Vitamin D for High Blood Pressure?

 

A 2013 study published in the journal Hypertension suggests that taking high doses of Vitamin D may help to lower and control blood pressure in African-American populations. The prevalence of hypertension in African-Americans in the United States is among the highest in the world. More than 40 percent of non-Hispanic African-American men and women have high blood pressure. For African-Americans, high blood pressure also develops earlier in life and is usually more severe. 

Vitamin D deficiency has increasingly been recognized in the general population and especially in African Americans whose deep skin pigmentation makes vitamin D photosynthesis inefficient. In the study, 283 black men and women were randomly assigned to groups taking either a placebo or 1,000IU, 2,000IU or 4,000IU daily doses of Vitamin D for two years.

After three months of daily supplementation, systolic blood pressure (the first, higher number) dropped by 1.4mmHG for every 1,000IU study participants took. While this study does not proved that Vitamin D was the agent lowering participants blood pressure, it is suggestive. 

Have your Vitamin D levels measured at your next physical and speak with your doctor about supplementation, if needed, to raise your blood level of Vitamin D to normal levels. Supplementation of 600IU daily (800IU if you are over age 70) is recommended for everyone, especially in winter.

What a Mediterranean Diet Is, and Isn't

 

The Mediterranean Diet is often held up as a foundation of healthy eating and one of the very few with solid observational and clinical evidence supporting it. But what is it, exactly? And equally important, what is it not?

A Mediterranean diet is not as simple as adding olive oil to what Americans typically eat. An American may think of any Greek or Italian foods as "Mediterranean" but many are not not.

A classic dinner of spaghetti and meatballs with Italian bread is a massive amount of refined white flour, fatty meat and cheese. Pizza may sound Mediterranean, but its not either. The crust is a gondola full of refined white flour and the toppings are loaded with sugar, saturated fat, salt and, most likely nitrates and preservatives. A Mediterranean diet does not include large amounts of refined sugar - whether you call it baklava or a cannolli or not.

So what IS the "Mediterranean Diet"? Well first of all we should understand that not everyone living around the Mediterranean Sea eats exactly the same foods. There is a lot of variation. But in general, we can define the diet as rich in vegetables, fruit, nuts, beans and fish. Whole grains are common as well as unsaturated fats - mostly from oils. Alcohol is consumed in moderation and red and processed meats are eaten rarely, if at all. It is low in saturated fats from animal sources.

Salads are often a main dish in Mediterranean countries, and pastas are served often but normally in small amounts as a side. Poultry and fish replace red meats. Fresh ingredients outnumber processed ones. Spices play a leading role.

Here is a "practical guide" to eating Mediterranean style from Harvard Medical School. As you will see, it does take some adjustment, but it is not a very difficult "diet" to follow.

Frozen Pizza's Less Awful Cousins

 

Pizza is never going to be a health food. But really, who doesn't want some every now and again? As processed foods go, pizza is certainly near the top of the list. It's highly processed. It is loaded with saturated fat, salt, cholesterol and carbs and devoid of vitamins or minerals. And remember this is all per serving, which is usually 1/4 of the pie (but might be more or less, check to see).

If you are going to treat yourself every once in a while, keep these two things in mind. 

First, as with just about every other food packaging on the planet, the manufacturer is going to lie and try to trick you into thinking you are buying something that is better for you than it really is. They do this in all sorts of sneaky ways, like manipulating the service size or bragging about some ingredient that it barely contains. Ignore all that.

Second, if you want a pizza that is a healthy as its possible for a pizza to be, there are a few things to look for. According to Prevention Magazine, look for whole grain or even cauliflower crusts, check the added sugar (3 to 4 grams or less is best) and the sodium content (some can have as much as 900mg per serving but you can find some with half that), no extra cheese and vegetable toppings rather than meat. Click on the link above for 11 recommended varieties.

Pizza should never become a habit, but there is no reason you can't enjoy some occasionally.

Sitting is the New Smoking

 

 

Studies done by the Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical School and others show that prolonged sitting, such as millions of Americans do every day at work, can damage the heart, increase the risk of stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and elevated cholesterol. Excessive sitting also raises the prospects of contending with obesity, your anxiety levels might rise, and you can also be faced with back issues. In addition to this collection of concerns, the risk of blood clots and the potential of certain cancers will also increase due to prolonged inactivity. This includes colon, lung and endometrial cancer, while older women also face greater risk of experiencing breast cancer. 

