Wednesday, April 13, 2011

A Natural Way to Lower Cholesterol in Women

In a new study just presented of 160 women between the ages of 45-65, researchers found that eating apples lowered cholesterol. In the study, the women ate about 2/3 a cup of dried apples a day.The women who ate apples saw their low-density lipoprotein cholesterol – the “bad” kind known as LDL – drop by 23% after six months. These women also saw their levels of C-reactive protein (a measure of potentially dangerous inflammation). Though the dried apples added 240 calories to their daily diet, these women wound up losing weight – 3.3 pounds, on average.


Though the study used dried apples for convenience, the lead researcher says fresh are likely to be even better. And it doesn’t matter if they’re green, red, or golden. “Any varieties of apples are good,” he says.

The bottom line is that adding an apple or two a day as a snack may be a natural way of lowering cholesterol and inflammation in women.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Working Overtime May Increase Risk of Heart Disease

Long working hours are associated with increased risk for coronary heart disease. One thought is that people who work long hours may not take as good care of themselves and therefore have other risk factors for heart disease such as being overweight, high blood pressure, smoke, or have an increased incidence of diabetes. However, a new study showed that after adjustment for traditional risk factors, people working 11 hours or more per day had a 1.67-fold increased risk for coronary heart disease compared with participants working 7 to 8 hours per day.Study Published in the Annals of Internal Medicine

The bottom line is that many people do not have a choice about the hours that they work but that if they are working long hours they should make sure to do other things to keep their heart healthy such as exercising, getting enough sleep, eating a heart healthy diet, and doing enjoyable activities with people they like.
By aLos Angeles Women's Cardiologist