERSTROKE.

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Stroke risk by how much and alcohol preference

Their global study looked at the alcohol consumption of almost 26,000 people, a quarter of which were current drinkers, and two-thirds of whom were teetotalers. 

And overall, the researchers found that high and moderate intake of alcohol was associated with increased odds of stroke. On the other hand, there was no link between low intake and stroke.

Their findings showed that:

• Current drinkers had a 14 percent higher chance of having any type of stroke and a 50 percent greater risk of intracerebral hemorrhage (a stroke due to bleeding), but no increased risk of ischemic stroke (a stroke due to a blood clot). 
• Binge drinking (having more than five drinks in one day at least once a month) was linked to a 39 percent increase in all strokes, a 29 percent increase in ischemic stroke, and a 76 percent increase in intracerebral hemorrhage. 
• High alcohol intake, which the researchers defined as more than 14 drinks per week for women and more than 21 drinks per week for men, increased stroke risk by 57 percent.

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The researchers even broke down stroke risk by the type of alcohol consumed.

“In this study, we also looked at the differences between types of alcohol. Predominant beer consumption was linked with a 21 percent increase in risk of stroke; this was significantly higher (73 percent) for intracerebral hemorrhage. Predominant wine consumption was not linked with risk of stroke – there was no increase or decrease,” says Professor Andrew Smyth, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at University of Galway.

So, it seems that drinking beer may carry a higher risk than a glass of wine.

Finally, the research delivered good news for anyone who was a drinker in the past but has since given up alcohol. Previous drinkers who have stopped have no increased risk of stroke!

Now that we know the real facts about alcohol and stroke risk, we’re all able to make better decisions about how much we consume and what type might help mitigate that risk.

Sources:

 University of Galway study identifies alcohol risk factors for acute stroke – EurekAlert!

The post Wine vs beer: One of these carries a higher stroke risk appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

These powerful little free radical scavengers have been shown to do everything from guarding against Alzheimer’s disease to warding off diabetes.

They may even help reduce vulnerability to Covid-19.

But there’s a special class of antioxidants you may not have heard of — anthocyanins.

These are a special type of dietary polyphenol compound found in brightly colored fruits and vegetables, like strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, red wine, eggplant, red cabbage, red/purple grapes and red-fleshed peaches and apples.

And they can help switch off the low-grade inflammation associated with heart and other deadly diseases at its core.

Now, a study from King’s College London has found the perfect source of these polyphenols — one that if you snack on daily may significantly improve your heart and blood vessel function.

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Not just for Thanksgiving

In a clinical trial, the London researchers found that daily consumption of powdered cranberries for one month improved cardiovascular function in healthy men.

The study included 45 healthy men who consumed nine grams of whole cranberry powder (the equivalent of 100g of fresh cranberries per day) or a placebo for one month.

And what the researchers found was impressive.

The men benefited from a significant improvement in flow-mediated dilation (FMD), which signals improvement of heart and blood vessel function. Basically, FMD is a biomarker of cardiovascular disease risk and measures how blood vessels widen when blood flow increases.

FMD improved both two hours after first consumption of cranberry powder and after one month of daily consumption.

In other words, the berry powder appeared to go to work right away and kept working long term.

In addition, the researchers were able to identify specific metabolites in the blood of the men that resulted in the positive effects on the heart and blood vessels.

Overall, the researchers concluded that cranberries can play an important role in supporting cardiovascular health and good blood vessel function.

Dr. Ana Rodriguez-Mateos, senior author of the study, said: “The increases in polyphenols and metabolites in the bloodstream and the related improvements in flow-mediated dilation after cranberry consumption emphasize the important role cranberries may play in cardiovascular disease prevention.

“The fact that these improvements in cardiovascular health were seen with an amount of cranberries that can be reasonably consumed daily makes cranberry an important fruit in the prevention of cardiovascular disease for the general public.”

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Getting the most from your berries

This study was supported by The Cranberry Institute — but don’t let their interests dissuade you. Polyphenolic pigments, like anthocyanins, regardless of which berry the research is done on, have solid evidence behind their health benefits.

Cranberries, blueberries and chokeberries (Aronia berry) do stand out though. They are rich in unique proanthocyanidins that have distinct properties compared to polyphenols found in other fruits.

According to the University of Rochester Medical Center, proanthocyanidins may protect the heart and cardiovascular system because they reduce the risk of blood clots and this may lower the risk of a heart attack.

They also work as antioxidants and block nitrosamines from forming and protect healthy cells from their effects.

If you want to kick their benefits up a notch, enjoy them with a dairy product.

Alpha-casein, a protein found in cow’s milk, helped rats being fed blueberries absorb more of the anthocyanins and their byproducts from the fruit.

So why not eat your cranberries — or favorite berry of choice — with a nice, cold glass of milk.

Or you could even mix them into yogurt with granola to create a heart-healthy breakfast parfait.

Sources:

100g of cranberries a day improves cardiovascular health, study finds — ScienceDaily

The post The berry that improved heart and blood vessel function in 30 days appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Yet, not all types of sexual activity add up to the same satisfaction for women as men.

Here’s how to get the most out of your sex life after 65…

Let’s get it on

The research, performed by a team from Anglia Ruskin University and University College London, specifically delved into the question of whether or not having more sex can lead to greater levels of enjoyment and satisfaction in your life.

And if so, is intercourse the key, or can just fooling around deliver lasting benefits.

The team surveyed over 6,800 participants with an average age of 65 to determine their level of sexual activity over the past 12 months versus their self-reported sense of wellbeing and happiness.

And they found that sexual activity helps older people live more fulfilling lives.

In fact, seniors who reported any type of sexual activity over the year also benefitted from higher scores of enjoyment and satisfaction in their lives as a whole compared to individuals who weren’t sexually active.

