Kuna Cocoa Is Good For Your Health- Here"s How!

If someone said to you “chocolate can be great for your health” you might look at them in a strange way and laugh. It’s a fact that we think many things about chocolate – but probably never that it is a health food. There are a number of health concerns that are brought up with standard chocolate that you buy in stores – you could probably think of a few of them yourself. One is clearly that it is very high in sugar, and any doctor will tell you that sugar is something you need to cut back on. Another is the increased levels of fat – no-one is championing eating lots of fat as a good idea.

 

There are also many other noted problems with store bought chocolate that are less obvious. This includes that fact that it uses cocoa butter, which can be problematic because it contains around 25 per cent palmitic acid and studies have shown that high levels of palmitic acid are linked to an increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease. It doesn’t seem so much like a health food. And yet, it has been clear for a long time that the cacao bean does have some very positive aspects for your health. But is it possible to unlock them if we are so used to store bought chocolate with the associated problems.

 

As it turns out it is true that we can. It comes to us via the Kuna Indians, and if you’ve never heard of them, you’re not alone. They live on a group of islands that is close to Panama. The Kuna people have been shown to have an impressively low average blood pressure – a clear sign of good cardiovascular health. It is also true that they do not seem to experience the same age-related increase in blood pressure that we do in Western societies. Perhaps even more crucially, death rates from cardiovascular disease and cancer (which are the top killers in Western societies) have been shown to be virtually nil among the Kuna people. As an example, in America it was reported that for every 100,000 people 83 died from cardiovascular disease and 68 from cancer. Amongst the Kuna people,  just 9 and 4 respectively died from these diseases.

 

It is clear, then, that something is improving the health of the Kuna people. There have been many theories regarding this including the relatively low average age of the Kuna, but these reasons have all been shown to be inconclusive. However, there is one reason that is has been thought to improve their health. The Kuna consume more than four cups of cocoa-based drink every day. This cocoa is not the store bought kind, but is locally grown and has not been fermented or roasted. The Kuna make their drink by grinding raw cacao beans and then boil them with banana. It is thought that this method of producing a cocoa drink actually removes some of the problems for health and allows the Kuna to enjoy the clear benefits of cocoa.

 

As these beans are very difficult for you to come across, you’ll need to make your own drink and you can order raw, organic cacao beans that would still retain the same benefits that the Kuna use. Clearly it is true that more research into this is required to see if the affects can be proven to come from the cocoa drink but if it can it could give researchers a way to look for new ways to eliminate the problems of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Categories: blood pressure, cacao beans, cancer, cardiovascular disease, cocoa, cocoa drink, Health Food, kuna, kuna people, palmitic acid, western societies

Cardiologist Makes Bold New Claims about Diet Myths

You may be trying to protect your wellbeing by reducing butter, cheese and red meat in your diet, but these things may not be as bad for your heart as wellness experts have previously suggested. This is according to Aseem Malhotra, interventional cardiology specialist registrar at Croydon University hospital, who has recently reported in the British Medical Journal that it is time to “bust the myth” of saturated fat. He also argues that the government’s obsession with lowering cholesterol in an attempt to reduce heart disease has led to an over-prescription of statins, which have more side-effects than benefits. According to Malhotra, ‘With 60 million statin prescriptions a year, it is difficult to demonstrate any additional effect of statins on reduced cardiovascular mortality over the effects of the decline in smoking and primary angioplasty.’

 

Malhotra further believes that the insistence that you remove saturated fat from your diet has, paradoxically, led to an increased risk of heart disease. He explains, ‘Recent prospective cohort studies have not supported significant association between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular risk. Instead, saturated fat has been found to be protective.’ However, Malhotra also says that you have wrongly embraced low-fat products, noting, ‘Last week I saw one patient in her 40s who had had a heart attack. She said she had gained about 20kg in the last six months. She had been drinking five low-fat drinks a day.’

 

However, neither Public Health England (PHE) nor the British Heart Foundation (BHF) have agreed with Malhotra’s argument. Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, comments, ‘Studies on the link between diet and disease frequently produce conflicting results because, unlike drug trials, it’s difficult to undertake a properly controlled, randomised study. However, people with highest cholesterol levels are at highest risk of a heart attack and it’s clear that lowering cholesterol, by whatever means, lowers risk. Cholesterol levels can be influenced by many factors including diet, exercise and drugs, in particular statins. There is clear evidence that patients who have had a heart attack, or who are at high risk of having one, can benefit from taking a statin. But this needs to be combined with other essential measures, such as eating a balanced diet, not smoking and taking regular exercise.’

