A new target for
treatment? Recent research suggests that the
benefits of statins may not be entirely due
to their effect on LDL levels. Statin
therapy is
most effective, it seems, when
levels of a particular marker of
inflammation are higher.
C-reactive protein (CRP) is a sign of
inflammation, and it appears to play a role
in heart disease. It is thought that statins
have anti-inflammatory properties,
offering
protection particularly to the blood vessel
walls that are damaged by inflammation in
the development of atherosclerosis.
C Reactive Protein
C- Reactive protein levels A research team using data from the PROVE IT–TIMI 22 study found that
not only did those who reached LDL levels below
70 mg/dl have fewer
cardiovascular events, but that those who had CRP levels below 2 mg/l
(milligrams per liter) also had
fewer cardiovascular events, and to the
same degree of difference. What’s more, the association of lower CRP
values and
fewer events was detected regardless of the person’s LDL
level. Lowering CRP values with statins, therefore, was
independently
associated with decreased risk.
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NEWSLETTER AT THE BOTTOM OF THE HOME PAGE
Stress
Choosing a
healthy lifestyle can help you improve your
health and reduce your risk of heart disease and
diabetes.
Minimize Stress The link between stress and coronary
heart disease is not entirely clear.
However, people who have too much stress
or who have
unhealthy responses to
stress may be at greater risk of having
coronary heart disease.
Facts about stress and coronary heart
disease:
Stress speeds up
the heart rate.
People with heart
disease are more likely to have a
heart attack during times of stress.
People sometimes
respond to stress with unhealthy
habits such as smoking or eating
salty or high-fat foods.
Nearly 65 percent of people
with diabetes will die from a heart attack or
stroke; because of a lack of
available
information,
two out of three people with
diabetes are unaware of their heightened risk.
In order for those with
diabetes to stay heart healthy, having the most
up-to-date information is crucial.
Now, there's
a place
where people can go for the latest
resources that can help them control their
diabetes,
as well as monitor their blood
pressure and cholesterol levels.
When those with diabetes take
steps to also ensure good cardiovascular health,
they can live long,
healthy lives.
The National Diabetes
Education Program is a federally funded program
sponsored by the U.S.
Department of Health and
Human
Services'
National Institutes of Health and the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and
includes over 200 partners at the federal, state,
and local
levels,
working together to reduce the
morbidity and mortality associated with diabetes.
Tightly controlling your blood glucose
levels soon after being diagnosed with Type
2 diabetes
can lead to lower risks of
diabetes complications—including heart
disease and death—years later.
Group with Fasting Blood Glucose of 110-124 mg/dl or 6.1-6.9
mmol/L had the same
cardiovascular and metabolic syndrome
incidence as people with diabetes in the following study:
Type 2 diabetes can sometimes be turned around with
weight loss, a healthy diet and exercise.
If your
doctor feels that is the case,
then positive
lifestyle changes that help you lose the excess
weight,
and regular daily exercise may be enough.
With medication or not,
diabetes still requires a
healthy diet
and physical activity for optimum
health.
Medications are usually prescribed in addition to
lifestyle changes. The medications work in different
ways but their effect is to lower
blood glucose and
help the body's own insulin become more effective.
If oral medications are not enough, insulin
injections may be used to
help gain control of
glucose levels.
A diagnosis of diabetes can really derail your lifestyle. All of a
sudden, there are a lot of new things
to learn and many changes
that
have to take place. Where do you start?
Taking Aspirin to Protect Your Heart Studies have shown that taking a low-dose
aspirin every day significantly lowers the risk of
heart attacks.
All About Stroke If you have diabetes, you're much more likely to
have a stroke, heart disease, or a heart attack. But
you can cut your chances of having these problems by
taking special care of your heart and blood vessels.
Make Wise Food Choices Learn how food choices help keep your heart and
blood vessels healthy.
Choose Fats Wisely Diabetes increases your chances of having a
heart attack or a stroke. Learn how making the right
choices can help reduce the risk of having a heart
attack or stroke.
Cook with Heart Healthy Foods You can protect your heart and blood vessels by
eating less saturated fat and by choosing the types
of fats that help your cholesterol levels.
Did you know that 2 out of 3 people with diabetes die from heart disease
and stroke?
For Health Professionals In this section, you'll find a lot of information, including the
2006 Clinical Practice Recommendations
related to diabetes,
heart
disease and stroke; the Link Library; and
Diabetes & Cardiovascular
Disease Review, the American Diabetes Association/American College
of Cardiology newsletter
featuring information on treatment guidelines,
research advances, and patient education tools.
In addition, check out
the Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease Toolkit (available in both
English &
Spanish), which contains
reproducible patient education
handouts to use in your practice.
