LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Heart Disease, Stroke, Blood Pressure Tips

Have I Mentioned that Prediabetes is Bad for the Heart?

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I have said before that, from my standpoint, diabetes and heart disease are the same thing.
Seventy percent of diabetics die of cardiovascular causes.   Almost all heart disease sufferers have some trace of diabetes or prediabetes.  The lifestyle changes that impact one impact the other, both negative and protective.
In the medical research over the past few years, there has been a very strong push towards using a compound called brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) to estimate risk for heart attacks and strokes.
In this particular study, research found that the more prediabetic factors someone had, the higher his or her levels of BNP.
You can rest assured that this is because a drug to control BNP levels would then be a brand new blockbuster drug worth untold billions of dollars.  In the end, this would really just create another drug to dance around the problem of insulin and the cell not playing well together and not actually fix anything but a number found on bloodwork.
Just like blood pressure meds, diabetic drugs and statins for cholesterol.

So this Artery Walks Into a Bar…

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We all know that laughter is good for the soul, but did you know it was good for your arteries as well?

I guess the downside of this is that many of us in today’s society are under so much stress that we can’t really enjoy life, let alone let go and find laughter deep inside us.  We’re constantly focused on how many things are going wrong instead of how much positivity and joy we have around us.

Research has demonstrated that this stress begins to affect our children as well and increases their risk of depression later in life.  I know that since Keegan was young he frequently notes what a beautiful day it is and I always remind him of how lucky he is (about everything!) and how great life is.  Getting him started early on finding the joy in life and not having it squashed out of him…

I’ve heard it said that children laugh more than 100 times / day.  Adults?  A sad 15 times / day.

But what if the simple act of laughter was good for your blood vessels?  This particular study asked just this question.  Researchers took 17 healthy adults (23 to 42 years of age) and had them watch either 30 minutes of a comedy or a boring documentary.  Here’s what they found:

  • Heart rate and blood pressure increased while watching the comedy (no changes while watching the documentary).
  • Blood vessel health (as measured by ischemia-induced brachial artery flow-mediated vasodilation) increased 17% while watching the comedy.
  • Blood vessel health decreased 15% while watching the documentary.
  • Carotid arterial compliance (by simultaneous application of ultrasound imaging and applanation tonometry) increased 10% immediately after watching the comedy and took 24 hours to return to pre-comedy levels.

So, the next time you think about turning on the Hallmark channel, your heart and blood vessels may better appreciate watching Jeff Dunham instead.

Do Migraines Increase Your Risk of Dying?

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Let me clarify this once more.  Those experiencing migraines have something wrong with their physiology that just so happens to manifest as headaches.

The headaches are the downstream consequence of the problem, and are NOT the problem itself.  So to fix the problem, you need to look upstream and fix what is wrong.  If you experience migraines and your doctor has NOT talked to you about the absolute need to change your lifestyle, you should find a new doctor.  Period.

Just in case you think this is a strong statement, pay attention to this particular study.  In it, researchers looked at 18,725 men and women to see if migraine sufferers had a higher risk of dying from any cause (all-cause mortality).  Here’s what they found:

  • People with migraine with aura had a 21% higher risk of dying from any cause.
  • People with migraine with aura had a 27% higher risk of dying from heart disease.
  • People with migraine with aura had a 40% higher risk of dying from a stroke.

This is a pretty strong concern.  And let me clarify again that taking medications to control your headaches (even if they work) will do NOTHING to alter your risk of these conditions because they haven’t actually fixed the problem.

But My Trainer Tells Me I Need to Eat More Protein…

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The problem is that many trainers don’t differentiate between the types of protein, and the differences can be striking.

Protein intake after exercise has been shown to help with building muscle mass faster.  But your choice of proteins can make a big difference in your long term health.  It is very well accepted that higher intakes of animal-based proteins increase your risk of cancer.

But what about heart disease?

This particular study looked at the type of protein intake and the risk of heart disease.  Here’s what they found:

  • One serving per day of nuts was associated with a 30% lower risk of heart disease when compared with 1 serving per day of red meat.
  • Low fat dairy lowered risk by 13%  (again when compared with red meat).
  • Chicken came in at a 19% lower risk.
  • Fish at a 24% lower risk.

However, given that this study was performed in the US, we have to assume that the authors were looking at the corn fed, abused, antibiotic-laden livestock grown here vs organic, grass fed or wild game, which would definitely change the results.

Regardless, the level of protection for the heart for the nuts and fish is quite hefty.  Macadamia nut encrusted halibut anyone?  Hold the mercury, of course…

 

Migraines Have Potentially Deadly Consequences

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I frequently have patients tell me that this or that condition is “under control” with medication.  As a society we have been completely duped into this type of thinking.

Migraines are no exception.

Regardless of whether someone is medicated or not, the fact that they are having migraines means that something is wrong.  Merely the suppression of the symptoms does NOTHING for the underlying cause.  In this particular study, the research strongly suggests that patients who experience migraines with aura are under much higher levels of oxidative stress and inflammation, which has consequences such as heart disease and stroke.

Here’s what they found:

  • Women with active migraine with aura had a 225% higher risk of a haemorrhagic stroke.
  • For bleeding within the cerebral cortex (intracerebral haemorrhage) the risk was slightly higher at 278%.
  • For fatal strokes, the number skyrocketed at 356% higher risk.

This association plays out pretty consistently in the medical literature.  The bottom line is that we have to make the changes necessary to get rid of the migraines or suffer the long term damage.

 

Taking Drugs for Cholesterol Issues? Maybe Medication Started the Problem

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Cholesterol myth
Your microbiome and your cholesterol

Cholesterol lowering drugs seem to have lost some of their luster. Can’t say I’m disappointed about that little tidbit.