Mars vs. Venus

However, the study did reveal differences between men and women when looking at which types of sexual activity delivered that lasting feeling of joy.

According to the researchers, for senior women, intimate touching and kissing leads to improved wellbeing. And women who reported increased levels of these activities also felt emotionally closer to their partner during sex.

However, intercourse didn’t significantly change their overall levels of enjoyment in life one way or the other.

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As you might not be surprised to hear, men reported completely different results and were much happier in their sex lives and enjoyed their lives more overall when they had intercourse more frequently.

So it turns out that while both women and men experience more fulfillment in their senior years when sex is a regular part of their lives, affectionate acts are the go-to for women, while men benefit the most when intercourse is part of the picture.

What do the researchers recommend?

They point out that, while your doctor might not bring up the subject of your sex life with you during a regular visit, if you’re experiencing problems, like lack of libido, difficulty with erections or painful intercourse, you should talk to your doctor.

If you’re experiencing issues, remember that certain medications could also be to blame, including those used to treat high blood pressure.

They also say not to be afraid to try new positions and explore different types of sexual activities in order to improve your enjoyment. And, as an added bonus, making sex a regular part of your life also, increases circulation to your genitals — something that helps add to your sexual pleasure all on its own.

Speaking of circulation — improving it can be as simple as eating the right foods. Consider eating more beets or drinking beet juice to help your body produce the natural vasodilator, nitric oxide (NO). NO helps arteries open wide for stronger blood flow. In fact, enhancing NO is just one mechanism by which treatments for erectile dysfunction help men achieve healthy erections.

So enjoy yourself! Sex isn’t just for the 20-somethings, it can be part of a healthy and happy life as long as you want to do it!

Sources:

Study of nearly 7,000 older adults shows greater levels of enjoyment and wellbeing among those who report more frequent sexual activity — Study Finds

Sex in the Senior Years — WebMD

The effect of sildenafil on nitric oxide-mediated vasodilation in healthy men —  Pharmacology and Therapeutics

The post Sex after 60: if you’re not doing it, you should be appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

If that weren’t enough to get you off the couch, previous research has identified seven other dangers that come with sitting for long periods that run the gamut from making dementia more likely, to raising your odds of diabetes.

And now, a US study of more than 7,500 Americans in their 60s has more bad news for all of us that like to binge on Netflix or surf the internet for hours at a time.

All it takes is a single hour on your backside to increase your stroke risk by a frightening 14 percent — and the hours add up fast…

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Visualizing your stroke danger by the numbers

The research, performed by a team of scientists at San Diego State University used tracking devices to follow 7,607 American men and women to gather data on how much they moved each week, and at what intensity, to gauge their risk of stroke.

And the results were clear.

People who are the most sedentary are at the highest risk of suffering a stroke…

In fact, the team found that people who sat for 13 or more hours per day were 44 percent more likely to suffer a stroke within seven years compared to those who spend 11 hours or less per day in sedentary activities.

Additionally, the research showed that with each extra hour per day spent sitting, stroke risk went up by another 14 percent.

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Good news: It doesn’t take much to lower your risk

Luckily, the results of the research also showed a light at the end of the tunnel even for us couch potatoes out there…

Getting up and moving, even a little could help keep your veins and arteries healthy and your stroke risk low.

The researchers say that just three-and-a-half hours of light exercise per week (like doing your household chores or taking a walk) has the power to reduce your stroke risk by a whopping 26 percent compared to moving less than two hours per day.

In fact, you may be shocked at how much daily activities add up to heart protection.

And if you kick up your activity to a moderate or vigorous level for 14 minutes or more, you’ll grab a 47 percent lower odds of suffering a stroke.

This can be accomplished by walking briskly, cycling or even gardening, with optimal protection achieved at 25 minutes of moderate activity per day.

And here’s one more trick you can use when you are sedentary to put the lid on your risk of stroke…

Fidget!

Yup, you read that right.

Researchers from the University of Missouri-Columbia showed that frequent fidgeting can help improve your blood flow during those periods of prolonged sitting. And better blood flow means there’s less chance you’ll suffer from a deadly stroke or heart attack.

Sources:

Every hour spent watching TV on the sofa each day in your 60s raises risk of stroke by 14%, study warns – DailyMail.com

The post The easiest way to drop your stroke risk by almost 50% appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

The older you get, the higher your risk of developing osteoporosis. And taking a calcium supplement, along with that all-important vitamin D, can help curb that risk.

In fact, your doctor may even recommend you take as much as 1,000 to 1,200 mg of calcium per day to keep osteoporosis at bay.

But, it turns out, that taking a calcium supplement for healthy bones could put another crucial body part at risk… your brain.

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Calcium supplements lead to dementia for some women

A study published in the journal Neurology found that taking a calcium supplement puts some women at a greater risk for developing dementia.

Researchers from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden tracked the health of 700 dementia-free women between the ages of 70 and 92 for five years. At the end of the study, women who took calcium supplements were twice as likely to develop dementia as those who didn’t.

But before you toss your calcium supplement in the trash, there’s something else you should know…

When these researchers analyzed their data further, they noticed a common trait shared by all of the women who took calcium supplements and eventually developed dementia…

They had cerebrovascular disease.

Cerebrovascular disease is a condition where you’re not getting blood flow to certain parts of your brain. It can be caused by stroke or other diseases like atherosclerosis. Doctors can tell you have it when they see white matter lesions on a brain scan.

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And apparently, it’s a disease that doesn’t mix well with a daily calcium pill…

Women with a history of stroke who took calcium supplements were a whopping seven times more likely to get dementia than women with a history of stroke who didn’t take calcium supplements.