Because this is a gene, the heart attack risk associated with it runs in
families, so if you have a
family history of heart attack,
this is all the more reason to
work as hard as possible to
lower your blood sugar to the safe zone
using safe techniques:
a lower
carbohydrate diet
and the diabetes drug that has been proven to be
cardioprotective:
Metformin.
The Honest Food Guide (HFG)
is now available for downloading
free of charge and is:
Free from the corruption
and influence of various
food industries (dairy,
beef, junk foods, etc.)
Designed to benefit you,
not Big Business
Offers genuine
nutritional information, not
watered-down information
designed to boost
the sale
of milk, beef and grains
The HFG was created by
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, a man with a mission
of teaching people how to be healthy.
Adams is a
holistic nutritionist who overcame obesity, crippling
pain and chronic disease using natural health strategies
he freely shares with others.
To learn more about the Health Ranger and his
articles, reports and books (many are freely available),
click here.
To understand what happens as your blood sugar deteriorates from normal
to pre-diabetes, and finally,
to full-fledged diabetes
you need to first
understand how blood sugar control works in a normal body.
It's proven: Diabetes can be reversed. According to a
groundbreaking new study completed by
researchers at UCLA and
other
California universities, changes in diet and moderate exercise
actually
reverse diabetes in at least 50% of patients
in only three weeks!
In only three weeks time, the amount of cholesterol and free radicals
in
the test subjects' blood was lower
and their nitric oxide levels were
higher, which are all
factors in stopping diabetes before it takes its
toll on limbs and life.
Magazine promotes healthy living and
lifestyle - to help your heart blood vessels and diabetes
Exercise
Exercise works like a charm to lower glucose levels. The best time of
the day to exercise is after a meal.
This doesn't mean that you put your
fork down and run out the door, but maybe within the following
two
hours. Even a brief 10-minute walk can make a difference
in postprandial
(after meals) glucose levels.
When consumed
in food or drinks the refined sugar rapidly goes into the blood stream
and produces a sharp
rise in blood sugar values.
The pancreas secretes
large amounts of insulin to promptly return high blood sugar values to
normal.
Sharp rises
in insulin output may cause overshooting the desired blood sugar and it
is common for
these individuals to have blood sugar
values plummet to
low levels with symptoms of low blood sugar
(weakness, sweating, cloudy
thinking, lack of energy, hunger, shakiness).
With the
passage of time this massive output of insulin provoked by huge sugar
intakes takes a toll on
the pancreas and reaches the point
where the
pancreas is unable to produce any greater quantities
of insulin. When
this occurs sugar no longer enters the cells in adequate
amounts to
prevent rising blood sugar values. The diagnosis of diabetes can be made
with now
elevated blood sugar values but the problem
obviously began
many years earlier with the first signs of
insulin excess.
What
Causes Insulin Resistance and Type 2 Diabetes?
Why
Does Arteriosclerosis Plague Diabetic Patients?
Why Do
Diabetics Become Obese? What Role Does U.S. Soil Play In The Diabetic Problem? Diabetics are at increased risk for mineral deficiencies
How Can
Type 2 Diabetics Recover From Their Illness?
To regain
normal blood sugar values requires:
Guidelines
Toward Recovery From Type 2 Diabetes
DHEA May
Postpone Or Prevent Insulin Resistance
Read more......
eBooks and books...
diabetes
diet
weight loss
eBooks and books...
exercise
nutrition
women's health
eBooks and books...
General Health
Remedies
men's health
Death to Diabetes!
Beat and Reverse Your Type 2 Diabetes Now!
Click Here!
When consumed
in food or drinks the refined sugar rapidly goes into the blood stream
and produces
a sharp rise in blood sugar values.
The pancreas secretes
large amounts of insulin to promptly return high blood sugar values to
normal.
Sharp rises
in insulin output may cause overshooting the desired blood sugar and it
is common
for these individuals to have blood sugar
values plummet to
low levels with symptoms of
low blood sugar (weakness, sweating, cloudy
thinking, lack of energy, hunger, shakiness).
With the
passage of time this massive output of insulin provoked by huge sugar
intakes takes
a toll on the pancreas and reaches the point
where the
pancreas is unable to produce any greater
quantities of insulin. When
this occurs sugar no longer enters the cells in adequate
amounts to
prevent rising blood sugar values. The diagnosis of diabetes can be made
with now
elevated blood sugar values but the
problem obviously began
many years earlier with the
first signs of insulin excess.
What
Causes Insulin Resistance and Type 2 Diabetes?
Why
Does Arteriosclerosis Plague Diabetic Patients?
Why Do
Diabetics Become Obese? What Role Does U.S. Soil Play In The Diabetic Problem? Diabetics are at increased risk for mineral deficiencies
How Can
Type 2 Diabetics Recover From Their Illness?