Due to staggeringly successful marketing efforts on the part of the drug companies (most notably Pfizer for Lipitor), drugs to lower cholesterol became one of the most successful drugs ever produced. Unfortunately, this had little effect on patient health because of the truly dismal benefits of the statin class of drugs.

One percent improvement. Yup. That’s about all you can expect from taking a statin drug to lower your cholesterol. Pretty much sucks no matter how you look at it.

The cholesterol story has become quite interesting in the past few years. It took some very large studies to put the minimal benefits of statin drugs into perspective, especially in light of the risk of diabetes from this class of drugs.

I think the findings that statins increased the risk of diabetes (ironically, especially in those who were at lower risk in the first place) has finally opened medicine to the idea that this class of drugs is not the miracle drug we once thought it was.

To see how far it’s come, the most recent cardiovascular disease prevention guidelines do NOT include cholesterol as a risk factor nor are there recommendations to limit dietary cholesterol intake.

My how far we’ve come.

Still frustrating, however, when you consider that these recommendations NEVER should’ve been present in the first place. It’s like medicine is just now waking up to the idea that the “statins to lower high cholesterol” approach is just not a good idea.

I’m not saying that high cholesterol is a goal we should shoot for. Quite the opposite. It’s just that cholesterol is just one risk factor among many and putting on blinders to look just at total cholesterol is a bad idea.  To give you an idea of how crazy the idea of using a drug to single-mindedly lower cholesterol is, this particular study should do the trick.  You see, cholesterol levels are merely a reflection of the health of the body. That means that literally hundreds of factors will work together to create the numbers that you see on your blood test.

These numbers can include total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol (generally “bad”), HDL cholesterol (generally “good”), triglycerides (lower is better), Lp (a) (lower is better), Apo B (lower is better) and VLDL (lower is better).  Diet, exercise, stress levels, supplements and environmental exposures can all affect your lipids levels. But according to the results of this study, there may be another factor affecting your levels that your doctor is likely not aware of.

The bacteria in your gut.

Yup. As if we didn’t already link the bacteria in your gut to pretty much every other aspect of health. Now we can chalk up your lipid levels on the list. Here’s the specifics of the study:

  • The gut bacteria was evaluated in 893 subjects, with an average 238 different types of bacteria per individual (ranged from 44 to 355).
  • As seen in just about every other study looking at the microbiome, higher diversity (as measured by Shannon’s diversity index) led to better lipid values.
  • Higher diversity was linked to lower BMI.
  • Higher diversity was linked to lower trigylcerides.
  • High diversity was linked to higher HDL levels.

The study went into FAR more detail than this as far as the relationship between specific bacterial species, BMI and lipids, but suffice it to say that the results were consistent with prior studies on this same subject.

So what does this mean? It means that someone, somewhere is going to try to financially capitalize on this relationship. You can bet this will be along the lines of fecal transplants (and now for the collective “yuck…”), which is already well on its way to being an acceptable treatment for C. diff infections.

To me, this means that diversity is key. I have said this time and time again and always relate it back to antibiotic use in all but the most life-threatening situations.

Antibiotics WIPE OUT DIVERSITY and it takes years to recover, if ever. IF EVER. I can not state this more strongly—if you are the type of person who runs out and gets an antibiotic prescription for acne, sinus infections, urinary tract infections, sore throats, ear infections or upper respiratory tract infections (ALL of these have very little evidence of effectiveness and can be better managed naturally), even if it is only once every few years, you are absolutely, positively, destroying the diversity in your gut and with it, your long term health.

Thinking that you are OK after antibiotics by just following up with probiotics for a week or two is old school. Taking probiotics is just the first 100 yards of a marathon. But if you can point me to a probiotic with 200+ strains that will survive through to GI tract to the lower regions of the intestines, I’ll revise my thinking on this issue.

Until then, avoid antibiotics unless you are on your deathbed with a fever of 106.

 

Is Soy as Bad for Us as “They” Say?

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You know, I read A LOT of medical literature.  Finding negative health effects of soy is actually quite difficult.

The evidence on the health of soy is overwhelmingly positive.  There are still oncologists telling their breast cancer patients to avoid soy, despite the fact that it DOUBLES survival rates.  Of course, we are talking about organic (i.e. non-GMO) and unprocessed (no “soy burgers” or “soy dogs” or “TVP”).

The other complicating factor that needs to be understood about soy is that, for the full benefits to be obtained, we need to have the right blend of good bacteria in our gut to convert the isoflavones to their aglycone form, thus getting the most benefits from the soy intake.  This particular small study further confirms this, finding that the ability of soy to lower cholesterol was greater when prebiotics (fiber that can aid the growth of healthy bacteria) were added into the diet.

Can Artificial Lighting Raise Blood Pressure?

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As a way of background, asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is nitric oxide’s (NO) arch enemy.  NO is a small molecule that helps blood vessels relax, leading to a lower blood pressure.
Just in case you think you’ve never heard of something like this concept before, Viagra works by affecting NO levels.  So, higher levels of ADMA will lead to higher blood pressure.
It is very well accepted that prediabetes increases ADMA levels, which is why most cases of high blood pressure are actually prediabetes in disguise.  What I was not aware of is that oxidative stress also leads to an increase in ADMA levels (the same mechanism as insulin resistance–by inhibiting the enzyme that breaks down ADMA).
This particular study finds that melatonin, on the other hand, actually blocks this process, leading to normal levels of ADMA.  This means that normal sleep patterns and exposure to as little artificial light as possible at night, can help normalize ADMA levels and hence blood pressure.