And women with white matter lesions who took calcium supplements were three times as likely to develop dementia as women with white matter lesions who didn’t take calcium supplements.

So if you have a history of stroke or cerebrovascular disease of any kind, the reward of taking calcium supplements is probably not worth the price you may have to pay… the loss of your memory and cognitive abilities. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need calcium for your bone health…

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Food sources are better for calcium

Researchers did say that dietary calcium is not dangerous to people with cerebrovascular disease. That’s because your body processes calcium supplements differently than it does calcium from food.

In fact, they said dietary calcium probably even helps your brain if you’ve had vascular problems. So play it safe and get a healthy dose of calcium from your food every day. Some great sources of dietary calcium are:

• Dairy products (milk, yogurt, cheese, etc.)
• Dark leafy greens (kale, spinach, collard greens, etc.)
• Bok choy
• Tofu or edamame
• Sardines
• Broccoli
• Oranges
• Almonds

And it wouldn’t hurt to make sure you’re getting plenty of vitamin K2. K2 helps direct calcium to your bones, where it’s needed, so you have less risk of rogue calcium in other parts of your body, especially your arteries where it can contribute to plaque buildup.

For the highest dietary source of vitamin K2, consider adding natto to your diet.

Sources:

1. “Osteoporosis.” Mayo Clinic. http://www.mayoclinic.org. Retrieved August 18, 2016.

2. Kern, et al. “Calcium supplementation and risk of dementia in women with cerebrovascular disease.” Neurology, August 2016.

3. “What is cerebrovascular disease? What causes cerebrovascular disease?” Medical News Today. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com. Retrieved August 18, 2016.

The post To protect your brain, watch where you get your calcium appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And while some of these hormonal issues occur naturally, like during menopause, others… not so much.

Like the ones we have to worry about when taking birth control pills — pills that can seem harmless enough until you dig into what they’re really doing to your heart and blood vessels.

In fact, birth control pills have been linked to everything from high blood pressure to elevated cholesterol, which can raise your risk of stroke.

And now there’s one more birth control worry to keep in mind.

That’s because researchers in Italy have discovered a 24-fold increased risk of deep blood clots connected to a certain type of birth control.

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The risk of combined birth control pills

To understand the risk, it’s important to first realize that there are several different types of birth control pills available.

While some forms include only the hormone progestin, others are known as combined birth control pills and have both estrogen and progestin in them.

And here’s where things get sticky…

It’s well established that estrogen-containing contraceptives are dangerous for women suffering from obesity.

Yet, doctors continue to prescribe them to women all across the world.

So Italian researchers set out to quantify the risks around the use of combined birth control pills in the hope that women will be able to better protect themselves, especially when it comes to guarding against deadly clots.

Raising the risk of venous thromboembolism

They broke down the data to do so like this:

• The risk of deep blood clots, also known as venous thromboembolism, increases progressively with body mass index (BMI), with obese women facing more than double the risk than that of non-obese women.
• Combined oral contraceptives are associated with an elevated likelihood of venous thromboembolism (VTE), with users having a three- to seven-fold elevated likelihood of VTE compared with non-users.
• A large population-based study found that in combined pill users, the risk of VTE was 12-fold higher in overweight women and 24-fold higher in obese women when compared with normal-weight non-users.

After analyzing all the data, study author Professor Giuseppe Rosano concluded, “The scientific evidence indicates that obesity and combined oral contraceptives have a synergistic effect on VTE risk and this should be considered in prescribing decisions. Progestin-only products, including pills, intrauterine devices, or implants are a safer alternative to the combined pill in women carrying excess weight.”

Additionally, he suggests that obese women taking contraceptives should take steps to limit their other predisposing factors for cardiovascular disease, by quitting smoking and increasing their physical activity levels.

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Reduce the threat of blood clot

If you’re a woman of childbearing age taking birth control pills and weight is an issue for you, be sure to talk to your doctor about this concern.

In addition to taking the steps recommended by Professor Rosano, if you take birth control pills, you should also be aware of the four signs that you’re suffering from a clot, so that you can seek help immediately.

Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic also recommend eating a healthy diet and staying hydrated.

Finally, consider the Japanese secret to healthy circulation…

Natto is a traditional Japanese dish made from fermented soybeans. It naturally contains an enzyme that promotes healthy blood flow known as nattokinase. Nattokinase supports healthy blood flow by naturally inhibiting fibrin, a fibrous mesh found inside blood vessels that can impede blood flow.

Sources:

Combined birth control pill linked with increased risk of blood clots in obese women — ScienceDaily

Blood Clots — Cleveland ClinicThe Pill Can Worsen Other Risk Factors For Heart Attack, Stroke — Premier Health

The post The pill that increases blood clot risk 24x in obese women appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Well, according to researchers at the Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego Health, they might also be the windows to your heart.

In fact, they say that what your eye doctor sees during your exam could tell you whether a heart attack or stroke is in your future, so that you can take steps to save your life.

The ripple effect

What do your eyes have to do with your heart?

The answer is in your blood vessels.

You see, the only place that doctors can examine the smallest blood vessels in your body is in your eyes — specifically your retinas.

When blood flow is good, those blood vessels are healthy. And so are the cells around them.

However, if you have heart disease (or are developing it) that blood flow is compromised. Lack of oxygen and ischemia sets in and the cells those blood vessels feed start to die.

And those UC San Diego researchers say that this die-off leaves behind permanent marks in your eyes.

Called RIPLs, retinal ischemic perivascular lesions, these marks are easily seen during an exam.

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More and more dangerous

Because of this, the scientists set out to determine if the number of RIPLs in your retinas could accurately predict your risk of cardiovascular disease.

And if those RIPLs might be useful in determining if a heart attack or stroke could be about to strike.