Sugar in the
form of fruit contains fiber that delays absorption and thus moderates
the rise in
blood sugar values when fruit is consumed.
Refined white
sugar, sucrose, and dextrose lack fiber and nutrients. When consumed in
food or
drinks the refined sugar rapidly goes into the blood stream and
produces a sharp rise in blood
sugar values. The pancreas secretes large
amounts of insulin to promptly return
high blood sugar values to normal.
When consumed
in food or drinks the refined sugar rapidly goes into the blood stream
and produces
a sharp rise in blood sugar values.
The pancreas secretes
large amounts of insulin to promptly return high blood sugar values to
normal.
Sharp rises
in insulin output may cause overshooting the desired blood sugar and it
is common for these
individuals to have blood sugar values plummet to
low levels with symptoms of low blood sugar
(weakness, sweating, cloudy
thinking, lack of energy, hunger, shakiness).
With the
passage of time this massive output of insulin provoked by huge sugar
intakes takes a toll
on the pancreas and reaches the point
where the
pancreas is unable to produce any greater quantities
of insulin. When
this occurs sugar no longer enters the cells in adequate
amounts to
prevent
rising blood sugar values. The diagnosis of diabetes can be made
with now elevated blood sugar values but the
problem obviously began
many years earlier with the first signs of insulin excess.
What
Causes Insulin Resistance and Type 2 Diabetes?
Why
Does Arteriosclerosis Plague Diabetic Patients?
Why Do
Diabetics Become Obese? What Role Does U.S. Soil Play In The Diabetic Problem? Diabetics are at increased risk for mineral deficiencies
Conceptually, identifying the metabolic
syndrome (or insulin resistance) identifies risk for
cardiovascular disease (CVD) or diabetes.
This article explains how, historically,
insulin resistance brought together facets of the
metabolic
syndrome and the pathogenesis of diabetes and
atheroma (thicklening of arteries in CVD)
but has
since been clinically “overtaken” by central obesity,
now accepted as the core component of the
metabolic
syndrome.
The metabolic syndrome encompasses a wide
range of metabolic disturbances in glucose,
insulin and
lipid metabolism, and is associated with
central
abdominal obesity.
Knowing which fats raise LDL cholesterol and which ones don't is
the first step in lowering your risk of heart disease. In
addition to the LDL produced naturally by your body, saturated
fat,
trans-fatty acids and dietary cholesterol can also
raise blood cholesterol. Monounsaturated fats and
polyunsaturated fats appear to not raise LDL cholesterol; some
studies suggest they might even help lower LDL cholesterol
slightly when eaten as part of a low-saturated and
trans-fat
diet.
The American Heart Association's Nutrition
Committee strongly advises these fat guidelines for healthy
Americans over age 2: read more ......
For example, a sedentary female who is 31–50
years old needs about 2,000 calories each day. Therefore, she
should consume less than 16 g saturated fat, less than 2 g trans fat and between 50 and 70 grams of total fat
each day (with most fats coming from sources of polyunsaturated
and monounsaturated fats, such as fish, nuts, seeds and
vegetable oils).
Although low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol remains the lipid
value commonly used to assess
cardiovascular risk,
apolipoprotein (apo)
B may better reflect lipid risk. Six categories of evidence
support this
conclusion: small,
dense LDL particles, as measured by apo B, are more
commonly
present in persons with coronary artery disease (CAD)
than an
increased LDL cholesterol level;
increased very-low-density lipoprotein
(VLDL) secretion by the liver results in
increased small, dense LDL
particles; small, dense LDL particles are more atherogenic than
normal
LDL particles;
apo B more accurately identifies CAD risk than do LDL
cholesterol levels;
apo B assays do not require fasting and
have been
well standardized for use in routine
laboratories; and the level of apo
B continues to predict CAD risk during statin treatment.
There are many ways to reduce risks to feet
problems
Read More..........
One way is to ......
Control blood fats. High blood levels of
low-density lipoprotein (LDL)
cholesterol
(the so-called bad
cholesterol) and the fats
called
triglycerides can contribute to
atherosclerosis
(hardening of the
arteries) and heart disease. Atherosclerosis
is also a
contributor to the development
of peripheral
arterial disease, which itself increases
risk for foot complications by interfering
with the
healing of wounds. Peripheral
arterial disease can be symptomless or it
can manifest itself in a number of ways
including coolness of the fingers or toes,
loss of hair on the hands or feet, or
intermittent claudication
(pain in the
legs or buttocks that starts with activity and
subsides with rest).
People with diabetes tend to have LDL
levels similar to those of people who don’t
have diabetes,
but diabetes often causes
decreased levels of high-density lipoprotein
(HDL) cholesterol
(the so-called good
cholesterol) and increased levels of
triglycerides.
