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Who is at risk of heart disease or stroke?

August 27, 2009 by Leave a Comment

The UK has one of the highest rates of death from heart disease in the world with one British adult dying from the disease every three minutes.

Cardio and vascular diseases such as a heart attack, stroke, diabetes and chronic kidney disease, affect the lives of over four million people, causing 170,000 deaths a year.


Many people assume that heart disease and a stroke occur in the heart and are similar in nature, when in fact they are totally different but share similar traits.

A stroke actually occurs when blood vessels burst or blood clots occur on the brain. In both cases the brain is starved of oxygen, damaging or killing cells.

The heart pumps 100,000 times a day, 2.5bn in an average lifetime. If this process is interrupted it can cause serious illness or instant death.

Even though they occur in different parts of the body, the causes of the two deadly diseases are exactly the same.
There are three major risk factors in the industry which cannot be changed when it comes to these diseases, including age, hereditary and gender.

From the age of 65 most people are prone to heart problems and need to take extra care with their diet and lifestyle.

Unfortunately if it runs in the immediate family you can be at a higher risk of having a heart attack or stroke, or if you have had one before you can also be at a greater risk of it happening again.

Heart problems are generally more common in men than women however more than half the total stroke deaths occur in women.

Some of the most common causes of heart disease or strokes include smoking, poor diet, little exercise, drug taking and drinking alcohol excessively.

These problems can be tackled through small changes in lifestyle which can be a massive improvement to your health and extending your life.

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Filed Under: Health Articles, Heart, Illness, Tomato Pill Tagged With: , , , ,

What Is A Stroke And How Ateronon Can Prevent It

August 5, 2009 by 1 Comment

A stroke is essentially the same as a heart attack, but it happens when the oxygen supply to the brain (rather than the heart) is interrupted.  The blood supply, carrying oxygen, can be stopped because of narrowed arteries or a burst blood vessel.

When brain cells are starved of oxygen they become damaged and this can result in the devastating effects of stroke such as loss of speech. If damage to the brain is to be limited the blood supply needs to be restored quickly, and inflammation or swelling of the brain needs to be stopped. If you suspect anyone is suffering a stroke it is vital to call 999 or get medical help immediately. Signs that a stroke is happening include:

  • Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
  • Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
  • Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
  • Sudden trouble walking, loss of balance or coordination, inability to walk and dizziness
  • Sudden severe headache with no known cause

The most common type of stroke is an ischaemic stroke in which the artery is blocked by a clot that stops the blood and oxygen reaching the brain. The clot may be formed in the arteries leading to the brain (thrombotic stroke), or the clot could be formed elsewhere (embolic stroke), for example the legs on a long haul flight, before travelling to the brain.

Tiny blood vessels inside the brain can also become blocked and damage a small area of tissue in the brain. The other common type of stroke is haemorrhagic in which a blood vessel in the brain ruptures and bleeds – in other words it haemorrhages. This causes a build up of pressure and damage in the brain, starving cells of oxygen.

So called mini strokes are another term for TIA stroke, or transient ischaemic attack which is an attack that doesn’t last very long and may cause only temporary, or slight, damage because the blood supply is soon restored.

People often get a weakness of an arm or leg for about 20 minutes during a  mini stroke and the weakness passes when the blood supply to the brain resumes. Mini strokes are a warning that there is a problem with the blood supply to the brain such as atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis is one cause of strokes. It is a build up of fatty plaques on the inner lining of the arteries. It is a gradual process over years, and it starts in many people in their teens or twenties, that slowly limits the blood supply to the heart muscle.

Fatty plaque builds up when LDL (bad) cholesterol is damaged by free radicals that occur naturally in the body and result from smoking and pollution. The LDL becomes oxidised after which it cannot be transported back to the liver to be excreted, but instead is laid down as plaque in arteries causing atherosclerosis.

Other causes of stroke include weaken areas on artery walls (aneurysms) and these may burst causing bleeding in the brain (haemmorhagic stroke). Irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) has also been linked to formation of blood clots in the heart which may then travel to the brain and cause a stroke.