 

Alison Tedstone, director of diet and obesity at PHE, notes, ‘PHE recommends that no more than 11% of person’s average energy intake should come from saturated fats, as there is evidence to show increased levels of saturated fats can raise blood cholesterol levels, in turn raising the risk of cardiovascular disease. The government’s advice is based on a wealth of evidence. The BMJ article is based on opinion rather than a complete review of the research. Evidence specifically linking sugar to cardiovascular disease is limited; however, on average the population needs to reduce its sugar intake. Eating more calories than we need, irrespective of whether they come from sugar or fat, over time leads to weight gain. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.’

 

However, Malhotra did gain support from experts like Robert Lustig, paediatric endocrinologist at the University of San Francisco and author of Fat Chance: The Bitter Truth about Sugar, who asserts, ‘Food should confer wellness, not illness. Real food does just that, including saturated fat. But when saturated fat got mixed up with the high sugar added to processed food in the second half of the 20th century, it got a bad name. Which is worse, saturated fat or added sugar? The American Heart Association has weighed in – the sugar many times over. Plus added sugar causes all of the diseases associated with metabolic syndrome. Instead of lowering serum cholesterol with statins, which is dubious at best, how about serving up some real food?’

Categories: british heart, cardiovascular disease, cholesterol levels, Heart Attack, heart disease, heart foundation, heart health, lowering cholesterol, real food, saturated fat, saturated fats

Could Even a Low Exposure to Arsenic Affect Your Heart?

Your environmental wellness, or your exposure to toxins, is intrinsically linked to your overall wellbeing. This has already been established in countless studies, but a new one has come into the fray to add to what we already know; exposure to toxins is bad for wellness. However, this new study, published the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, points out that chronic exposure to even low levels of arsenic in your environmental can increase your risk of having a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular disease.

 

Previous research has already shown us that exposure to high levels of arsenic in your drinking water (which is defined as more than 100 micrograms per litre) is connected to a raised risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral artery disease and carotid atherosclerosis. However, this new study, undertaken by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, aimed to see how low to moderate levels of arsenic in an environment might affect heart health risks in American Indians. According to study author Dr. Ana Navas-Acien, a researcher in the department of environmental health sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, ‘We didn’t know what would happen at levels that occur regularly in the United States.’

 

Even after the researchers adjusted their results to take into account other risk factors – such as smoking, obesity and cholesterol levels – the results of the study revealed that regular exposure to more common levels of arsenic did indeed correlate to increased risk of fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular disease. Navas-Acien commented, ‘It’s a chronic long-term health effect. We need to understand that cardiovascular disease is a very complex illness, and there are many environmental risk factors like arsenic which can contribute.’ However, while the plus point of they study is that it did find an association between relatively common levels of arsenic in drinking water and a higher risk of heart disease, it’s important to bear in mind that the researchers did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

 

For the study, the researchers spent 19 years studying almost 3,600 Native American men and women living in Arizona, Oklahoma, North Dakota and South Dakota. The study began in 1989, and the researchers continued to follow the participants up until 2008. The researchers surmised that participants living in Arizona and the Dakotas were possibly the most exposed to arsenic through groundwater, as the private wells in those states often exceed the U.S. standard for arsenic in drinking water of 10 micrograms per litre. In fact, these wells sometimes contain arsenic levels as high as 50 micrograms per litre. In Oklahoma, on the other hand, the most likely source of arsenic exposure was their food, which the researchers citing rice, flour and other grains as potential sources.

 

Alice Lichtenstein, a distinguished professor of nutrition science and policy at Tufts University, was not involved with the study, was pleased with the findings. She noted, ‘The paper is very important. It’s an area where we need to look more carefully. It gives other research groups another variable to address.’  However, Lichtenstein, who also is the director of the cardiovascular nutrition laboratory at the university, added, ‘We don’t know what the direct effect is. What is important is that we gather more information, which I hope will be done promptly. We should not discount this. It’s very important. But I think we need a little more information.’

