Women’s heart health....

Today's Post: Friday, 2-5-2010

The American Heart Association and others are sponsoring a Wear Red for Women Day today to highlight that women need to protect themselves against heart disease too.

It isn’t just men who have to worry about heart disease, particularly for women over 50 who are also past the age of menopause.

Before that age, women seem to have some immunity to heart attacks and other manifestations of heart disease. Their higher estrogen and lower testosterone and higher HDL levels than men on the average -- in their younger years -- gives them some protection.

At menopause though, much of that protection disappears. And, since huge numbers of women in the United States in the baby boom generation are now over 50, this is a significant problem.

In addition, the initial research on heart disease was done by mostly male doctors on men since many men in their most productive work years were being cut down by heart attacks.

The good news though is that it does look as if most of the actions that help prevent heart disease in men also protect women over 50 from heart disease. And, since most healthy women under 50 will be over 50 one day, it can’t hurt and likely will help if women adapt this lifestyle well before age 50. Last but very far from least, this same lifestyle tends to prevent type 2 diabetes and obesity that many women under 50 would otherwise get.

For example, a woman might well have an HDL reading of over 60 while a man with the same lifestyle might have an HDL reading of under 40. So regular moderate drinking and regular vigorous exercise that are unusually protective for men in part by increasing their HDL may provide less direct heart protection for women. (HDL over 60 is protective; and HDL under 40 is a risk indicator for heart disease.)

In addition, women can only drink about half as much alcohol as men and still stay safely in the moderate category. (Apparently women’s livers process alcohol about half as well as men do for some reason.) And, since women need their HDL increased less usually than men do, drinking a drink or two a day that does have heart protective effects for men, is likely both not protective for women but bad for their health overall. (In fact, a recently reported Spanish study found exactly that: Drinking protected men from heart disease but seemed not to do so for women.)

But, regular vigorous exercise is very likely every bit as heart protective for women as for men. That’s because it does a LOT more for your health than just raise your HDL. It also increases your circulation, strengthens your heart, improves the health of the endothelium or inner surface of your blood vessels so plaque build up and high blood pressure are less likely, and it helps to keep blood sugar and insulin low enough for good health -- & THAT tends to prevent obesity and type 2 diabetes. Regular exercise, I recently found out, also lowers excessive inflammation which is a significant cause of heart disease.

Since every one of those effects is heart protective, every woman who wants to avoid heart disease, should do regular vigorous exercise.

Strength training and interval cardio are ideal and can be done at home in 10 to 15 minute chunks. Even better, even a woman who has never exercised can build up to doing them well by starting with a minimal amount that is already doable and building up gradually to more and then much more by simply doing a bit more each month from now on.

Eating wild caught fish high in omega 3 oils, taking purified fish oil supplements for their omega 3 oils, and eliminating almost all oils like soy, corn, and canola that are high in omega 6 oils, sharply reduces inflammation; and this too is protective for women as it is for men. (Note that the monosaturated oils in extra virgin olive oil and nuts and avocados do NOT increase inflammation or lower HDL levels and DO lower LDL. As a result they support good health and heart health for both men and women.)

Also, while men often indulge in eating too much fatty, grain fed meat, since women have traditionally been cooks, and many still are, in their families and often cook desserts and other foods using refined grains, women have to be extremely careful to avoid foods or cut way back on foods that are made of refined grains and/or have added sugar. These foods increase inflammation, increase triglycerides, & increase the chances of blood sugar levels of sugar and insulin that are too high. That tends to result in heart disease in both sexes but can be particularly bad for women who tend to eat more of these foods.

Even worse, when these foods are bought pre-made at the store, they still often contain hydrogenated oils which act as heart attack starter by directly causing your level of small particle LDL that quite literally helps clog up your blood vessels to increase sharply. So, the result of eating things like store bought cookies can be similar to mainlining a kind of fatty sand into your blood – in addition to the sugars or high fructose corn syrup and refined grains making you fat and tending to make you diabetic.

So, when you want a dessert, eat it far less often, make it homemade with real butter or olive oil and sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils and with whole grains. Even better, eat more, healthier and lower glycemic treats, instead of baked goods. The nuts and strawberries in yesterday’s post about health OK Super Bowl snacks work for this. So do moderate amounts of dark chocolate and other kinds of fruit. Berries and cherries are great for this. My wife also likes fancy imported cheeses for dessert. She has to eat them sparingly because of the cost and too much of them might boost LDL cholesterol. Consider that a dessert with a bit of your favorite cheese, some cherries, and some dark chocolate can be just as satisfying as a piece of store bought chocolate cake or even more so; but will be much better for your heart. If you also have dessert 3 or 4 times a week instead of two or three times a day, that too will protect your heart.

And, just like men, it can help to take supplements that promote heart health in some way. Chromium polynicotinate helps your body regulate your blood sugar for example, particularly if you take 400 mcg a day. So if your fasting blood sugar tests as 110 instead of something like 89, take chromium polynicotinate and eat dark chocolate and cherries and home-made oatmeal cookies occasionally instead of eating store bought cookies and cake every day. Taking niacin may also be worthwhile for women. Women need its HDL increasing effect less but may need its LDL lowering and triglyceride lowering effects every bit as much as men do. In addition, taking sterol supplements, such as beta sitosterol, lowers LDL cholesterol. So if yours is over 129, you also might want to consider taking sterol supplements.

Another thing you can do that is just as heart protective for women as for men is to simply totally discontinue drinking soft drinks whether regular or diet.

That’s heart protective and tends to prevent or help reverse obesity in both men and women.

Soft drinks either add calories that do NOT turn off your hunger initially in the case of regular soft drinks and boost your blood sugar levels and insulin levels too high or they cause you to become much MORE hungry and hungry for sugar in particular in the case of diet soft drinks.

Lastly, avoid as close to all tobacco smoke as possible. Most smokers don’t yet know this but cigarettes are like hydrogenated oils, they are heart attack starters. They directly cause cardiovascular disease by triggering the build up of plaque in your blood vessels.

This is just as heart protective for women as it is for men.