They dug through the records of people who underwent an optical coherence tomography scan (or OCT) between July 2014 and 2019. And to make sure their conclusions eliminated any bias, they included a group of patients with heart disease, and another “healthy” group to serve as a control.

So were RIPLs an accurate predictor of current or future heart problems?

Absolutely!

The research showed that patients with heart disease had far more RIPLs in their retinas than healthy controls.

And they were also able to prove that the number or RIPLs correlated to each person’s risk of heart disease as determined by a device called the atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk score calculator.

It’s a device that is used nationally to determine the risk of heart attack or stroke within the next 10 years.

“Individuals with low and borderline ASCVD scores had a low number of RIPLs in their eyes, but as the ASCVD risk increased, so did the number of RIPLs,” said lead author Mathieu Bakhoum, MD, Ph.D., a retina surgeon at UC San Diego Health.

In other words, your eyes ARE a window to your heart health. And your next eye exam could save your life.

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Know your risks and plan for your health

So at your next eye doctor appointment, be sure to ask for an OCT scan to determine the number of RIPLs in your retinas.

Additionally, you can see your medical doctor and ask for these 15 early detection blood tests.

And finally, no matter where you are in your heart health journey, it is always a good time to make lifestyle changes that have been proven to beat back cardiovascular disease like:

• Eating fish twice a week
• Taking a vacation
• Adding supplements, like alpha-lipoic acid
• Getting more exercise – especially high-intensity interval training (HIIT)
• Consider the benefits of regular coffee consumption to reduce stroke and heart attack risk.

Your heart health might be mirrored in your eyes, but it’s also in your hands.

Sources:

Heart Disease is in the Eye of the Beholder — UC San Diego Health

The post Why your eyes are a window to your heart attack risk appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And while the condition currently affects up to 11 million Americans, that number is expected to double over the next three decades.

You might think that a condition that leaves so many suffering and steals their independence would have reliable and safe treatment options, but you’d be wrong.

In fact, the current treatments for age-related vision loss can vary from having a needle stuck into your eye, to high-energy lasers and hit-or-miss drugs — all of which come with undeniable risks.

Luckily, researchers may have finally unlocked the secret to not only warding off — but possibly walking back — the damage that results in vision loss…

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Calcium buildup in the blood vessels of the eye

That secret involves what the researchers believe is an underlying cause of macular degeneration – a protein found in our blood, known as vitronectin.

While there are hundreds of proteins circulating in our bloodstream at any given time, the researchers focused on vitronectin, because it’s one of the most abundant and is also an important component of cholesterol.

Vitronectin is also a key player in many age-related diseases, which led the team to believe it also provided a promising target in the treatment of the vision loss that comes with aging.

“This protein is an important target for macular degeneration because it accumulates in the back of the eye, causing vision loss. Similar deposits appear in the brain in Alzheimer’s disease and in the arteries in atherosclerosis,” said lead researcher, Francesca Marassi, PhD. “We want to understand why this happens and leverage this knowledge to develop new treatments.”

So the researchers set out to discover how the protein changes its structure at different temperatures and under different levels of pressure, illustrating what happens in the human eye over time.

The scientists found that when vitronectin is put under pressure, it subtly changes shape — a change that causes it to more easily bind to calcium ions in the blood.

According to the researchers, this is what leads to the buildup of calcified plaque deposits that are hallmarks of macular degeneration and other age-related diseases.

It’s a discovery that the researchers say will help them develop vision loss treatments that block the protein’s calcium binding.

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Balancing calcium in your body

Calcified plaque deposits, whether in the vessels in your eyes or the ones in your heart, can obviously lead to systemic problems.

But calcium is a beneficial nutrient when the body has the right balance of other nutrients to help it do the jobs it’s meant for.

Fortunately, there are a few ways to help those processes and avoid the circulation problems excess calcium can cause…

For starters, unless your doctor has prescribed calcium supplements for a specific health condition, it’s best to get calcium from foods in your diet. That could help cut down on excess in the first place. Dairy foods are your best source, but also salmon, squash and almonds are good choices.

Everyone knows the symbiotic relationship between vitamin D and calcium. To absorb calcium efficiently, an adequate amount of vitamin D must be present in the body. We know many Americans, especially seniors have either insufficient or outright deficient vitamin D levels.

Another vital vitamin equally important to balance calcium is vitamin K2.

This important nutrient helps direct calcium from the bloodstream to our bones, where it belongs. Once there, vitamin D’s job begins.

The form of vitamin K2 that’s been studied for its circulatory benefits is known as “MK-7” and the most plentiful food source of K2 is a fermented Japanese food called natto. It can also be supplemented.

Lastly, natural chelators also help to flush excess calcium.

One such chelator is ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid or EDTA. EDTA chelation has been used for decades to bind with lead or other toxins to remove them from the bloodstream. During these processes, it was discovered that it also binds with rogue calcium and removes it from circulation via body waste.

So if your vision — and circulatory health — is working the way it should, kudus to you. But remember an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Sources:

How a single protein could unlock age-related vision loss — ScienceDaily

Age-Related Macular Degeneration Treatment — WebMD

LUCENTIS SIDE EFFECTS CENTER — RX List

The post The weird connection between macular degeneration and calcified plaque appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

A sedentary lifestyle, one where we spend more time sitting than walking or moving, has been linked to greater risks for diabetes, stroke, and cancer.

But when it comes to dementia risk and sedentary behavior, there’s a caveat…

Your choice of activity, while you’re sitting in the evening, can make all the difference — even if you run marathons all day.

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Choose your sedentary activity wisely

Uninterrupted sitting for long periods of time is linked with reduced blood flow to the brain.

If you’re over 60 and spend a lot of time sitting, with little physical activity, you’re putting yourself at increased risk for dementia.