The same healthy diet that protects against heart disease and high cholesterol, will also protect against stroke, in the same way that the new tomato pill does. Not smoking and avoiding binge drinking or regular heavy alcohol use is also preventive.

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Filed Under: Health Articles, Heart, Illness, Tomato Pill Tagged With: , , , , ,

Simple Steps To A Healthy Heart

August 5, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Heart disease is still the biggest cause of death in the UK, but the good news is that in most cases it is preventable. Understanding what poses the most risk to you, and making simple and achievable life changes, could be the best thing you have ever done.

There are several causes of heart disease, and most people who experience a heart attack, or stroke, have a combination of factors that put them at increased risk. Fortunately it’s possible to recognise the factors that present the most risk to you, and modify those risks. By doing so you can capitalise on the truism that “prevention is better than cure” – and look forward to a healthier future.

Smoking

Smokers often say that the habit relaxes them, but in fact the nicotine in cigarettes makes the heart beat faster, raises your blood pressure and stimulates production of the stress hormone adrenaline. Smoking also thickens the blood making it more likely to clot and cause a heart attack. The antioxidants in cigarette smoke damage the lining of the arteries allowing bad cholesterol to form plaque called atherosclerosis which is the main cause of heart attacks and stroke.

Prevention: If you smoke, resolve to quit now. Find help at

 * BHF Smoking Helpline 0800 169 1900 BHF’s Giving Up Smoking website

    * Quitline® 0800 00 22 00 www.quit.org.uk

    * NHS Smoking Helpline 0800 169 0 169 www.gosmokefree.co.uk

    * ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) 020 7739 5902 www.ash.org.uk

Blood pressure

This is a measure of the pressure in your blood vessels as the heart pumps blood through the arteries. When the heart contracts blood pressure is at its highest point. In a blood pressure reading this is the systolic pressure. When the heart relaxes between beats the lowest pressure – the diasystolic pressure is recorded. The pressures are written as two numbers with the higher pressure first. Ideally blood pressure should be below 130/80 for the lowest risk of heart disease. Most people’s blood pressure fluctuates during the day, but always increases in stressful situations. If you have high blood pressure (hypertension) your blood pressure is constantly higher than the recommended level.

High blood pressure causes damage to artery walls making them more susceptible to atherosclerosis.

Prevention: To maintain a healthy blood pressure or reduce hypertension to take enough physical activity, be a healthy weight, do not eat too much salt or drink too much alcohol, and eat a healthy balanced diet.

Weight

Being overweight puts as much strain on the heart as it does on joints and muscles. Carrying excess weight, especially around the waist increases your risk of heart disease. Losing just a modest amount of weight, as little as 5-10% of your starting weight, reduces your risk.

Prevention: The healthiest way to lose weight for your heart is to avoid crash diets and lose weight at a slow, steady rate of 1-2lbs or half a kilo a week by reducing portion sizes and calorie intake in combination with being more physically active. However, even slim people can be at increased risk if they have atherosclerosis.

Diabetes

Diabetes occurs when levels of glucose (sugar) in the blood are too high. This happens either because not enough insulin is produced or it is not very effective (insulin resistance). Insulin is needed to move glucose from the blood to the cells. People with Type 2 diabetes have an increased risk of heart attack because if undiagnosed, or poorly controlled, too much glucose remains in the bloodstream instead of being taken up by the cells. Excess sugar damages the arteries making it easier for atherosclerosis to occur.

Prevention: In most people Type 2 diabetes, can be prevented by being physically active and a healthy weight. Abdominal fat increases the risk of diabetes. Women should aim to have a waist measuring less than 31.5in. For Asian men aim for less than 35in, or 37in for white and black men.

Cholesterol and Atherosclerosis

Raised cholesterol levels are a widely acknowledged risk for heart disease. Too much bad (LDL) cholesterol is caused, in most cases, by eating an unhealthy diet, especially too much saturated fat, and not being active enough. When there is too much LDL cholesterol it is in danger of being damaged through oxidation. Oxidation of LDL is caused by highly active molecules called free-radicals produced during normal body processes and by exposure to smoking and other pollutants.

