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(HealthNewsDigest.com – Everyone wants a healthy heart. We know that we should eat well, exercise, and try to manage stress to protect ourselves from heart disease. But you may give little thought to what you drink regularly and how those beverages affect your heart’s health.
Everyone believes a little wine is good for the heart. Red wine contains resveratrol, a substance that may help protect the lining of blood vessels by increasing HDL cholesterol and reducing LDL cholesterol which contributes to blood clots. Most of the research done on resveratrol, however, has been done on animals, so the jury is still out if the same protective effect could occur in humans.
A recent study (http://spo.escardio.org/SessionDetails.aspx?eevtid=69&sessId=14105&subSessId=3534) done in the Czech Republic has shed new light on the wine controversy. Two groups of people were given moderate amounts of either red wine or white wine and instructed to drink the wine no more than five times a week for one year. Each participant kept a journal recording a number of health factors in addition to their wine intake. After one year the researchers found no difference between the red and white wine when it came to protecting against heart disease.
The study did find something very interesting, however. In people who exercised at least twice a week and drank either type of wine, their HDL cholesterol went up and their LDL cholesterol went down. This is a definite sign that the combination of wine and exercise does protect the heart, but wine alone does not. The researchers speculated that the ethyl alcohol in the wine plus exercise is the combination that was necessary to lower the risk for heart disease.
A very large study (http://spo.escardio.org/SessionDetails.aspx?eevtid=69&sessId=13962) done in France showed that those who drank tea daily reduced their risk for heart disease by 24% when compared against those who regularly drank coffee. Tea is rich in antioxidants which may offer protection against heart disease. But, as with the previous study, the study from France once again showed that other lifestyle choices were important, too. Those who drank the most coffee were also more likely to smoke, definitely a behavior that is not heart healthy. More men than women smoke, and being a man increases one’s risk for heart disease which multiplies the risk. Those who drank the most tea were more likely to exercise, definitely a heart healthy option. Both studies demonstrated that good health isn’t isolated to one good habit or one risk factor. Good health habits build upon one another to lower your risk for heart disease while bad health habits couple together to increase your risk.
The energy drink market is exploding with sales of $12.5 billion annually. Men, Hispanics and those with children in the household are the largest users. The majority of this group is made up of young to middle-aged adults who are entering the age where risk factors for heart disease are starting to appear. Yet, few people report their energy drink usage to their doctors. Why should they? Isn’t a can of Red Bull or a shot of 5-hour Energy just a simple pick-me-up to get through the day? Not if you are at risk for heart disease.
Almost all energy drinks (96%) contain caffeine, typically with about 10 milligrams of caffeine in each ounce. Energy shots are more potent and carry more caffeine in a smaller dose. Excessive caffeine can lead to a massive release of calcium within heart cells. Calcium helps the heart to contract so that it can pump efficiently and use oxygen. If this pumping system is disrupted, arrhythmias (an irregular heartbeat) may result.
Overdoing energy drinks can lead to caffeine syndrome – a fast heart rate, tremors, anxiety and headache. For people with heart problems large intakes of caffeine can worsen their condition with possible fatal consequences. Though rare, there have been reports of unexplained sudden death and heart attacks that have been tied to energy drinks. People with pre-existing heart conditions or those at risk for heart disease because of a family history need to be aware of the potential dangers of regularly using energy drinks.
Bottom line: Be kind to your heart and think before you drink.
© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with sales of more than 8.5 million books.
Look for:
The Diabetes Counter, 5th Ed., 2014
The Fat and Cholesterol Counter, 2014
The Most Complete Food Counter, 3rd ed., 2013
The Calorie Counter, 6th Ed., 2013
The Complete Food Counter, 4th ed., 2012
The Protein Counter, 3rd Ed., 2011
The Ultimate Carbohydrate Counter, 3rd Ed., 2010
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
Your Complete Food Counter App: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/your-complete-food-counter/id444558777?mt=8
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to: www.TheNutritionExperts.com.
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