MedicationsSupplements and Vitamins home > health & living center > exercise & fitness a-z list > health tip: exercise boosts heart health article

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(HealthDay News) -- Exercise may be just what the doctor ordered to improve heart health.

The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute says potential benefits of exercise include:

Reducing blood pressure and triglycerides.Boosting "good" HDL cholesterol. Improving levels of blood sugar, thereby reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes.Cutting proteins responsible for harmful inflammation.Improving chances of maintaining a healthier weight.

-- Diana Kohnle
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MedicationsSupplements and Vitamins home > heart center > heart a-z list > dangerous mix of heart risk factors article

smallermediumlargerOne-Third of Americans Have Dangerous Mix of Heart Risk FactorsHeart Disease Slideshow PicturesMedical Illustrations of the Heart Image CollectionTake the Heart Disease Quiz!By Dennis Thompson
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TUESDAY, May 19, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- More than one-third of U.S. adults have a combination of health problems collectively known as metabolic syndrome that increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes, according to new research.

What's worse, the researchers found the rate of metabolic syndrome increases dramatically with age. Almost half of people 60 or older in the United States have metabolic syndrome, the study found.

"That's concerning, because we know the population of the U.S. is aging," said senior author Dr. Robert Wong, an assistant clinical professor at University of California, San Francisco. "I think it will potentially place a huge burden on our health care system."

Metabolic syndrome is a "perfect storm" of conditions that include high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol levels, increased levels of blood sugar, and a wider waist circumference, Wong said.

Medical experts are turning to metabolic syndrome as a key indicator of heart health risk. "Metabolic syndrome is a more comprehensive analysis, because it takes into account a lot of risk factors," Wong said.

To assess the nation's rate of metabolic syndrome, Wong and his colleagues used health data on Americans gathered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 2003 and 2012.

The researchers concluded that 35 percent of all U.S. adults had metabolic syndrome in 2011-2012. That number is up slightly from 33 percent in 2003-2004, the researchers said.

Obesity is considered a leading factor in metabolic syndrome, and the overall rate of both conditions mirror each other, Wong said.

But the researchers also found that age strongly influences metabolic syndrome. About 47 percent of people 60 or older have metabolic syndrome. Only about 18 percent of adults 20 to 39 years old have the condition. Among those over 60, more than 50 percent of women and Hispanics have metabolic syndrome, according to the study.

The study's findings are in the May 19 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Age affects many of the risk factors that combine to create metabolic syndrome, said Dr. Pamela Morris, chair of the American College of Cardiology's Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Committee.

For example, people tend to become less active, heavier and more insulin resistant as they grow older, said Morris, who is also an assistant professor at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Dr. Mark Creager, incoming president of the American Heart Association, said, "It's disconcerting that there's such a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome, and it's disconcerting that the prevalence of metabolic syndrome rises so dramatically as we age."

Creager and Morris said that steps need to be taken to encourage healthy lifestyle choices among people who either have metabolic syndrome or are in danger of developing it.

Creager pointed to larger societal efforts, including less access to sugar-sweetened beverages in schools, better access to healthy foods in urban areas, and the creation of places where people can walk safely and get more exercise.

Morris said she is "still struggling to find the magic bullet" that will encourage better choices among her own patients, and has found the most success in encouraging "baby steps."

"I try to meet them halfway and work with them over time, and once the early changes we've made have become routine, then I move them a little closer to the healthier side of things," she said.

Some baby steps include skipping beverages that contain calories (such as sodas and fruit juices), preparing home-cooked meals, and walking as often as possible.

Additionally, any public health efforts need to be sensitive to the Hispanic population, which has the highest rate of metabolic syndrome of all ethnic groups, noted Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a preventive cardiologist and director of Women's Heart Health at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. The study found that about 39 percent of Hispanics have metabolic syndrome.

"Messaging needs to be translated into Spanish if necessary and focused on this population," Steinbaum said.

Copyright © 2015 HealthDay. All rights reserved.SOURCES: Robert Wong, M.D., assistant clinical professor, University of California, San Francisco; Pamela Morris, M.D., chair, American College of Cardiology's Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Committee, and assistant professor, medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston; Mark Creager, M.D., incoming president, American Heart Association, and professor, medicine, Harvard Medical School, and director, Vascular Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass.; Suzanne Steinbaum, M.D., preventive cardiologist, and director, Women's Heart Health, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; May 19, 2015, Journal of the American Medical Association

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MedicationsSupplements and Vitamins home > health & living center > exercise & fitness a-z list > even elite athletes may have heart abnormalities article

smallermediumlargerEven Elite Athletes May Have Heart Abnormalities7 Most Effective Exercises PicturesTake the Exercise and Fitness Quiz!How to Build a Better Butt SlideshowLatest Exercise & Fitness NewsBiking, Walking to Work Can Help Shed PoundsHealth Tip: Fitting a Bicycle HelmetHealth Tip: Gear up for SportsHealth Tip: Get Active During SummerHealth Tip: Are You at Risk for Hip Strain?Want More News? Sign Up for MedicineNet Newsletters!

