Matters of the Heart - disease, failure, attacks, etc.

waltky · #1 (**permalink**) 07-27-2010, 12:05 AM

Heart disease-childhood abuse link discovered...

Childhood abuse, adult heart disease linked
July 26th, 2010 - Adults who were physically abused during childhood are more likely later to develop heart disease. In fact, abused children have 45 percent higher odds of heart problems later in life compared with children who are not abused, according to new research published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect.

Quote:

"If you take two people who are identical to one another, same sex, same age, same background, and the only thing different between them is that one reports being physically abused as a child, the one who was abused has a greater odds of reporting also having heart disease," said Esme Fuller-Thomson, an associate professor of Social Work at the University of Toronto.

The study sample included 13,093 adults who were part of the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey. The study respondents were asked whether when they were a child or adolescent, they were physically abused by someone close to them. They were subsequently asked whether they had received a heart disease diagnosis from a health professional.

Even when researchers ruled out other possible risk factors for heart disease such as being obese or physically inactive, smoking, alcohol abuse - and other potential heart stressors like depression, parental fights, or poverty - the odds of having heart disease was still markedly higher for adults who had come from abusive homes.

"What this study suggests is that potentially those early childhood abuses are internalized and manifest in health problems later," said Fuller-Thomson, the lead study author. Fuller-Thomson and colleagues previously found associations between childhood physical abuse and later diagnoses of cancer, osteoarthritis and migraines.

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Can a mother's affection prevent anxiety in adulthood?
July 26, 2010 - Babies who receive above-average levels of affection from their mothers are less likely to grow up to be emotionally distressed

Quote:

Babies whose mothers are attentive and caring tend to grow into happy, well-adjusted children. But the psychological benefits of having a doting mother may extend well beyond childhood, a new study suggests. According to the study, which followed nearly 500 infants into their 30s, babies who receive above-average levels of affection and attention from their mothers are less likely than other babies to grow up to be emotionally distressed, anxious, or hostile adults.

What's more, the link between the emotional health of adults and their mothers' affection was evident even though the mothers and babies were observed for a single day, when the babies were just 8 months old. "Even a simple assessment of the quality of the mother-infant interaction at such an early age captures something very important in terms of the future psychological health of that infant," says Joanna Maselko, Ph.D., the lead author of the study and an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical School, in Durham, North Carolina.

The findings, which appear in the "Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health,"make a strong case for policies that would help foster positive interactions between infants and parents, such as paid parental leave, Maselko says. The study also suggests that health insurance should cover services -- such as infant-massage classes -- that have been shown to strengthen the child-caregiver relationship, says Robin Gurwitch, Ph.D., a professor of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

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waltky · #2 (**permalink**) 08-04-2010, 10:15 PM

Gene therapy for high cholesterol on the horizon...

Therapy hope over key heart genes
4 August 2010 : The research could lead to new drugs to fight heart disease

Quote:

Ninety-five different genes have been identified by an international group of experts which affect cholesterol levels in the blood. The research, published in the journal Nature, examined genetic information from over 100,000 people who took part in 46 previous studies. It is known that high levels of harmful cholesterol in the blood can lead to heart disease. Experts said the finding could help develop new treatments.

The genetic variants pinpointed by the studies - produced by experts from the US, Europe and Asia - include some linked to cholesterol metabolism and known targets of cholesterol-lowering drugs. They appear relevant to European and non-European populations, the researchers said. One of the studies used to do the research was the joint British Heart Foundation and Medical Research Council family heart study, which involved 2,000 UK families affected by premature heart disease.

Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: "The findings in this study, that as many as 95 different genes seem to be involved in regulating cholesterol levels in the blood, illustrate just how complicated the biology is.

"A great deal more research is needed to understand precisely what these genes do and how they interact. "Although this is just a first step down a long road, the good news is that the more we understand about cholesterol regulation, the more likely it is that new drugs will be developed to prevent heart disease," he said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10854261

FLEX YOUR HEAD! · #3 (**permalink**) 08-09-2010, 04:06 PM

I thought the main cause was insufficient consumption of soluble and insoluble fibers and the fact that we process and cook our meats too much. How much would heart disease be reduced if all the fast food joints switched from lettuce to spinach and from white to whole wheat buns?

I actually recently read a finding from several health studies that eating rare or raw meat has nearly zero negative affect on the circulatory system. Beef up the health inspections and bring on the Nikusashi!

waltky · #4 (**permalink**) 08-29-2010, 06:56 AM

Fish good for ya but don't make a whole lotta difference...

Study: More omega-3 fats didn't aid heart patients
Sun Aug 29,`10 – Eating more heart-healthy omega-3 fats provided no additional benefit in a study of heart attack survivors who were already getting good care, Dutch researchers report.

Quote:

After nearly 3 1/2 years, there was no difference in deaths, heart attacks and other heart problems between those who ate margarine with added omega-3 fatty acids and those who didn't, the study found. The results don't mean that getting more of the essential nutrient has no value. Several studies have offered evidence that the fats — mostly from fish oil — reduce heart disease.

But for heart patients who are carefully treated "adding a little bit of omega-3 fatty acid does not seem to make a difference," said Alice Lichtenstein, a Tufts University nutrition professor, who was not involved in the research. Omega-3 fatty acids are thought to help reduce the risk of abnormal heartbeats, slow the growth of plaque that can clog arteries and lower harmful fats called triglycerides.

In recent years, omega-3 has been added to some foods such as margarine and eggs, or labels highlight the omega-3 content of foods like tuna fish. "Now they're popping up in the most unexpected places," including trail mix, said Lichtenstein. Two kinds of omega-3s come from wild oily fish such as salmon, mackerel and tuna. A third type comes from plants; sources include walnuts, flaxseed, soybeans and canola oil.

It's generally recommended that people eat one or two servings of fish a week, said the study's leader, Daan Kromhout of Wageningen University in the Netherlands. "The results of this trial do not change that," he said, noting that there were no harmful side effects. "It's still a good thing to eat fish once or twice a week."

More http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100829/...t_healthy_fats

FLEX YOUR HEAD! · #5 (**permalink**) Yesterday, 08:15 PM

Seeing that this is a political forum, i would like to say that there is one thing I don't like about the whole preventative care thing and that's the one size fits all model, particularly with heart disease.

Now I have Kaiser. I am 25 and I have somewhat high cholesterol and triglyceride levels(everyone in my family does). My weight is fairly normal, I'm pretty active, I don't eat a whole lot of calories and when I do eat meat or fish, it's usually lean and/or practically raw. I also have a heart rate and blood pressure so low that it's practically corpse like. This is true for most of my family. The last person who died of a heart attack, or even had a heart attack or stroke was born in 1886 and died in 1979.

Yet despite this, I still get mailings and reminders that I need to attend cholesterol management class.

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