Useful heart risk tests to consider....
Today's Post: Tuesday, 4-12-2011
Prevention Magazine has some useful information from time to time.
I just discovered they have one of the most important pieces of information on preventing heart disease and heart attacks in very good article called, “7 Heart Tests That Can Save Your Life.” (Today, it was still available at www.prevention.com .)
Yesterday, we posted on the inexpensive test that can tell you and your doctor if you actually are in the minority of people who would get significant heart attack prevention. (Everyone else will do better with niacin or niacin plus taking sterols.)
And, of course everyone will get protection from properly done regular exercise and staying away from tobacco smoke and NOT eating foods with hydrogenated oils or trans fats.
The other tests in the Prevention article were of two kinds.
A. One kind was tests that can tell you if you need to upgrade your lifestyle to prevent heart disease since you might get it without those upgrades. This kind is mostly to guide your prevention efforts.
B. The second kind was tests to get an accurate picture of what your current risk is now. Reasons to get this kind of test include surviving a heart attack or two or heart related symptoms such as angina or shortness of breath not from asthma. This kind is to give you and your doctor the information to know whether or not you should get things like angioplasty or stenting and other medical procedures to keep you from harm from a probable heart attack or lack of blood flow now. Prevention got letters of thanks from women who had symptoms that might be heart related who got tested and found they did have advanced heart disease in time to take action.
The tests is this group cost more; but can be useful if you are in the group or wind up in the group of people who need them.
A. Tests that help with prevention.
They did not include the basic cholesterol panel with total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and triglycerides.
HDL over 60 is good & 39 or less is quite risky.
LDL of 100 or less is good and over 130 it should be lowered and over 160 you need to take something to lower it in addition to lifestyle upgrades.
Triglyceride levels of well over 150 are quite dangerous and all the relevant lifestyle upgrades that lower them should be used. Taking niacin also helps. Levels under 100 are desirable and under 50 levels are even better.
Total cholesterol is much less important; but if it is high – over 240, usually so is LDL (over 160) which does make a difference.
But you should get that test. There are lifestyle upgrades and supplements that will improve the key sections of that test. For example eating foods with hydrogenated oils lowers HDL and increases LDL, boosts triglycerides and more. Eating too much starchy food, refined grains, and sugars (or drinking them) boosts triglycerides and tends to increase LDL and lower HDL.
Regular exercise every week, particularly vigorous exercise you have built up to, increases HDL and lowers triglycerides.
Exposure to tobacco smoke lowers HDL and makes what you do have less protective. It directly causes your body to deposit plaque in your blood vessels. Then on top of that it triggers heart attacks too! Not smoking and avoiding second hand smoke almost totally prevent this.
Eating onions and garlic and fish high in omega 3 oils or taking omega 3 supplements lower triglycerides.
HSCRP is another test in the Prevention article.
It measures chronic inflammation. If the result is 0.9 or less, your heart risk is low and lower is better. If the result is 1.0 to 3.0 ranges from low average risk to high average risk. Levels of 3.0 and up are high risk.
This one responds very well to lifestyle upgrades and some supplements and spices.
Use extra virgin olive oil instead of oils high in omega 6such as corn, soy, safflower, and canola. And, eat fish high in omega 3 oils or take omega 3 supplements. The spices ginger, turmeric, and curries that contain turmeric, and curcumin supplements from turmeric directly lower inflammation and do it safely. (Turmeric, and curries that contain turmeric, and curcumin supplements from turmeric also help prevent Alzheimer’s disease, many cancers, and even help slow aging!)
Eating foods high in antioxidants also helps in many ways as does taking the antioxidant supplements.
For example, people who exercise lower their chronic inflammation and do so more with antioxidant protection. Also, by helping your LDL avoid becoming oxidized, your LDL becomes safer for your heart and blood vessels no matter what your current level is.
HBA1C is another test to get. Average blood sugar levels that are too high directly damage your capillaries and other blood vessels. And, HBA1C measures the sugar on your red blood cells. Since they live about 60 to 90 days, the test gives you an excellent and accurate average of your blood sugar over that time. 5.7 and under are desirable readings on this test. 5.8 to 5.9 indicate a need to get more vigorous exercise and eat far less sugar, starches, and refined grains. (Those things also protect your heart in other ways too.)
Every tenth of a point on this test of 6.0 or more begins to cause damage. The drug metformin can help and is safe particularly if you take it in lower doses and supplement with B12. Getting insulin is not good for you and tends to fatten but is safer than the other drugs for reducing blood sugar a study found to keep your HBA1C at 7.0 or above since levels of 7.0 or more are quite harmful.