Surprisingly even people without raised levels of LDL cholesterol can still have life-threatening atherosclerosis if their diet does not contain enough antioxidants to prevent oxidation. Half of all strokes and heart attacks occur in people who do not have raised LDL.

Prevention: Preventing atherosclerosis is possible by eating an exemplary diet containing enough of the right sort of antioxidants, taking enough exercise, not smoking, avoiding high blood pressure, not having Type 2 diabetes and being a healthy weight with a healthy waistline.

The Mediterranean Diet is scientifically acknowledged to be an exemplary diet for heart health and risk reduction for stroke. Much of the heart benefit in the diet comes from the antioxidant lycopene in tomatoes that are eaten daily in the Mediterranean diet. Lycopene has been shown in studies to be the most beneficial antioxidant for heart disease; where vitamin E and beta-carotene have not proved successful, lycopene has.

Numerous studies have shown that the higher the levels of lycopene in the body the lower the rate of oxidation of LDL cholesterol. But the intake in a  typical UK diet is only around 1mg per day and as clinical studies of a new lycopene-based supplement Ateronon® show to prevent oxidation we need a lot more.

A daily capsule of Ateronon®, which is also known as the tomato pill, provides 7mg lycopene in a unique patented form that combines lycopene with whey protein and soy making it easily bioavailable so that it can be used effectively by the body. In clinical studies Ateronon® lowered LDL oxidation by more than 90 per cent within two months in both heart patients and healthy individuals. Unlike cholesterol-lowering medications such as statins, Ateronon has no reported side-effects. It can also be taken safely alongside statins and other heart medications.

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Filed Under: Health Articles, Heart, Illness, Tomato Pill Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

About The Tomato Pill Ateronon

August 5, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Plant ‘factories’ producing lettuces in little more than a fortnight, are springing up all over the developed world.

This month it was revealed that the Ozu Corporation in Japan is the latest conglomerate to diversify into ‘hydroponic’ horticulture techniques, where vegetables are grown in a sort of super-nutrient soup, instead of traditional soil. They are brought to maturity in sterile, indoor, temperature-controlled conditions, and sold with a guarantee of no contamination by any bugs or bacteria.

Hydroponic growing systems are also widely used in the production of tomatoes, but many fear that these high-tech, high-speed growing methods reduce the nutrient content of vegetables.

The British Tomato Growers Association has pointed out that lycopene, the key beneficial ingredient of the health-giving ‘Mediterranean’ diet is only found in optimum concentrations in outdoor sun-ripened tomatoes.

Lycopene is known to reduce the breakdown, or oxidation of harmful fats in the blood, known as low-density lipoproteins. It is this breakdown process which leads to the build up of harmful sticky deposits on arterial walls, in an ultimately fatal process called atherosclerosis. Now scientists have discovered a more efficient way of delivering lycopene to the human body in a treatment called Ateronon.

Ateronon, also known as the tomato pill, is a lycopene formulation which mixes the compound with natural proteins from milk and soya, increasing its ‘bioavailability’ – or capacity for absorption by the human body.

Studies of Ateronon have shown that it can reduce rates of fat oxidation to almost zero in as little as two months which will dramatically reduce the risk of life threatening illnesses such as heart disease and stroke.

Because Ateronon is a food not a pharmaceutical product, it is entirely safe and has been launched direct to the public http://www.ateronon.co.uk.

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Filed Under: Exercise, Health Articles, Heart, Illness, Tomato Pill Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Ateronon – Mediterranean Diet In A Capsule

August 5, 2009 by 1 Comment

The Mediterranean Diet is widely agreed to be one of the healthiest in the world, and is associated with enjoyment of food and a longer and healthier life.

There are several nutritious foods in a traditional Mediterranean cuisine, but for many experts the most convincing associations are the link between tomatoes and prevention of heart disease; still the leading cause of death in the UK.

Numerous studies have shown the higher the intake of tomatoes the lower the risk of heart disease and stroke. Cooked tomatoes are eaten regularly and in quantity from the south of France, through Italy, Greece and all around the Mediterranean.

It is the antioxidant lycopene found in tomatoes that improves heart health when eaten regularly. Cooking tomatoes with oil, makes the lycopene more ‘bioavailable’, meaning it is easier to use in the body.