 

If you’re worried about your arsenic exposure risk, Navas-Acien recommended you have your drinking water tested. ‘In particular, people who live in small communities or have private wells should be aware of the arsenic levels in their drinking water,’ she said. ‘If you use groundwater and you don’t know the levels of arsenic in your drinking water, that can be quite dangerous.’ Lichtenstein agreed, and added, ‘The best advice we can give people is to eat food that comes from a variety of different regions, as opposed to being raised in a single location.’

Categories: Arsenic, bloomberg school, cardiovascular disease, common levels, drinking water, heart health, johns hopkins, navas acien, private wells, public health, Research, risk factors

Five Ways to Beat Air Pollution’s Impact on Your Heart

Air pollution can cause a myriad of health concerns, particularly with regard to your heart wellness. This is why a new field of medicine called environmental cardiology has emerged, aiming to reduce the impact that air pollution has on your wellbeing. According to a recent panel of health and environmental experts, if you focus on eliminating other risk factors for heart disease, you can counteract the damaging effects of pollution on your heart, so let’s take a closer look at what you can do to beat air pollution:

 

1. Work on your work stress: If you work in a high-stress environment, you’re at a disproportionately high risk of cardiovascular problems and heart attacks. This is particularly true of women under the age of 51, according to a study published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, as nurses in this age bracket who reported high levels of work pressure  had a 40% increase in heart attack risk. Another study, this time found in the European Heart Journal, noted that working overtime increases your heart attack risk by 60%. Therefore, you need to find ways to reduce stress at work, and better deal with the stress that you can’t eliminate. This may mean delegating some of your responsibilities and finding a relaxing hobby or exercise to try.

 

2. Breastfeed your baby: Even though breastfeeding is well-known to be good for babies, it’s also beneficial to you. It is recommended that you breastfeed for a year, and a study published in Obstetrics and Gynaecology found that women who do so reduce their risk of developing cardiovascular diseases by 10%. Other research has shown that breastfeeding for as long as 23 months can cause your heart attack risk to drop by as much as 23%, but even breastfeeding for a short period of time will do your heart good.

 

3. Don’t do the can-can: Canned food is high in salt, which is bad for your health anyway, but the can itself can also have a disastrous impact on your heart. Bisphenol A is a hormone-disrupting plastic used in the epoxy resins that prevent cans from rusting or making food taste metallic and it may cause heart disease in women. This is according to a study from the journal Environmental Research, which found that bisphenol A increases inflammation and oxidative stress in post-menopausal women, which can lead to a whole host of health concerns, including heart disease.

 

4. Manage your migraines: Not only are migraines irritating and painful; they also increase your risk of dying from cardiovascular problems. A British Medical Journal study has shown that if your migraines are accompanied by flashes of light, zigzagging patterns or other visual problems – known as migraine with aura – your risk of heart disease is raised by 27%. As such, it’s vital that you learn the triggers of your migraines, manage your stress more effectively and get plenty of exercise.

 

5. Get you to the Greek: A wealth of research extols the heart health-boosting benefits of the Mediterranean diet, especially for warding off cardiovascular disease and heart attacks. This is because the diet emphasises fruits, vegetables and health fats found in olive oil and nuts. The diet is light on red meat, a food which can increase your heart disease risk by up to 30%. Plus, it’s a meal plan that allows you to drink wine and has been shown to aid weight loss – what more could you ask for? For more information, visit the Oldways Food Alliance, a non-profit website devoted to preserving and promoting traditional diets.

Categories: Air Pollution, attack risk, beat air, cardiovascular disease, Cardiovascular Problems, health concerns, Heart Attack, heart attacks, heart disease, study published

3 Diets to Drop Your Heart Trouble

So you have hit the big five-oh and everyone and their dog has a tale to tell about the ups and downs of middle age.

Mostly downs.

The upside is that for every horror story, there is a romance too. In this case, the relationship between your stomach and your heart may be one that has a cheerful plot. The problem of course, is choosing your partner in crime.

Introducing the Mediterranean Diet, The Anti-Inflammatory Diet and the Plant-Based Diet.

