December 15th, 2010 by Glenn Laffel, M.D., Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Research
Tags: ACE, Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme, Cardiology, Cardiovascular Health, Cardiovascular Pharmacology, Chocolate, Dietetics, Dr. Glenn Laffel, European Heart Journal, Fluid Regulation, Food and Nutrition, Heart Attack Risk, Heart Health, In Moderation, Ingrid Persson, Linkoping University, Lowers Blood Pressure, Pizaazz, Reduces Hypertension, Salt Metabolism, Stroke Risk
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It’s beginning to look like chocolate, especially dark chocolate, really and truly is a heart healthy snack, though only if it’s consumed in small quantities.
A delectable taste of this news came last spring, in the form of a study by German scientists which appeared in the European Heart Journal. It was a retrospective study of nearly 20,000 people, and it showed that folks in the highest quartile for chocolate consumption (meaning they consumed 7.5 grams of chocolate per day — the equivalent of 2 to 3 small squares of a Hershey bar), had lower blood pressure, a 27 percent lower risk of heart attack, and a 48 percent lower risk of stroke than those in the lowest quartile (about 1.7 grams per day).
Now, a new study in the journal Cardiovascular Pharmacology has lent credence to those findings by suggesting a mechanism through which chocolate reduces blood pressure. In the study, Ingrid Persson and colleagues at Linkoping University showed that dark chocolate inhibits the activity of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). This enzyme helps regulate fluids and salt metabolism in the body. It is the target of many well-known antihypertensive drugs including captopril, lisinopril and enalopril. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Pizaazz*
December 14th, 2010 by GruntDoc in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: Balkans Business News, Doctors' Quality of Life, Dr. Allen Roberts, Emergency Medicine, ER Doctors, GruntDoc, Next Nurses' Exit Study, Physician Burnout, Work-Life Balance
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Via Balkans Business News:
One in two emergency care doctors will suffer a burnout during their career, according to a survey of French physicians, published online in Emergency Medicine Journal. The research was funded in part by the NEXT NURSES’ EXIT STUDY (‘Sustaining working ability in the nursing profession – investigation of premature departure from work’) project, which received more than EUR 2 million under the ‘Quality of life and management of living resources’ Programme of the EU’s Fifth Framework Programme (FP5).
…
The responses showed that the prevalence of burnout was high, with 1 in 2 emergency care doctors identified as suffering from it, compared with more than 4 out of 10 of the representative sample. Physicians had the highest burnout rate in the two age groups, between 35 and 44 and between 45 and 54.
Expectedly, it’s international…
*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
December 14th, 2010 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: BBC News, Dr. Peggy Polaneczky, Evidence-Based Health Reporting, GYN, Gynecology, Hormone Replacement Therapy, HRT, Lack of Scientific Medical Evidence, Menopause, Misleading Healthcare Readers, Non-Evidence-Based, Responsible Health Reporting, Sex Hormones, TBTAM, The Blog That Ate Manhattan, Women's Health
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Confused about hormone replacement therapy (HRT)? I can’t imagine why…
*This blog post was originally published at tbtam*
December 13th, 2010 by PJSkerrett in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Research
Tags: AF, AHA, American Heart Association, Americans and Stroke Death, Aspirin, Atrial Fibrillation, Blood Flow to the Brain, Brain Attack Prevention, Cardiovascular Health, CDC, Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, Diabetes, Diet and Exercise, Harvard Health Blog, Harvard Heart Letter, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Havard Health Publications, Heart Health, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Hypertension, Irregular Heartbeat, Leading Causes of Death in the U.S., PJ Skerrett, Preventive Health, Preventive Medicine, Sickle Cell Disease, smoking, Stroke Deaths, Stroke Risk, Warfarin
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Stroke killed 2,000 fewer Americans in 2008 (the last year with complete numbers) than it did in 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday in its latest annual Deaths report. That dropped stroke from the third leading cause of death in the United States to the fourth.
Good news? Yes and no. It’s always good news when fewer people die. The reduction suggests a payoff for efforts to prevent stroke and improve the way doctors treat it.
Yet the drop from third to fourth place is due largely to an accounting change. The CDC reorganized another category, “chronic lower respiratory diseases” (mainly chronic bronchitis and emphysema), to include complications of these diseases such as pneumonia. The change substantially increased the number of deaths in this category, which had long trailed stroke as the fourth leading cause of death.
More worrisome is that the decline in deaths from stroke isn’t matched by a decline in the number of strokes. On the rise since 1988, stroke now strikes almost 800,000 Americans a year, and that is expected to grow. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Harvard Health Blog*
December 11th, 2010 by Glenn Laffel, M.D., Ph.D. in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: Abigail Mandel, AMY1 Gene, Amylase, Bitter-Tasting Vegetables, Dietetics, Digestion, Dr. Glenn Laffel, Food and Drink, Food Consistency, Food Preferences, Food Taste and Texture, Genetics, Humans and Food, Ice Cream, Melt In Your Mouth, Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, Pizaazz, PLoS Medicine, Salivary Amylase, Salivary Glands, Science Daily, Starch, Starchy Foods, Wall Street Journal
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Scientists know that our perceptions about taste and texture drive our food preferences. They know quite a lot about the role of taste in this regard, and the results of some recent experiments have shed new light on the role of texture as well, particularly as it relates to foods containing starch.
Starch is a major component of potatoes, rice, corn, wheat and the enormous variety of foods derived from them. It is also added to many other products from maple syrup to pudding. In fact, starch accounts for 40 to 60 percent of the calorie content in the average Western diet, and more than that in many Asian and third-world diets.
Humans begin digesting starch in the mouth, where the salivary glands secrete an enzyme known as amylase. This enzyme breaks down starch and other complex carbohydrates into simpler sugar molecules which end up being absorbed from the small intestine into the bloodstream. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Pizaazz*
It’s beginning to look like chocolate, especially dark chocolate, really and truly is a heart healthy snack, though only if it’s consumed in small quantities.