But a new study shows that the activity you choose to engage in while you’re sitting can spell the difference between a dementia diagnosis and a cognitively healthy old age.

Researchers from the University of Southern California and the University of Arizona have shown that activities like computer use or reading reduce the negative effects of long periods of sitting by providing greater blood flow to the brain.

“It isn’t the time spent sitting, per se, but the type of sedentary activity performed during leisure time that impacts dementia risk,” says study author Dr. David Raichlen, professor of biological sciences at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

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No matter how active you are, what you do while sitting matters

More than 145,000 participants in the U.K. Biobank age 60 and older, none of whom had dementia at the start of this study, reported information about their levels of sedentary behavior between 2006 and 2010.

During a twelve-year follow-up, the researchers found 3,507 cases of dementia. They also found that passive activity like watching TV was associated with an increased risk of dementia.

Even after adjusting for factors like smoking, alcohol use, and social contact, all of which could affect brain health, the number of cases remained the same.

But there was something even more remarkable…

Even in people who were highly physically active, TV watching was still associated with a higher risk of dementia, while leisure time spent reading or using a computer was associated with reduced risk.

In other words, even if you’re a mountain climber, if you spend your leisure time sitting in front of the TV, you’re increasing your risk of dementia.

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Make the most of your sedentary time for your brain’s sake

Whether you are very physically active or tend more toward the sedentary end of things, one thing is clear: passive sedentary activities like watching TV have absolutely no benefit and will send you down the road to dementia.

On the other hand, cognitively active activities that you engage in while sitting can have a positive effect.

Dr. Raichlen of USC puts it this way:

“… while research has shown that uninterrupted sitting for long periods is linked with reduced blood flow in the brain, the …. Greater intellectual stimulation that occurs during computer use may counteract the negative effects of sitting.”

What else can you do in addition to cognitively active activities like surfing on your computer, reading, solving crossword puzzles, doing jigsaw puzzles or even coloring — to bring more blood flow to your brain?

Eat more of the foods known for boosting the brain’s blood supply…

In a study that spanned almost 25 years, researchers found that people who ate about 600 milligrams of flavonoids daily had a 20 percent lower risk of cognitive decline than those who consumed only 150 milligrams every day.

Foods rich in flavonoids, like strawberries, blueberries, apples, pears, bananas and red cabbage, were found to have anti-inflammatory properties that get the brain’s blood supply pumping.

Sources:

What Older Adults Do While They Sit Affects Dementia Risk — Neuroscience News

Leisure-time sedentary behaviors are differentially associated with all-cause dementia regardless of engagement in physical activity — PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

The post What you do while sitting: The real reason being sedentary leads to dementia appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Take the brain, for example. We already know there’s a connection between the brain and gut, and that the health of one can influence the other. Studies have shown that kidney health can affect brain health as well.

And then there’s the heart. Researchers have found that cardiovascular issues like heart attack, atrial fibrillation, stroke and high blood pressure can have a direct impact on the development of dementia and other cognitive diseases.

Now, a U.K. study has provided even more evidence that the health of the heart and brain are inextricably linked….

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Bad heart health could age the brain

A team of researchers led by Professor Jonathan Schott of University College London (UCL) applied an MRI-based machine learning model to estimate brain age in members of the Insight 46 study. Participants in the Insight 46 study are taken from the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD) 1946 British Birth Cohort.

The participants were all between 69 and 72 years old. But according to the learning model, their estimated brain ages ranged from 46 to 93…

Since the participants had been part of the study throughout their lives, the researchers were able to compare their current brain ages to factors occurring at various points in their lifetimes. By doing so, they were able to account for roughly one-third of the variability in brain age.

They found…

• People with worse cardiovascular health at ages 36 or 69 had worse brain health.
• So did those whose MRIs showed increased cerebrovascular disease, a condition related to blood flow and blood vessels in the brain.
• It also showed that men tend to have older brains than women of the same age.

These findings are in line with a previous study led by Schott that showed high blood pressure at age 36 predicted poorer brain health later in life.

Those with an older brain age had slightly worse scores on cognitive tests, and it predicted increased brain shrinkage over the following two years. This suggests brain age could be a key clinical marker for people at risk of cognitive decline or other brain-related health issues.

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The researchers also discovered a link between an older brain age and a higher concentration of neurofilament light protein (NfL) in the blood. Elevated NfL is believed to be a result of nerve cell damage and is increasingly being recognized as a sign of neurodegeneration.

Dr. Sara Imarisio, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, observes the Insight 46 study is revealing more about the complex relationship between the different things that influence people’s brain health throughout their life.

“We hope this technique could one day be a useful tool for identifying people at risk of accelerated aging, so that they may be offered early, targeted prevention strategies to improve their brain health,” Schott says.

Happy heart, happy brain

We’ve reported before on the one simple action you can take to protect both your brain and heart health: take a walk. Walking five miles a week has been shown to protect brain structure, and in another study almost-daily long-distance walking led to greater weight loss and better cardiovascular health.

Another activity found to help both heart and brain health is strength training. One study found that women with mild cognitive impairment experienced improved memory following weight training. And another study showed that weight training may reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke.

It’s also vitally important to get heart and brain supporting nutrients. There are two that fit this bill to a T, pulling double duty for both body parts:

Vitamin D: Multiple studies have shown that vitamin D is the vitamin that can help save your heart. Not only does vitamin D3 increase the level of nitric oxide in your blood to help support healthy blood flow and blood pressure, it also protects against oxidative stress in your cardiovascular system (damage caused by free radicals that accelerates the age of your cells). Put simply, D3 can help turn back the clock and keep your veins, arteries and heart young.