So, readings of 5.8 to a bit above 6.0 suggest a very strong effort to get more vigorous exercise and eat far less sugar, starches, and refined grains since that will keep you safe and can often help you avoid getting to 7.0 and up or taking insulin.
Advanced lipid profile and a test for Lp(a) can tell you if your LDL is the small size that causes heart disease. If your HDL is high and your triglycerides are low, researchers found your particle size is the larger kind that rolls along your blood vessels instead of the small size that’s dangerous and you can avoid this test. But if you are sedentary and eat excess sugars, starches, and refined grains or have low HDL and high triglycerides, you likely are in trouble on particle size. And it may pay you and your doctor to use this test to check how bad it is.
B. The second kind was tests to get an accurate picture of what your current risk is now. Reasons to get this kind of test include surviving a heart attack or two or heart related symptoms such as angina or shortness of breath not from asthma. This kind is to give you and your doctor the information to know whether or not you should get things like angioplasty or stenting and other medical procedures to keep you from harm from a probable heart attack or lack of blood flow now. Prevention got letters of thanks from women who had symptoms that might be heart related who got tested and found they did have advanced heart disease in time to take action.
The least expensive is an ultrasound measurement of the thickness of your carotid artery wall. If it is well under 1.0, you are OK for now. But if it is well over 1.06 you and your doctor might want to do the next two tests.
The most predictive of risk is the CT scan of the calcium deposits in your coronary and nearby arteries. If your Agatston score is under 200, that’s good news. If it’s between 200 & 400 you need to take several kinds of heart protective action right away. And, over 400, you may need medical procedures to protect you.
(I’ve read there is now a lower radiation version of this test that is pretty accurate. Since CT scans deliver, I’ve read, something like over 100 x-rays, you might want to explore that version.)
If you have symptoms and this test is much above 200, you might want to try stress echocardiography. This is far safer than using cardiac catheterization to inject a dye into your blood vessels and x-ray how open they are. (That procedure can cause strokes and heart attacks and has a death rate risk.) Stress echocardiography can show if you have blockages or partial blockages that significantly impair blood flow.
So, it’s a good test to do instead of cardiac catheterization and x-ray or to do first to see if cardiac catheterization and x-ray or medical procedures are needed and if so where.
Today's Post: Tuesday, 4-12-2011
Prevention Magazine has some useful information from time to time.
I just discovered they have one of the most important pieces of information on preventing heart disease and heart attacks in very good article called, “7 Heart Tests That Can Save Your Life.” (Today, it was still available at www.prevention.com .)
Yesterday, we posted on the inexpensive test that can tell you and your doctor if you actually are in the minority of people who would get significant heart attack prevention. (Everyone else will do better with niacin or niacin plus taking sterols.)
And, of course everyone will get protection from properly done regular exercise and staying away from tobacco smoke and NOT eating foods with hydrogenated oils or trans fats.
The other tests in the Prevention article were of two kinds.
A. One kind was tests that can tell you if you need to upgrade your lifestyle to prevent heart disease since you might get it without those upgrades. This kind is mostly to guide your prevention efforts.
B. The second kind was tests to get an accurate picture of what your current risk is now. Reasons to get this kind of test include surviving a heart attack or two or heart related symptoms such as angina or shortness of breath not from asthma. This kind is to give you and your doctor the information to know whether or not you should get things like angioplasty or stenting and other medical procedures to keep you from harm from a probable heart attack or lack of blood flow now. Prevention got letters of thanks from women who had symptoms that might be heart related who got tested and found they did have advanced heart disease in time to take action.
The tests is this group cost more; but can be useful if you are in the group or wind up in the group of people who need them.
A. Tests that help with prevention.
They did not include the basic cholesterol panel with total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and triglycerides.
HDL over 60 is good & 39 or less is quite risky.
LDL of 100 or less is good and over 130 it should be lowered and over 160 you need to take something to lower it in addition to lifestyle upgrades.
Triglyceride levels of well over 150 are quite dangerous and all the relevant lifestyle upgrades that lower them should be used. Taking niacin also helps. Levels under 100 are desirable and under 50 levels are even better.
Total cholesterol is much less important; but if it is high – over 240, usually so is LDL (over 160) which does make a difference.
But you should get that test. There are lifestyle upgrades and supplements that will improve the key sections of that test. For example eating foods with hydrogenated oils lowers HDL and increases LDL, boosts triglycerides and more. Eating too much starchy food, refined grains, and sugars (or drinking them) boosts triglycerides and tends to increase LDL and lower HDL.
Regular exercise every week, particularly vigorous exercise you have built up to, increases HDL and lowers triglycerides.