Not many of us today manage to eat the quantity of bioavailable lycopene required on a daily basis to provide heart health benefits. Our normal dietary intake from food ranges from 0.5-5milligrams (mg) per day to an unusual high intake of 8mg. Typical average daily intake in the UK is 1.10mg.

Even if your diet does contain reasonable amounts of lycopene it may not be of the most beneficial type or bioavailable. Recognising the heart health potential of lycopene, and the hit and miss way it arrives in the diet, scientists at a biotechnology spin-off company from Cambridge University have developed a supplement that contains the right amount of bioavailable lycopene to benefit the heart.

Ateronon® is a daily supplement to prevent oxidative damage to bad cholesterol. Once low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol become oxidised it is taken up in the artery walls where it forms a plaque. The result is atherosclerosis, harmful narrowing and hardening of the arteries.

Heart attacks occur when atherosclerosis stops the supply of blood in the coronary arteries reaching the heart with oxygen. It causes stroke when blood vessels affected prevent blood reaching the brain. Atherosclerosis is also responsible for other diseases of the circulatory (or vascular) system.

A daily capsule of Ateronon® which is also known as the tomato pill, provides 7mg lycopene in a unique patented form that combines lycopene with whey protein and soy making it easily bioavailable. In clinical studies it has lowered LDL oxidation by more than 90 per cent within two months.

Oxidation of LDL is caused by highly active molecules called free-radicals. These are produced during normal body processes such as burning energy (calories) and during exercise, and by exposure to smoking and other pollutants.  If the body does not contain enough antioxidants to stop free radicals attacking LDL cholesterol it becomes damaged and the result is atherosclerosis.

The benefit of achieving an optimum lycopene intake from Ateronon is that it provides amounts comparable to those found  in the Mediterranean Diet. The benefit of a regular intake of lycopene is backed up by one of the latest rigorous diet studies.

Research published in April 2009 in Archives of Internal Medicine compared 189 valid dietary studies and trials between 1950 and 2007, and concluded: “Only a Mediterranean dietary pattern has been studied in randomized controlled trials and significantly associated with coronary heart disease.”

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Filed Under: Health Articles, Heart, Illness, Tomato Pill Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

10 Tips For Reducing Cholesterol

August 5, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Above all, enjoy your food. Eat a tasty a healthy balanced diet, such as the Mediterranean diet LINK on a regular basis because it is delicious and healthy. And while you do not need to eat any cholesterol, because the body makes it, you can still eat foods that contain cholesterol if they are part of a low fat healthy diet and you are living an active lifestyle. All of the below factors will reduce the risk of heart disease and strokes, in a similar way as the new tomato pill which was launched in June this year.

1.    Regular exercise increases the amount of ‘good’ cholesterol in the body. That means at least 30 minutes daily of brisk walking or another activity that makes you slightly breathless and a little sweaty. If your lifestyle is sedentary – you spend most of your days sitting down – then one hour of moderate exercise is needed every day.

2.    Eat lots of fruit and vegetables (at least 5 portions a day) because they contain antioxidants that help prevent harmful changes to cholesterol that can lead to atherosclerosis and heart disease.

3.    Eat lots of starchy carbohydrate foods such as whole grain breads, pasta, rice, oats and starchy vegetables, plus beans and pulses such as lentils. The fibre (also called NSP or non-starch polysaccharides) in these foods, and in fruit and vegetables, can bind with cholesterol and help remove it from the body.

4.    A balanced diet also requires moderate amounts of protein such as meat, but choose lean red meat, or skinless poultry, or game and cut off visible fat to avoid increasing your saturated fat intake. Good protein choices are also fish or vegetable proteins such as nuts, and eat sparingly sugary and fatty foods. Even though eggs contain cholesterol, they are a good choice and there is now no limit to how many can be eaten each week for a healthy heart – but even so, variety is better than relying on just one food.

5.    Avoid fatty meat products such as pies, pates, sausages and other processed fatty meats because they are high in saturated fat which contributes more to raised cholesterol levels than the amount of cholesterol eaten in foods such as shellfish and offal (e.g. liver).