 

The Mediterranean Diet

 

With an exotic blend of nuts, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and olive oil, the Mediterranean locals reportedly enjoy a 30% less chance of cardiovascular disease. Fish and poultry are the main sources of protein, consumed with healthy fats and little dairy or sugary foods. A little wine however, does not go amiss.

What was noted was that the effects of a Mediterranean diet is that this food regime actually proved to be as effectual as drug-therapy, without any negative side-effects. Drugs are considered to lower risks by 25%, but then the side-effects force you to take more drugs, which may in fact negate any potential help.

A simple plan, a simple procedure, but many enduring qualities, the Mediterranean Diet is the one that many are commonly drawn towards.

 

The Anti-Inflammatory Diet

 

Another theory of cardiovascular disease is that of inflammation – from chronic to low-levels, it increases the risk of heart problems and just bodily ones in general. Inflammation is suggested to be the melting pot of problems, rather than growing cholesterol.

True or not, it is suggested that you should avoid foods that have fatty acids, such as the ones found in vegetable oils, sugar and processed food, as well as foods such as soy, peanuts and wheat.

Furthermore, some gluten-based foods are restricted, such as wheat (gluten), dairy and nightshade vegetables (peppers, aubergines, tomatoes and potatoes). These particular restrictions however, may not be necessary.

Linked to diabetes, research at the American Diabetic Association suggests that, “If the anti-inflammatory diet reduces inflammatory cytokines (signals that tell your body to inflame),” they say, “it may be an important diet for people with various conditions, including inflammatory autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and IDDM.”

Because this diet is something of a grey area, it may be wise to consult a dietician.

 

The Plant-Based Diet

 

Also considered something of a vegan diet, the regime cuts out all animal products, limits fat and cuts out heart-healthy foods such as olive oil, avocados and nuts.

So why mention it?

Strange though it may be, the plant-based diet is said to reduce the risk of ischemic heart disease. This is when the blood flow (and oxygen) is restricted or reduced in one part of the body. It results in a series of heart problems as the heart arteries become narrowed, which means that less blood travels around the body. When this happens, sufferers will have sudden heart attacks. Prior to them however, there are complaints about chest pains or discomfort.

With the plant-based diet, it has been reported that those that live by it have a significant drop in cholesterol (which is hardly a surprise) and a widening of the heart arteries.

A completely different animal when it comes to nutrition, especially with its loss of olive oil and lack of processed foods. If you love your fruits and veg, you’ll love this diet.

 

Whichever you choose, the benefits for your body will tell its tale, with long-term improvements and a positive tweak in your lifestyle. In preventing the risks of cardiovascular disease, you have the chance to experience more, live more and love more in the future.

Live long, live happy.

3 Diets to Drop Your Heart Trouble

Categories: anti-inflammatory, based diet, cardiovascular, cardiovascular disease, diet, diet nbsp, digestion, Food, heart, inflammatory diet, Mediterranean diet, olive oil, plant based, risk

Diabetes And Heart Disease - Are They Linked?

High levels of cortisol, also known as the stress hormone, have been linked to cardiovascular disease in some previous studies, but not all of them. This is thought to be connected to the fact that the measurements of cortisol in the blood or salvia at the time of testing may pick up acute stress, but they don’t account for long-term stress. Dutch researchers have analysed cortisol levels over several months by looking at scalp hair samples over a three month period, looking at 283 men and women of an average age of 75. Supporting data was gathered, which included data about coronary heart disease, peripheral artery disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, lung disease, stroke and cancer.

Those found to have the highest levels of cortisol had three times the risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Researchers didn’t find any connection between lung disease, osteoporosis and cancer and the levels of cortisol, though. The increased risk is comparable to the traditional risk factors, such as hypertension and abdominal obesity. Researchers noted that further studies would need to take place in order to determine if other risk factors influence the risks.

Diabetes and heart disease are both largely affected by lifestyle, so if you lead a sedentary lifestyle and eat a poor diet then your risk will be higher. If you want to improve your general wellbeing, it’s important that you increase the amount of exercise you do – this will not only help you to maintain a healthy weight, but it will also improve circulation, keep your body flexible and help reduce stress. A balanced diet is also important when it comes to fighting such conditions. You should keep your intake of fats, salt and sugar to a minimum as these can lead to obesity and heart problems. This, alongside getting plenty of vitamins and minerals through your diet, will help you to fight disease and stay healthy.