For brain health, the sunshine vitamin is a must-have as well if you want to avoid dementia. The most recent involved a study with almost 300,000 participants. According to the results, low vitamin D levels were linked with lower brain volume and an increased risk of dementia and stroke. And the genetic analyses supported the hypothesis that vitamin D deficiency can cause dementia.

Omega-3 fatty acids also are a good nutrient to add to your diet to protect both heart and brain health. For the brain, omega-3s can help increase your gray matter, improve your mood and enhance mental performance. They can even reverse damage in the brain caused by bad diet. And for the heart, omega-3s can lower the risk for heart attack, coronary artery disease and sudden cardiac death, as well as improve survival from heart attack.

Sources:

Poor heart health predicts premature brain ageing — UCL

Life course, genetic, and neuropathological associations with brain age in the 1946 British Birth Cohort: a population-based study — The Lancet Heathy Longevity

Why Weight Lifting Is Good for Heart Health — SelectHealth

The post Don’t let heart problems prematurely age your brain appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Yet, those mental abilities are exactly what Alzheimer’s disease takes from us.

And while there are numerous ways to reduce cognitive decline with aging, such as supplementing brain nutrients, protecting your heart, drinking tea daily, and taking mind-boosting herbs, there is little doctors can do once Alzheimer’s sets in.

It’s a fact that once again demonstrates the truth to that old saying of “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Luckily, ground-breaking research from a team at the University of Adelaide is giving us one more way to practice that ounce of prevention by overcoming what they’re calling a “fundamental, early driver of Alzheimer’s disease.”

And it’s all about the energy, or lack of it, in your brain.

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The breath of life for your brain

Their research, published in Disease Models and Mechanisms, has found a link between the way that cells produce energy for brain function and the mutated genes found in Alzheimer’s disease.

This discovery was made by analyzing the young adult brains of zebrafish with gene mutations associated with early-onset Alzheimer’s using cutting-edge gene technology. This allowed the scientists to detect subtle differences between the normal fish and those with the mutations.

And it led to an incredible discovery…

All Alzheimer’s disease mutations affect one very important cell function — the use of oxygen by brain cells to produce energy.

It’s a discovery that finally shed light on something doctors have long known, but couldn’t explain…

That once people develop Alzheimer’s, their brain’s become severely deficient in energy production.

You see, while your entire body requires oxygen to live, for your brain oxygen truly is the breath of life. It’s carried to every cell by your blood and fuels your brain, allowing it to complete all its many functions.

If any part of that cycle is compromised, so is your cognitive function.

The scientists were so excited by their discovery, that they even took their research a step further and re-analyzed the data from another study in mice, which allowed them to prove a similar effect.

Their conclusion?

Lack of energy production in the brain is an “important common, early factor driving the development of Alzheimer’s disease.”

And as lead researcher, Dr. Karissa Barthelson from the University of Adelaide’s Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Laboratory puts it, “If we can understand in detail what is going wrong with oxygen use and energy production, we may see ways of stopping the disease before it starts.”

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Energizing your brain

So how can you up your brain’s energy to help stop Alzheimer’s before it starts?

Fortunately, while those Australian researchers plan to continue their deep dive into the question, previous studies have already provided a roadmap.

In fact, a study that spanned almost 25 years and almost 75,000 participants, Harvard researchers found that “blood supply to the brain is an important contributor to cognitive decline.”

And that eating foods high in flavonoids can boost the brain’s supply of oxygen-rich blood and ultimately slow cognitive decline.

Flavonoid-rich foods to include in your diet are:

• Parsley
• Thyme
• Peppermint
• Rutabaga
• Beets
• Celery
• Elderberries
• Blueberries
• Blackberries
• Black currants
• Red and black raspberries

They can also be found at high levels in cherries, cranberries, red cabbage and red radishes.

In addition to eating your flavonoids, it’s also important to reduce the amount of salt in your diet.

That’s because a study by researchers at Georgia State University has proven that eating salt activates specific neurons deep in the brain that results in vasoconstriction. In other words, salt constricts the blood vessels that supply oxygen-rich blood to the brain, essentially starving it.

Finally, be sure to get plenty of regular exercise, since exercise is known for its ability to improve blood flow and oxygen supply throughout your body.

Put simply, eating more flavonoids and less salt, while staying active could be the key to the brain energy that wards off Alzheimer’s.

Sources:

Is energy the key to Alzheimer’s disease? – ScienceDaily

The post Boosting brain energy may stop Alzheimer’s before it starts appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But in recent years we’ve learned a lot more about this severe illness. It’s now known as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a disease that’s usually triggered by an infection and often develops into a chronic condition.

Symptoms include fatigue, physical weakness, headache and muscle pain. It can also cause neurocognitive and immunological symptoms, as well as symptoms of autonomic nervous system dysfunction.

But the main characteristic is something called post-exertional malaise. This means that when someone with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) does an activity that’s even mildly taxing physically or mentally, they’ll experience a dramatic increase in their symptoms that often lasts for a day or longer.

Previous viruses are known to trigger the condition, including the Epstein-Barr virus, the dengue virus and enteroviruses, the same family of viruses that includes polio. Now, recent research out of Germany has added another virus to that list — one we’ve all become much too familiar with…

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Is it long COVID or chronic fatigue syndrome?

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 0.3 percent of the population was suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). However, experts believe the pandemic will result in a significant increase in that number.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, experts have suspected that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can cause ME/CFS. So, a group of researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) decided to conduct a well-controlled study to determine whether that’s the case.

As part of the study, experts examined 42 individuals who were experiencing persistent, severe fatigue and impaired daily functioning six months after their infection with SARS-CoV-2. Other details on the participants included:

• Most couldn’t perform light work for more than two to four hours a day. And some were unable to work and struggled to care for themselves.
• Three of the participants needed hospitalization during their COVID-19 infection, though none required oxygen.
• 32 of the patients were classified as having mild COVID-19; they didn’t develop pneumonia, but they had fairly severe symptoms including fever, cough and muscle and joint pain for 1-2 weeks.
• None of the 42 patients had been vaccinated since their infections occurred during the first wave of the pandemic.