6.    Saturated fat is also found in “hydrogenated vegetable fats” so avoid products such as biscuits, pies, peanut butters and other processed foods that contain these – check ingredients lists on the label.

7.    Trans fats are another form of harmful saturated fat that raises cholesterol levels, so choose spreads and readymeals and other processed foods that state they are “free from trans fats” on the label.

8.    A balanced diet also contains dairy food for calcium, a mineral needed by the heart and for healthy bones, but choose low fat dairy milk, yogurt and so on to avoid the saturated fat in full-fat versions.

9.    Alcohol in small amounts can also raise levels of ‘good’ cholesterol, and red wine in particular additionally contains antioxidants that help prevent hardening of the arteries by damaged cholesterol. However, even one unit of alcohol per day can raise the risk of certain cancers by a small amount. So drink only in moderate, sticking to “safe” levels of not more than 28 units per week for men, with alcohol-free days; and 21 units for women. and you don’t have to drink!

10.    Replace the saturated fats in your diet (lard, deep fried foods, processed foods) with polyunsaturates from vegetable oils, or monounsaturates from olive oil, rapeseed oil and nuts. Eat fish twice a week, one being oily fish (e.g. mackerel, salmon, tuna) for omega-3 heart-healthy fats. Omega 3 is also in sunflower and soy oil and walnuts and linseed oils.

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Filed Under: Exercise, Health Articles, Heart, Illness, Tomato Pill Tagged With: , , , ,

A stroke is essentially the same as a heart attack

May 29, 2009 by Leave a Comment

A stroke is essentially the same as a heart attack, but it happens when the oxygen supply to the brain (rather than the heart) is interrupted.  The blood supply, carrying oxygen, can be stopped because of narrowed arteries or a burst blood vessel.

When brain cells are starved of oxygen they become damaged and this can result in the devastating effects of stroke such as loss of speech.

If damage to the brain is to be limited the blood supply needs to be restored quickly, and inflammation or swelling of the brain needs to be stopped. If you suspect anyone is suffering a stroke it is vital to call 999 or get medical help immediately. Signs that a stroke is happening include:
•    Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
•    Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
•    Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
•    Sudden trouble walking, loss of balance or coordination, inability to wak and dizziness
•    Sudden severe headache with no known cause

The most common type of stroke is an ischaemic stroke in which the artery is blocked by a clot that stops the blood and oxygen reaching the brain. The clot may be formed in the arteries leading to the brain  (thrombotic stroke), or the clot could be formed elsewhere (embolic stroke), for example the legs on a long haul flight, before travelling to the brain.

Tiny blood vessels inside the brain can also become blocked and damage a small area of tissue in the brain.

The other common type of stroke is haemorrhagic in which a blood vessel in the brain ruptures and bleeds – in other words it haemorrhages. This causes a build up of pressure and damage in the brain, starving cells of oxygen.

So called mini strokes are another term for TIA stroke, or transient ischaemic attack which is an attack that doesn’t last very long and may cause only temporary, or slight, damage because the blood supply is soon restored.

People often get a weakness of an arm or leg for about 20 minutes during a  mini stroke and the weakness passes when the blood supply to the brain resumes. Mini strokes are a warning that there is a problem with the blood supply to the brain such as atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis is one cause of strokes. It is a build up of fatty plaques on the inner lining of the arteries. It is a gradual process over years, and it starts in many people in their teens or twenties, that slowly limits the blood supply to the heart muscle.

Fatty plaque builds up when LDL (bad) cholesterol is damaged by free radicals that occur naturally in the body and result from smoking and pollution. The LDL becomes oxidised after which it cannot be transported back to the liver to be excreted, but instead is laid down as plaque in arteries causing atherosclerosis.

Other causes of stroke include weaken areas on artery walls (aneurysms) and these may burst causing bleeding in the brain (haemmorhagic stroke). Irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) has also been linked to formation of blood clots in the heart which may then travel to the brain and cause a stroke.

High blood pressure and diabetes also increase the risk of stroke.

The same healthy diet that protects against heart disease will also protect against stroke. Not smoking and avoiding binge drinking or regular heavy alcohol use is also preventive. Being physically active improves cardiovascular health and  is also protective.

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