Diabetes And Heart Disease - Are They Linked?

Categories: cardiovascular disease, cortisol, Diabetes, Disease, heart, heart disease, lifestyle, lung disease, risk, risk factors, Stress

AMA to Support Diabetic Treatment Improvements

In a bid to improve the treatment of heart conditions and diabetes, the  (AMA) has joined hands with clinical programs and community groups. The aim is to improve methods over the short course of four years in an ambitious and new push.

The physician body AMA is one of the biggest advocates of doctor’s interests; the multi-million dollar effort to augment their patients’ lives for the better is one of them. Already, AMA has seen positive outcomes and vast improvements in preventing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, following positive changes in treatment.

“The toll of these diseases on our nation is staggering – in terms of human suffering and health care costs,” said AMA President Dr. Jeremy Lazarus, according to Forbes. “We have 100 million people in the U.S. who have diabetes or prediabetes. The direct and indirect cost of cardiovascular disease and diabetes is more than $535 billion a year.”

The group that AMA are primarily fixated on keeping ties with is the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. The partnership is seen as an attempt to “help meet and exceed the goal of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Million Hearts Initiative to bring the high blood pressure of 10 million more Americans under control by 2017.”

The research aims to understand the causes of uncontrolled blood pressure and to work on solutions within the next four years. Furthermore, the AMA has also partnered up with the YMCA. Those with diabetes will be able to provide referrals of patients with supposed “prediabetes” – in turn, the physicians can then research evidence-based diabetes and how to prevent the occurrence.

For AMA, there are three aims of which they wish to accomplish as they push towards happier circumstances, better care, health and lower costs.

The ambitious attempt will establish stronger, safer ties with American patients, given them the freedom to look after themselves and their families without causing severe dents to their health. With the project under way, the four-year research is another step in turning the reality of cardiovascular disease and diabetes into a distant myth.

AMA to Support Diabetic Treatment Improvements

Categories: blood pressure, cardiovascular, cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, Disease, health, heart, million, physician, Research

Stressed? Your Heart Health May Be at Risk

Not only can stress take its toll on your emotional wellness, but it can also seriously impact your heart health. This is according to three different studies which have recently found that stress can put your wellbeing at risk of heart disease and heart attacks.

Published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, the first study evaluated elderly people’s hair to identify levels of cortisol – the stress hormones. About 300 seniors took part, and the researchers at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, found that those with elevated cortisol levels over a period of time were more likely to be at risk for cardiovascular disease.

Study co-author Laura Manenschijn, MD, said in a press release, ‘Because scalp hair can capture information about how cortisol levels have changed over time, hair analysis gives us a better tool for evaluating that risk.’ Study coauthor Elisabeth van Rossum, MD, PhD, also noted, ‘The data showed a clear link between chronically elevated cortisol levels and cardiovascular disease.’

According to another recent study, this time published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, your risk for stress-related heart attack when you’re an unemployed middle-aged to elderly person increases further with each subsequent job loss. John Higgins, MD, a sports cardiologist at the University of Texas Health Science Centre in Houston, explained, ‘In a very stressful situation [like unemployment], you can actually get a severe release of adrenaline and sympathetic nerve discharges that cause the heart to beat irregularly.

Kavitha Chinnaiyan, MD, director of cardiac imaging at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, added, ‘Most of us know the common risk factors for heart disease, like high cholesterol, high blood pressure and genetics, but about 25 to 35% of heart disease remains unexplained. Psychosocial factors likely play a role in these unexplained cases. More and more studies have been looking at stress, anger, sudden stress and major life changes like losing a job, and all of these can have a major effect on cardiovascular events.’

Finally, researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine, New York Medical College, and the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, published a study in Medical Hypotheses, in which it was found that stress-managing yoga helped atrial fibrillation patients maintain their health and stay on treatment. Lead study author Chris Streeter, MD, associate professor of psychiatry at BUSM and Boston Medical Centre, commented, ‘Western and Eastern medicine complement one another. Yoga is known to improve stress-related nervous system imbalances.’