For comparison, the researchers looked at 19 individuals matched by age and gender who had developed chronic fatigue due to a non-COVID-related infection, but experienced a period of illness similar to the COVID patients.

The study results show that even after experiencing mild COVID-19, a subset of patients will develop symptoms that meet the diagnostic criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). A second subset of post-COVID patients had similar symptoms, but differences in laboratory results from the first subset. This could indicate differences in underlying mechanisms.

“Suspicions that COVID-19 might trigger ME/CFS initially arose as early as during the first wave of the pandemic,” says Dr. Carmen Scheibenbogen, a professor and acting director of Charité’s Institute of Medical Immunology on Campus Virchow-Klinikum. She also oversees the work of the Charité Fatigue Center, which specializes in the diagnosis of ME/CFS.

“Providing the scientific evidence to confirm these assumptions, however, is anything but a trivial task,” Scheibenbogen says. “This is partly due to the paucity of research into ME/CFS and the fact that there are no universally accepted diagnostic criteria. Thanks to an extremely thorough diagnostic process and a comprehensive comparison with patients who developed ME/CFS following non-COVID-related infections, we have now been able to show that COVID-19 can trigger ME/CFS.”

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Two different markers: Persistent inflammation or impaired blood supply

About half of the post-COVID patients examined for the study met the chosen diagnostic criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). The other half presented with similar symptoms, though their post-exertional malaise was milder and only lasted for a few hours. By contrast, chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) patients reported post-exertional malaise that persisted into the following day.

The researchers connected data on symptoms and determined various laboratory parameters. Then, they compared these parameters with hand grip strength, which was reduced in most of the participants.

According to Scheibenbogen, individuals with milder exertional intolerance had reduced hand grip strength if they had elevated levels of interleukin 8. “In these cases, reduced muscular strength may be caused by a persistent inflammatory response,” she says.

“In the ME/CFS group, however, hand grip strength was correlated with the hormone NT-proBNP, which can be released by muscle cells when oxygen supply is insufficient,” Scheibenbogen observes. “This suggests that, in these individuals, muscle weakness may be caused by an impaired blood supply.”

The two groups may also differ in terms of disease progression. “In many people whose symptoms are indicative of ME/CFS but who do not meet diagnostic criteria, symptoms appear to improve over time,” Scheibenbogen says.

These findings could help researchers develop specific treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and post-COVID syndrome, also known as long COVID.

If you’ve had COVID-19 and you’ve experienced any of the symptoms of ME/CFS for longer than six months, make sure you see your doctor. They can help you determine whether you’re suffering from long COVID or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).

If you are diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), there aren’t a lot of treatment options. But there are a few things you can do to help lessen your symptoms. For instance, taking a CoQ10 supplement along with nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) has been shown to help reduce fatigue in patients with ME/CFS.

Sources:

Charité study provides evidence to support long-held suspicion — Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

A prospective observational study of post-COVID-19 chronic fatigue syndrome following the first pandemic wave in Germany and biomarkers associated with symptom severity — Nature Communications

Association of respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis with the interleukin 8 gene region in UK families — Thorax

The post The link between SARS-CoV-2 and chronic fatigue syndrome appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And while there are treatments available to help, including a blood clot-busting enzyme that’s delivered through injection and a surgical procedure that also removes clots, that doesn’t mean they can benefit everyone.

That’s because those treatments have to be administered very early after stroke in order to be effective. And many people can’t get to a hospital fast enough.

But there is good news.

According to research by a team of neurologists and immunologists from the University of Pittsburgh, a well-functioning immune system holds the best-kept secrets for maximum protection during a stroke…

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The role of immune response in stroke

Your immune system plays a vital role in stroke. The second a blood clot wedges itself in a blood vessel, your brain sends out an SOS signal calling for help from your immune system to clear out cellular debris, limit damage to your brain and kick-start repair.

The problem is, the way your immune system functions is extremely diverse and complex. And while some immune cells can be very beneficial, others can be detrimental to a damaged brain.

Now, those Pittsburgh researchers have discovered exactly which cells are the good guys: a unique subset of white blood cells that confer fast-acting and lasting protection against ischemic stroke.

Identified as CD8+ regulatory-like T cells (CD8+TRLs), these “first responders” swoop in during a stroke, attracted by a unique “homing” signal released by dying brain cells.

Within 24 hours after stroke onset, they reach the brain to do their work…

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“The beauty of CD8+TRLs is in their fast response. They confer very potent protection to the brain, which can last a long time,” said co-corresponding author Xiaoming Hu, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of neurology at Pitt and a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) investigator. “Most importantly, these cells are easily accessible because they circulate in the blood before they enter the injured brain.”

Because of this, the team is now focusing on creating shelf-stable and ready-to-use CD8+TRLs or a cocktail of neuro-protective signaling molecules released by those cells to help the hundreds of thousands of patients who are ineligible for other treatments.

“Despite the efforts of thousands of people devoting their careers to finding treatments that could benefit stroke patients, therapy options are minimal,” said co-senior author Jun Chen, M.D., Ph.D. “I have been working in this field for more than 30 years, and this is the first time I feel that I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, promising future clinical translation that will benefit patients.”

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Stroke prevention is the best medicine

Of course, as with anything, there’s no telling how long these breakthrough therapies may take to develop.

But there are steps you can take now….

Leverage the power of immune system modulators that promote a balanced immune response — since as the research showed “… different types of immune cells may play distinct beneficial or detrimental roles in a damaged brain.”

