Egg consumption in relation to cardiovascular disease and mortality: the Physicians' Health Study.
Djoussé L, Gaziano JM.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Apr;87(4):964-9.
PMID: 18400720
Conclusions: Infrequent egg consumption does not seem to influence the risk of CVD in male physicians. In addition, egg consumption was positively related to mortality, more strongly so in diabetic subjects, in the study population.
Strong correlations have been noted between cardiovascular diseases and low bone density / osteoporosis-connections so strong that the presence of one is considered a likely predictor of the other. This relationship has led to the hypothesis that these conditions share core pathophysiological mechanisms. Recent advances in our understanding of the complimentary roles played by vitamin D3 and vitamin K2 in vascular and bone health provide support for this hypothesis, along with insight into key metabolic dysfunctions underlying cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis.
Part II, The Vitamin K Connection to Cardiovascular Health, reviews the ways in which vitamin K regulates calcium utlization, preventing vascular and soft tissue calcification while complimenting the bone-building actions of vitamin D, and also discusses vitamin K safety and dosage issues, and the necessity of providing vitamin K and vitamin A along with vitamin D to preclude adverse effects associated with hypervitaminosis D.
Strong correlations have been noted between cardiovascular diseases and low bone density / osteoporosis-connections so strong that the presence of one type of pathology is considered a likely predictor of the other. This potentially causal relationship has led to the hypothesis that these conditions share core mechanisms. Recent advances in our understanding of the complimentary roles played by vitamin D3 and vitamin K2 in vascular and bone health provide support for this hypothesis, along with insight into key metabolic dysfunctions underlying cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis.
Part I of this review summarizes current research linking vitamin D deficiency to cardiovascular disease, the physiological mechanisms underlying vitamin D's cardiovascular effects, and leading vitamin D researchers' recommendations for significantly higher supplemental doses of the pro-hormone. Part II reviews the vitamin K connection to cardiovascular disease; the ways in which vitamin D and vitamin K pair up to prevent inflammation, vascular calcification and osteoporosis; and the necessity of providing vitamin K along with vitamin D to preclude adverse effects associated with hypervitaminosis D, which include vascular and other soft tissue calcification.
While sterols occur naturally in small quantities in food (nuts, vegetables, oils), food manufacturers are adding them to processed foods in order to earn a "heart healthy" claim.
The FDA approved a cholesterol-reducing indication for sterols , the American Heart Association recommends 200 mg per day as part of its Therapeutic Lifestyle Change diet, and WebMD gushes about the LDL-reducing benefits of sterols added to foods.
Sterols--the same substance that, when absorbed to high levels into the blood in a genetic disorder called "sitosterolemia"--causes extravagant atherosclerosis in young people.
The case against sterols, studies documenting its coronary disease- and valve disease-promoting effects, is building
March 13, 2009 -- Whether you drive, take the bus, or bicycle, being in heavy traffic triples your risk of heart attack within one hour.
Air pollution from car fumes is the likely culprit, suggest Annette Peters, PhD, and colleagues at the Institute of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Center, Munich, Germany.
In a previous study, Peters and colleagues found that a sizeable proportion of heart attacks -- about 8% -- could be attributed to being in traffic.
To follow up, the researchers interviewed 1,454 people who survived heart attacks. In the hour before their heart attack, many of the survivors had been in heavy traffic.
Analysis of the data showed that these heart-attack-vulnerable people were 3.2 times more likely to suffer a heart attack if they'd been in heavy traffic in the previous hour.
Major types of dietary fat and risk of coronary heart disease: a pooled analysis of 11 cohort studies.
Jakobsen MU, O'Reilly EJ, Heitmann BL, Pereira MA, Bälter K, Fraser GE, Goldbourt U, Hallmans G, Knekt P, Liu S, Pietinen P, Spiegelman D, Stevens J, Virtamo J, Willett WC, Ascherio A.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Feb 11. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 19211817
doi:10.3945/ajcn.2008.27124
MedWire News: Long-term exposure to ozone is associated with an increased risk of death from respiratory causes, researchers have found.\n\nA two-pollutant model in the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that levels of fine particulate matter less than 2.5 µm in diameter (PM2.5) were associated with death from cardiovascular causes, whereas increased ozone concentrations were associated with an increased risk of death from cardiopulmonary causes.
A reappraisal of the impact of dairy foods and milk fat on cardiovascular disease risk.
German JB, Gibson RA, Krauss RM, Nestel P, Lamarche B, van Staveren WA, Steijns JM, de Groot LC, Lock AL, Destaillats F.
Eur J Nutr. 2009 Mar 4. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 19259609
DOI: 10.1007/s00394-009-0002-5
Do you live in a big city or an area where you are sometimes forced to inhale car and truck exhaust? If so, you should strongly consider using a face mask, because exhaust causes arteries to lose their flexibility. Researchers writing in the journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology found that exposure to engine pollution resulted in arterial stiffness in a group of healthy volunteers.
Persistent endothelial dysfunction in humans after diesel exhaust inhalation.
Törnqvist H, Mills NL, Gonzalez M, Miller MR, Robinson SD, Megson IL, Macnee W, Donaldson K, Söderberg S, Newby DE, Sandström T, Blomberg A.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2007 Aug 15;176(4):395-400. Epub 2007 Apr 19.
PMID: 17446340
doi: 10.1164/rccm.200606-872OC
Ischemic and thrombotic effects of dilute diesel-exhaust inhalation in men with coronary heart disease.
Mills NL, Törnqvist H, Gonzalez MC, Vink E, Robinson SD, Söderberg S, Boon NA, Donaldson K, Sandström T, Blomberg A, Newby DE.
N Engl J Med. 2007 Sep 13;357(11):1075-82.
PMID: 17855668
For many consumers, antioxidant doesn't go beyond vitamins C and E, and beta-carotene, but as understanding of the antioxidant compounds in fruit and vegetables increases, more research is pointing towards the potential of polyphenols.
March 23, 2009 -- Men and women who eat higher amounts of red meat and processed meat have a higher risk of dying from cancer, heart disease, and other causes compared to those who eat less, according to a new study.
Those in the study who ate the most red meat took in about 4.5 ounces a day -- the equivalent of a small steak.
Vitamin D deficiency an important, common, and easily treatable cardiovascular risk factor?\nLee JH, O'Keefe JH, Bell D, Hensrud DD, Holick MF.\nJ Am Coll Cardiol. 2008 Dec 9;52(24):1949-56. Review.\nPMID: 19055985
Independent association of low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin d levels with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.\nDobnig H, Pilz S, Scharnagl H, Renner W, Seelhorst U, Wellnitz B, Kinkeldei J, Boehm BO, Weihrauch G, Maerz W.\nArch Intern Med. 2008 Jun 23;168(12):1340-9.\nPMID: 18574092
The vitamin K2 story, though still preliminary, is becoming increasingly interesting from the perspective of CT heart score reduction.
The origin of this concept came from some unexpected observations. One, the observation that osteoporosis (lack of bone calcium that leads to fractures) arises from deficiency of vitamin K2. Two, deficiency of K2 leads to unrestrained calcium deposition in animal models, leading to heart attack in just weeks.