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Stressed? Your Heart Health May Be at Risk

Categories: cardiovascular disease, cortisol levels, elevated cortisol, heart disease, heart health, medical centre, Research, Stress, stress related, unemployment

How Stress Can Take A Toll On Your Physical Health

If there is one thing about our shared existence that we all experience it is stress. Stress affects everyone whether it’s from extreme working conditions like those of a fire-fighter, the pressure of deadlines or the challenges of relationships. Expected and unexpected daily challenges in your job or at home expose people to a constant deluge of forces that threaten your normal state of mind. But people often don’t realise that stress can actually be doing a lot of damage to our physical health.

Uncontrolled stress has been linked to an increased risk of serious health issues such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes and autoimmune disorders. Of course, it can also be responsible for mental health problems that naturally affect physical health too. These can include cognitive and memory problems and mental disorders such as depression.

In addition, stress can leave you with an inability to cope with the pressure that life throws at you. Because of that, it can lead to bad habits such as smoking, overeating and alcohol abuse which can all compound the negative health effects.

We all understand that stress is a normal part of life that occurs when the brain perceives a troubling situation that it cannot cope with. However, it can become a problem when you can no longer turn off your brain’s reaction to stress. And while it is true that everyone experiences stress, not everyone manages it the same way – some are better than others. The reasons for this vary and can include genetics and the degree of exposure to stressful situations beginning from when they are in the room.

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How Stress Can Take A Toll On Your Physical Health

Categories: cardiovascular disease, physical health, Stress

Are Calcium Supplements Dangerous for Heart Health?

Calcium supplements are a popular way for many people to ensure they get enough of the essential mineral daily. While concerns have been raised in the past about the effects of excess calcium in the blood, two recent studies have now linked calcium supplements to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The first study, carried out at the US National Cancer Institute, revealed that men who took a 1000mg calcium supplement faced an increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. The same risk did not apply to women taking the supplement. The study involved almost 400,000 people, aged 50-71, who had been followed for 12 years.

The researchers made the point that theirs was an observational study and so they could not make a definitive statement that taking the calcium supplements was what caused the increased risk of death from heart disease in men.

The second piece of research was carried out at Sweden’s Uppsala University and involved studying more than 61,000 women for an average of 19 years. The research, published online in the BMJ, concluded that a high intake of calcium was linked to a greater risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

Calcium is essential for good bone health and is also important for other functions such as blood clotting, helping our nerves send messages and for muscle contraction. As the body cannot produce calcium, we have to get this vital mineral from other sources, such as a balanced diet of food naturally high in calcium. Eating calcium-rich food is the preferred option for getting enough calcium but recently calcium supplements have become a popular way of ensuring you get the right daily intake.

For both men and women, the recommended daily intake of calcium is 1000mg. Women over the age of 50 should take in 1200mg while men over the age of 70 should do the same. As the two recent studies show, any higher concentration of calcium could prove risky to long-term health.

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Are Calcium Supplements Dangerous for Heart Health?

Categories: calcium, cardiovascular disease, Risks

Calcium Supplement Increases Death Risk From Heart Disease

We all know that we need to get plenty of calcium in our diet to make sure our bones and teeth stay strong and healthy. Good bones and teeth can make the foundation for great overall wellness, so it’s fortunate that people have a good understanding of the importance of calcium. However, sometimes feeling like you aren’t getting enough calcium in your diet can lead to using supplements, and new research suggests this could be very bad for you.

According to a study from the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health, men who have a high intake of supplemental calcium may be at an increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD). Interestingly, the study also pointed out that women do not suffer any increased risk from the supplement.

The research team looked at the data from 388,229 individuals, aged between 50 and 71 years, who completed a baseline food-frequency questionnaire in 1995. The questionnaire asked about the use of calcium from either supplements or multivitamins.

Among men the intake of calcium in supplement form was associated with a much greater risk of death through CVD or heart disease. It was noted by the authors that the difference between the genders was one of the most interesting aspects of the findings. More research will certainly be required to understand exactly why this difference occurs.

A recent study found that more than 50 percent of older men and almost 70 percent of older women in the USA took daily calcium supplements. This means that the findings could have a huge impact on future recommendations of taking calcium supplements.

The team noted that calcium in itself is not the problem, and that getting your dosage of calcium from food is a much healthier way to do it. It only seems to be an issue when the calcium is taken in supplement form.

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Calcium Supplement Increases Death Risk From Heart Disease

Categories: calcium, cardiovascular disease, Supplements