Thymoquinone is an immune system modulator found in the oil from the Nigella sativa plant. It helps balance immune response so it’s not overblown or, conversely, does not underperform. That way, the immune cells that carry out beneficial roles in the event of stroke are ready to do so.

Improve your body’s response to infection. A study review of the health records of over 190,000 stroke patients found that the risk of suffering an ischemic stroke was more than five times higher during the week following a hospital visit for a UTI, as compared to during the year before the infection.

The risk for bleeding within the brain itself following a hemorrhagic stroke was also higher following a urinary tract infection, as compared with septicemia or respiratory infections.

COVID-19 taught us that infection and inflammation can increase stroke risk. In addition to its ability to douse inflammation, research has shown that “…vitamin D3 appears to stimulate the type I interferon signalling system in the body — a key part of the immune system that provides a first-line of defense against bacteria and viruses.”

Ensure healthy circulation from head to toe. If you have no need to take a blood thinner, you can naturally support blood flow.

Passive stretching is the artery “workout” that improves blood flow. Research showed in just 12 weeks it increased blood flow and dilation and decreased arterial stiffness.

To help blood flow through healthy arteries, consider natto, the enzyme discovered in a traditional Japanese dish that offers fibrinolytic effects (keeps fibrin from going overboard to form clots).

Sources:

Fast-acting immune cells provide powerful protection against stroke — ScienceDaily

Common Complications After Stroke: What Are They and What Can Be Done? — Saebo

The post Is your immune system ready to protect you during stroke? appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

One of the main reasons is that the disease can’t be clinically diagnosed until long after disease onset — when symptoms such as forgetfulness appear.

Unfortunately, by this stage, the underlying brain damage may already be advanced and irreversible.

Earlier studies by researchers have found that the misfolding, aggregation and buildup of amyloid beta proteins in the brain plays a central role in the disease.

In patients with Alzheimer’s, misfolding of the amyloid-beta protein can occur 15 to 20 years before the first clinical symptoms are observed. One study in 2019 found that participants with misfolded amyloid-beta proteins had a stunning 23-fold increase in the odds of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s within 14 years.

Researchers at UTHealth Houston believe that preventing and removing misfolded protein aggregates is a promising treatment for Alzheimer’s. And they may have found a way to do it….

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Blood exchange may help

One of the things complicating Alzheimer’s treatment is the difficulty of delivering therapeutic agents across the blood-brain barrier.

In their latest study, UTHealth Houston researchers have discovered that manipulating circulating components in Alzheimer’s — like beta amyloid proteins — could be the key to solving this issue.

“Blood vessels in the brain are classically considered the most impermeable barrier in the body,” says first author Dr. Akihiko Urayama, a professor with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston and first author of the study. “We have been aware that the barrier is at the same time a very specialized interface between the brain and the systemic circulation.”

During the study, the research team partially replaced blood from mice showing Alzheimer’s disease-causing amyloid precursor proteins with complete blood from healthy mice of the same genetic background.

After multiple blood transfusions, the researchers found that cerebral amyloid plaque development in the mice modeling Alzheimer’s was decreased by 40 to 80 percent. As a result of this reduction, spatial memory performance was improved in aged mice with the amyloid pathology, and the rates of plaque growth were lowered over time.

“This article provides a proof-of-concept for the utilization of technologies commonly used in medical practice, such as plasmapheresis or blood dialysis, to ‘clean’ blood from Alzheimer’s patients, reducing the buildup of toxic substances in the brain,” says senior author Dr. Claudio Soto, a professor with McGovern Medical School. “This approach has the advantage that the disease can be treated in the circulation instead of in the brain.”

While the exact way this blood exchange reduces amyloid pathology and improves memory is unknown, there are several possibilities.

One theory is that by lowering the amyloid beta proteins in the bloodstream, it could help redistribute the proteins from the brain to the periphery. Another potential explanation is that blood exchange somehow prevents amyloid beta influx or inhibits the re-uptake of cleared amyloid beta.

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Possible ways to control beta amyloid

While the results of the UTHealth Houston study are encouraging, it could take years for any resulting therapies to emerge. Until then, you may want to know if there’s anything you can do to reduce beta amyloid protein in your body.

As we noted in an earlier issue, some studies indicate lipoproteins produced in the liver could be one source of Alzheimer’s-related beta amyloid. If the liver produces too many of these, it can result in problems with the liver’s ability to metabolize fat.

In this case, you can keep your liver from overproducing lipoproteins, and by extension lipoprotein amyloid, through a healthy diet, regular exercise and reducing exposure to toxins in air, water and food.

Make sure you eat a diet rich in whole grains, fruits and vegetables, omega-3 fatty acids and healthy monounsaturated fats like olive oil and avocados.

You should also be getting plenty of omega-3 fatty acids, especially brain-loving DHA.

A 2014 study found that omega-3 fatty acids enhance your immune system’s ability to clear the brain of amyloid plaques. And another 2014 study that eating fish more often led to better communication between brain cells and more gray matter in areas that form memories and are responsible for high-level thinking.

Sources:

Whole blood exchange could offer disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer’s disease, study finds — UTHealth Houston

Preventive and therapeutic reduction of amyloid deposition and behavioral impairments in a model of Alzheimer’s disease by whole blood exchange — Molecular Psychiatry

Protein misfolding as a risk marker for Alzheimer’s disease — ScienceDaily

Vitamin D3-Enriched Diet Correlates with a Decrease of Amyloid Plaques in the Brain of AβPP Transgenic Mice — Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease

Nerve growth factor and Alzheimer’s disease — Reviews in the Neurosciences

The post How Alzheimer’s could be ‘cleaned’ from the brain appeared first on Easy Health Options®.