A 2019 study of 150,000 Australians over age 45 who were followed for nine years looked at how much exercise was required just to offset the effect of sitting for 6 or more hours a day, and the results were sobering.

“In our study, sitting time was associated consistently with both overall premature mortality and cardiovascular disease mortality in the least physically active groups – those doing under 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity per week,” Professor Stamatakis, one of the study authors, said. That is about 20 minutes of "vigorous" exercise each and every day - just to offset the possible damage caused but so much sitting.

“For example," Stanatakis adds, "people who were physically inactive and sat for more than eight hours per day had 107 percent higher risk for cardiovascular death compared to those who did at least one hour physical activity per day and sat less than four hours.”

According to a 2018 article in Time Magazine, only 23% of Americans get that much exercise while only half of Americans get any exercise at all.

If you are forced, for whatever reason, to sit for hours every day here are some step you can take to minimize the damage.

- Set a timer and get up and walk around for at least 5 minutes every hour.

- Do a few stretches while seated once or twice every hour.

- Find things you can do while standing like speaking on the phone.

But the bottom line is, when work is over, get moving.

Two Quick Tips for Minimizing GERD

 

 

Acid reflux is a difficult condition to cope with and the common pharmaceutical approaches such as PPIs can cause serious side effects and even dependence. Andrew Rubman, ND, has two recommendations that he believes can offer at least some people relief without drugs.

1. Drink less or nothing at all while taking a meal. Water - or any liquid for that matter - can dilute stomach acid and interfere with the proper digestion of food.

2 Try taking melatonin. "It seems to be able to have a calming influence on one of the major substances created in the GI tract," says Rubman, "which allows for the smooth movement of muscular contractions, opening and closing of valves, processing of foods, etc. So it’s really like getting a good manager in to run your factory, and things run more smoothly."

I can't say if either of these tips will be helpful for you, but they have worked for others so perhaps they are worth a try.

Just 300 Calories Less

 

It seems that there may be more health benefit to reducing our calorie intake than just losing weight - which is benefit enough in itself. A 2019 study done at the Duke University School of Medicine and published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology suggests that trimming just 300 calories from your diet each day is enough to reduce your risk of diabetes and heart disease. Even if you are already at a normal, healthy weight.

The study looked at 200 normal-weight adults under 50 years old who reduced their caloric intake by 300 calories per day over two years. After only six months participants showed significantly lower cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar and blood pressure. After two years, those who persisted on the lower calorie diet experienced a drop in measures of chronic inflammation associated with cancer, heart disease and dementia. They also dropped 10% of their starting body weight, 71% of which was fat.

"There's something about caloric restriction, some mechanism we don't yet understand that results in these improvements," said study author Dr. William Kraus, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C. "We have collected blood, muscle and other samples from these participants and will continue to explore what this metabolic signal or magic molecule might be."

The findings show "that even a modification that is not as severe as what we used in this study could reduce the burden of diabetes and cardiovascular disease that we have in this country," Kraus said.

For most of us, 300 calories comes down to skipping maybe one daily snack and drinking fewer sodas and sweetened juices. How hard is that, really?

 

Cows, Chickens and Breast Cancer Risk

 

A new study suggests that eating red meat may increase the risk of developing breast cancer, while poultry may actually have a protective effect.  The study followed 42,000 women for seven years. The women who ate the greatest quantities of red meat presented a 23% higher risk of invasive breast cancer than women who ate smaller amounts.

On the other hand, increased consumption of poultry was associated with a decrease in the risk of invasive breast cancer, reaching up to 15% in women who ate the greatest quantities. The women who swapped red meat for poultry reduced their risk by 28%. No link between various cooking techniques and cancer risk was observed.

Lead author Dr Dale Sandler, from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said: "Red meat has been identified as a probable carcinogen. While the mechanism through which poultry consumption decreases breast cancer risk is not clear, our study does provide evidence that substituting poultry for red meat may be a simple change that can help reduce the incidence of breast cancer."

Dr Mieke Van Hemelrijck, reader in Cancer Epidemiology, King's College London, said that despite the study showing a correlation rather than cause and effect, "the results could be used to help us further understand how diet may have an influence on the development of cancer".