Heart Health

General recommendations for heart health are: get about 40 minutes of exercise at least 3 times a week, cut dietary fat and salt intake, pay attention to your blood pressure and cholesterol. But can taking care of your gums help your heart?

It turns out, that treating periodontal disease reduces plaque build up in the coronary arteries and makes the vessels more flexible.

A study done at the University of Connecticut at Farmington with 120 participants was split into two groups, half receiving regular tooth cleaning, and half undergoing extensive dental work like scaling, root planning, antibiotics, and even removing diseased teeth. After 6 months the group that underwent intensive dental work had healthier arteries.

Dr. Maurizio S. Tonetti, said “This study showed that intensive treatment of periodontitis, a common potential source of low-grade inflammation, results in an improvement in endothelial function.” In other words,… Read More…

Fish oil for heart and overall health benefits have been the hot topic for quite some time, and for good reason. You’ve heard about it on the news, the web, and have probably even seen it headlined in some of your local newspapers. Almost everyone owns at least one bottle of these oil supplements. The oil comes from cold water fish such as Hoki, tuna, salmon, cod, and mackerel. Fortunately, it can be derived from these food sources and manifested into supplement form, making it easier to obtain the appropriate daily amount.

Doctors usually recommend fish oil for heart benefits for their cardiovascular patients. Even if you have never suffered a heart attack or have heart issues, you should still take this daily supplement. The heart is a muscle and it needs as much care and conditioning that it can get. One of the things that this oil can… Read More…

Heart disease is a leading cause of death in the United States, and is an illness which concerns many men and women over the age of forty. Even if you maintain a healthy diet and exercise regularly, you can still benefit from additional, precautionary measures such as taking supplements.

One of the best supplements for heart health is Vitamin E. Vitamin E has been shown to lower the risk of heart disease by up to 40% over time, so long as it is taken consistently and regularly. Vitamin E should be taken while ingesting fat. Unlike many other vitamins which are water-soluble, vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin which means it can only be properly digested and utilized with fat in the body.

Also worth mentioning is that while vitamin E is wonderful for heart health, there is some truth to the old adage “too much of a good… Read More…

Fish has achieved health food status due to research that shows eating fish lowers the risk of heart disease. Public health agencies have recommended eating fish for several years. But new research continues to support additional links between diets that include fish and various measures of heart health.

While fish is a healthy source of lean protein, it is the omega-3 fatty acid content of fish, particularly fatty fish like salmon and tuna that is thought to help protect against heart disease. The key to lowering your risk of heart disease with fish seems to be eating enough fish each week to raise your blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids.

A recent study compared the omega-3 fatty acids in the blood of Japanese men living in Japan, Japanese men living in the U.S. and American men living in the U.S. Japanese men living in Japan had twice the blood… Read More…

It seems every time we take a step forward in health care, we take one backwards. For every new discovery they make, there is a counter-productive effect. However, some of these can be controlled like most things through moderation and sensible health care.

This is where people think that heart rate monitors are only for those on a health kick but it wouldn’t hurt more women to wear them to keep an eye on their general health, particularly from middle age onwards.

It is true that women have an advantage over men when it comes to heart disease but this should never be taken for granted unless you want to find yourself a statistic of the 1.1 million women in the UK every year to develop a heart condition. Oestrogen is the main defence women have against developing heart problems before the menopause.

However, obesity among… Read More…