Depending on your levels and symptoms, your
health-care team may recommend dietary
changes, including lowering your intake of saturated and
trans fats, exercise, and medicines.
Read
More..........
Other ways to reduce risk
Read More..........
LDL
Small sized particles (Apo B)
Dr Agatston, a cardiologist, and author of the "The South Beach
Diet" says in his book that
"it is the small dense LDL
that does the more damage,
i.e. apolipoproteins.
Treating dyslipidemia Drugs for lowering LDL cholesterol
Lowering triglycerides
The role of diabetes drugs Combination therapy
Following some trials ....."these results led the researchers to
conclude their report with a declaration
that "statin therapy should now
be considered routinely for all diabetic patients at sufficiently high
risk of major vascular events, irrespective of their initial cholesterol
concentrations."
"You can ‘convert’ a person with metabolic syndrome to what is
essentially a nondiabetic state with
diet modification and exercise,"
Dr. Keilson says. "In true diabetes, though, the risk of heart disease
is profound, and many physicians will go directly to pharmaceutical
therapy to give their patients maximum protection."
Although people with diabetes tend to have
levels of LDL cholesterol that are the same
(or only slightly elevated) as people who don’t have diabetes, their LDL particles are
of a
different and more dangerous kind.
The LDL particles in people with diabetes
are different because they contain more
triglycerides.
"When you increase the
concentration
of triglycerides in LDL
cholesterol, its structure changes
and it
becomes a smaller, denser particle,"
says
Leonard M. Keilson, M.D., M.P.H., a lipids
specialist
"These dense LDL particles are particularly dangerous, because they can
more easily cross
the endothelium—the lining of the arteries—and enter
the wall of the vessels." Fatty deposits
in arterial walls lead to
atherosclerosis."
The primary focus of dyslipidemia treatment
in all people, with diabetes or not, is LDL
cholesterol.
Overwhelming evidence from clinical trials, experimental animals,
laboratory research,
and epidemiology points
to LDL cholesterol as the form of
cholesterol most
likely to cause
atherosclerosis.
Current standards call
for lowering levels of LDL cholesterol below
100 mg/dl for people
with known
atherosclerosis. Diabetes is now considered
a "coronary heart disease risk equivalent,"
so people with diabetes are managed as if
they already have atherosclerosis.
The first drug of choice to lower LDL cholesterol levels is usually a
"statin." Statins also have the
bonus effect of lowering
triglycerides as much as 35% and raising HDL levels 10%.
Discussion here that .........post-meal blood sugars of 140 mg/dl (7.8
mmol/L) and higher,
as well as fasting blood sugars over 100 mg/dl (5.6 mmol/L) may cause permanent organ damage,
as well as contributing to the
progression of diabetes.
Read More..........
Blood Sugars
Fasting
Avoiding organ damage
Max Fasting blood sugars
should be 5.6
: to avoid organ damage Discussion here that .........post-meal blood sugars of 140 mg/dl (7.8
mmol/L) and higher,
as well as fasting blood sugars
over 100 mg/dl (5.6
mmol/L) may cause permanent organ damage,
as well as contributing to the
progression of diabetes.
As blood sugar levels rise
unabated, the body converts these sugars into fatty compounds called
triglycerides.
Triglycerides slow the
blood flow in the smaller arteries and arterioles by making the blood
thicker
and stickier. As the oxygen-carrying blood
fails to reach
various parts of the body in time, the
damage begins to mount. The areas
supplied by the smallest blood vessels begin to suffer first.
The vision
deteriorates. Strokes occur. Kidneys begin to fail. Cardiovascular
disease becomes evident.
Numbness, tingling and pain begins to occur in
the lower extremities followed by the necessary
amputation of the toes,
feet or lower limbs. Read More....
As blood sugar levels rise
unabated, the body converts these sugars into fatty compounds called
triglycerides.
Triglycerides slow the
blood flow in the smaller arteries and arterioles by making the blood
thicker
and stickier. As the oxygen-carrying blood
fails to reach
various parts of the body in time, the
damage begins to mount. The areas
supplied by the smallest blood vessels begin to suffer first.
The vision
deteriorates. Strokes occur. Kidneys begin to fail. Cardiovascular
disease becomes evident.
Numbness, tingling and pain begins to occur in
the lower extremities followed by the necessary
amputation of the toes,
feet or lower limbs. Read More....
To understand what happens as your blood sugar deteriorates from normal
to pre-diabetes, and
finally, to full-fledged
diabetes you need to first
understand how blood sugar control works in a
normal body. Read
More....
The tutorials listed are interactive health
education resources from the Patient Education Institute.
Using animated
graphics
each tutorial explains a procedure or condition in easy-to-read
language.
You can also listen to the tutorial.
By
Dr Michael Hutch PhD
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