FRIDAY, May 15, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Even the best athletes in the world can have potentially fatal heart defects, a new study says.

"We cannot take it for granted that elite athletes are healthy," said Dr. Paulo Emilio Adami, of the Institute of Sport Medicine and Science of the Italian Olympic Committee in Rome.

Adami and his colleagues examined data from more than 2,300 elite athletes who underwent heart health assessments between 2002 and 2014 as part of their screening to compete in Winter and Summer Olympic Games.

"Even Olympic athletes, regardless of their superior physical performance and astonishing achievements, showed an unexpected large prevalence of cardiovascular abnormalities, including life-threatening conditions," Adami said.

The analysis revealed that 171 athletes (about 7 percent) had some form of structural or electrical heart abnormality. In six of them, the heart defect was considered life-threatening and they were not allowed to compete.

Another 24 athletes were temporarily suspended but eventually allowed to compete in the Olympics under close medical supervision, according to the study.

The findings were scheduled for presentation Friday at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology in Lisbon, Portugal. Data and conclusions presented at meetings are usually considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

"This study demonstrates that a more accurate assessment is necessary for elite professional athletes than for members of the general population, in view of the intensity and stress on their cardiovascular system through so many hours of training and competition," Adami said in a society news release.

He said anyone who wants to be involved in competitive sports should have a medical evaluation. Screening of people in recreational sports would depend on the type of sport and the amount of exertion.

"As a general rule, I would advise a visit to a sports medicine doctor or the GP [general practitioner] beforehand," Adami said.

-- Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2015 HealthDay. All rights reserved.SOURCE: European Society of Cardiology, news release, May 15, 2015

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MedicationsSupplements and Vitamins home > heart center > heart a-z list > hand-grip strength provides clues to heart health article

smallermediumlargerHand-Grip Strength May Provide Clues to Heart HealthHeart Disease Slideshow PicturesMedical Illustrations of the Heart Image CollectionTake the Heart Disease Quiz!Latest Heart NewsQuitting Smoking Improves Angioplasty OutcomeExpert Tips to Detect Early Warning Stroke SignsHigh-Protein Diet Risky for Heart Disease Bleeding Stroke Patients Better at Special CentersWomen Unaware of Female-Specific Stroke SymptomsWant More News? Sign Up for MedicineNet Newsletters!

WEDNESDAY, May 13, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Testing hand-grip strength could be a cheap and simple way of identifying people at increased risk for heart attack, stroke and premature death, according to a new study.

Researchers looked at nearly 140,000 adults who underwent grip-strength tests. The participants were aged 35 to 70, and they were from 17 countries. Their health was followed for an average of four years.

Every 11-pound decrease in grip strength was associated with a 16 percent increased risk of death from any cause, the investigators found.

Each decrease was also tied to a 17 percent raised risk of heart-related death or death from non-heart causes. And, every 11-pound drop in grip strength was also associated with a 9 percent increased risk of stroke and a 7 percent higher risk of heart attack, the findings showed.

Although this study found an association between grip strength and the risk of heart attack, stroke and early death, it wasn't designed to prove a cause-and-effect relationship between these factors.

Still, the researchers said that grip strength appears to be a stronger predictor of premature death than systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading).

And, the link between grip strength and increased risk of heart attack, stroke and premature death remained even after the researchers accounted for other factors that affect death risk and heart disease, such as age, education level, smoking, drinking, exercise and employment status.

The study was published May 13 in The Lancet.

"Grip strength could be an easy and inexpensive test to assess an individual's risk of death and cardiovascular disease," study lead author Dr. Darryl Leong, from the Population Health Research Institute at Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University in Canada, said in a journal news release.

"Further research is needed to establish whether efforts to improve muscle strength are likely to reduce an individual's risk of death and cardiovascular disease," Leong added.

In an editorial accompanying the study, Avan Aihie Sayer, a professor at the University of Southampton, and Thomas Kirkwood, a professor at Newcastle University, both in the United Kingdom, wrote: "This is not a new idea, but findings from [this study] add support."

-- Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2015 HealthDay. All rights reserved.SOURCE: The Lancet, news release, May 13, 2015

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