Exposure to tobacco smoke lowers HDL and makes what you do have less protective. It directly causes your body to deposit plaque in your blood vessels. Then on top of that it triggers heart attacks too! Not smoking and avoiding second hand smoke almost totally prevent this.
Eating onions and garlic and fish high in omega 3 oils or taking omega 3 supplements lower triglycerides.
HSCRP is another test in the Prevention article.
It measures chronic inflammation. If the result is 0.9 or less, your heart risk is low and lower is better. If the result is 1.0 to 3.0 ranges from low average risk to high average risk. Levels of 3.0 and up are high risk.
This one responds very well to lifestyle upgrades and some supplements and spices.
Use extra virgin olive oil instead of oils high in omega 6such as corn, soy, safflower, and canola. And, eat fish high in omega 3 oils or take omega 3 supplements. The spices ginger, turmeric, and curries that contain turmeric, and curcumin supplements from turmeric directly lower inflammation and do it safely. (Turmeric, and curries that contain turmeric, and curcumin supplements from turmeric also help prevent Alzheimer’s disease, many cancers, and even help slow aging!)
Eating foods high in antioxidants also helps in many ways as does taking the antioxidant supplements.
For example, people who exercise lower their chronic inflammation and do so more with antioxidant protection. Also, by helping your LDL avoid becoming oxidized, your LDL becomes safer for your heart and blood vessels no matter what your current level is.
HBA1C is another test to get. Average blood sugar levels that are too high directly damage your capillaries and other blood vessels. And, HBA1C measures the sugar on your red blood cells. Since they live about 60 to 90 days, the test gives you an excellent and accurate average of your blood sugar over that time. 5.7 and under are desirable readings on this test. 5.8 to 5.9 indicate a need to get more vigorous exercise and eat far less sugar, starches, and refined grains. (Those things also protect your heart in other ways too.)
Every tenth of a point on this test of 6.0 or more begins to cause damage. The drug metformin can help and is safe particularly if you take it in lower doses and supplement with B12. Getting insulin is not good for you and tends to fatten but is safer than the other drugs for reducing blood sugar a study found to keep your HBA1C at 7.0 or above since levels of 7.0 or more are quite harmful.
So, readings of 5.8 to a bit above 6.0 suggest a very strong effort to get more vigorous exercise and eat far less sugar, starches, and refined grains since that will keep you safe and can often help you avoid getting to 7.0 and up or taking insulin.
Advanced lipid profile and a test for Lp(a) can tell you if your LDL is the small size that causes heart disease. If your HDL is high and your triglycerides are low, researchers found your particle size is the larger kind that rolls along your blood vessels instead of the small size that’s dangerous and you can avoid this test. But if you are sedentary and eat excess sugars, starches, and refined grains or have low HDL and high triglycerides, you likely are in trouble on particle size. And it may pay you and your doctor to use this test to check how bad it is.
B. The second kind was tests to get an accurate picture of what your current risk is now. Reasons to get this kind of test include surviving a heart attack or two or heart related symptoms such as angina or shortness of breath not from asthma. This kind is to give you and your doctor the information to know whether or not you should get things like angioplasty or stenting and other medical procedures to keep you from harm from a probable heart attack or lack of blood flow now. Prevention got letters of thanks from women who had symptoms that might be heart related who got tested and found they did have advanced heart disease in time to take action.
The least expensive is an ultrasound measurement of the thickness of your carotid artery wall. If it is well under 1.0, you are OK for now. But if it is well over 1.06 you and your doctor might want to do the next two tests.
The most predictive of risk is the CT scan of the calcium deposits in your coronary and nearby arteries. If your Agatston score is under 200, that’s good news. If it’s between 200 & 400 you need to take several kinds of heart protective action right away. And, over 400, you may need medical procedures to protect you.
(I’ve read there is now a lower radiation version of this test that is pretty accurate. Since CT scans deliver, I’ve read, something like over 100 x-rays, you might want to explore that version.)
If you have symptoms and this test is much above 200, you might want to try stress echocardiography. This is far safer than using cardiac catheterization to inject a dye into your blood vessels and x-ray how open they are. (That procedure can cause strokes and heart attacks and has a death rate risk.) Stress echocardiography can show if you have blockages or partial blockages that significantly impair blood flow.
So, it’s a good test to do instead of cardiac catheterization and x-ray or to do first to see if cardiac catheterization and x-ray or medical procedures are needed and if so where.
Labels: effective ways to protect your heart, how to know your heart attack risks, less invasive ways to protect your heart, Useful heart risk tests to consider
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