Eating fish boosts heart health in young women

Now this is good to hear, but even better 'to eat'!
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Posted: 06 December 2011

WASHINGTON: Women of childbearing age can reduce their risk of heart problems by regularly eating fish rich in omega 3 fatty acids, said a Danish study out Monday.

The study is the first to examine younger women, age 15-49, and determine whether fish in their diet has a real impact on their current likelihood of heart problems, instead of their longevity.

For instance, "those who rarely or never ate fish had 50 percent more cardiovascular problems over eight years than those who ate fish regularly," the research said.

Women who rarely or never ate fish faced a 90 percent higher risk of heart problems than those who ate fish weekly.

When researchers looked at hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease in three different assessments over a 30 week period, they found it was three times higher among women who did not eat fish.

The findings, published in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association, are based on a Danish study of 49,000 women with a median age of 30 that spanned eight years.

Women were interviewed by phone about their family history, lifestyle and fish consumption, and were tracked over the next eight years.

"We saw a strong association with cardiovascular disease in the women who were still in their late 30s," said Marin Strom, lead researcher and post doctoral fellow at the Centre for Fetal Programming at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"The biggest challenge in getting health messages like this across to younger populations is that usually the benefits may not be evident for 30 or 40 years, but our study shows this is not the case."

Women most commonly reported eating cod, salmon, herring, and mackerel, all of which are high in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, believed to protect against heart and vascular disease.

The study focused exclusively on dietary intake of fish, not supplements with fish oil.

"Women who eat fish should find the results encouraging, but it is important to emphasize that to obtain the greatest benefit from fish and fish oils, women should follow the dietary recommendations to eat fish as a main meal at least twice a week," said Strom.

-AFP/ac


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Eating fish boosts heart health in young women

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Long-term study proves benefit of statins in heart disease

A long-term study, now this is something!
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Posted: 23 November 2011

PARIS: Statins safely reduce the risk of cardiovascular illness even years after treatment is stopped, according to a probe into the popular cholesterol-busters published on Wednesday.

Statins work by blocking a liver enzyme that makes fatty molecules which line arterial walls and boost the danger of heart disease and strokes.

With worldwide annual sales of more than 20 billion dollars, the drugs have been dubbed "the aspirin of the 21st century" because of their benefit and wide use.

But lingering questions persist about their long-term safety for the heart, liver and cancer risk.

Researchers at the Heart Protection Study Collaborative Group in Oxford looked at 20,536 patients at risk of cardiovascular disease who were randomly allocated 40mg daily of simvastatins or a dummy look-alike over more than five years.

During this period, those who took the statins saw a reduction in "bad" LDL cholesterol and a 23-per cent reduction in episodes of vascular ill-health compared to the placebo group.

The monitoring of the volunteers continued for a further six years after the trial ended.

The benefits persisted throughout this monitoring period among those volunteers who stopped taking the statins, the investigators found.

In addition, there was no emergence of any health hazard among those who had taken, or were continuing to take, the drugs.

A large number of cancers (nearly 3,500) developed during this follow-up period, but there was no difference in cancer incidence between the statin and placebo groups.

"The persistence of benefit we observed among participants originally allocated simvastatin during the subsequent six-year post-trial period is remarkable," said one of the investigators, Richard Bulbulia.

"In addition, the reliable evidence of safety, with no excess risk of cancer or other major illnesses during over 11 years follow-up, is very reassuring for doctors who prescribe statins and the increasingly large numbers of patients who take them long-term to reduce their risk of vascular disease."

A previous investigation in November 2010 found that long-term use of statins was less risky than thought for people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a common liver ailment.

- AFP/ck


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Long-term study proves benefit of statins in heart disease

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Too much TV puts children's hearts at risk: study

Kids, this is something that you should beware of: too much TV!
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Posted: 20 April 2011

SYDNEY: Children who spend too much time watching television increase the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes in later life, an Australian study showed on Wednesday.

In what was declared world-first research, the University of Sydney found that six- to seven-year-olds who spent the most time watching television had narrower arteries in the back of their eyes.

This increased their chances of developing heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes when they were older.

"Parents need to get their children up and moving and off the couch," said Dr Bamini Gopinath, the lead author.

The study examined 1,500 six- and seven-year-olds in 34 primary schools in Sydney.

On average, the children studied spent 1.9 hours a day watching television and 36 minutes a day in organised physical activity.

Those with the highest levels of physical activity -- just over an hour or more -- had significantly wider retinal arteries on average than those who spent less than half an hour a day being physically active.

"We found children with a high level of physical activity had a more beneficial microvascular profile compared to those with the lowest levels of physical activity," said Gopinath.

"This suggests unhealthy lifestyle factors may influence microcirculation early in life and increase the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure later in life."

Gopinath, senior research fellow at the Westmead Millennium Institute's Centre for Vision Research, added that excessive screen time leads to less physical activity, unhealthy dietary habits and weight gain.

"Replacing one hour a day of screen time with physical activity could be effective in buffering the effects of sedentary lifestyles on the retinal microvasculature in children," he said.

"Free play should be promoted and schools should have a mandatory two hours a week in physical activity for children."

The study is reported this week in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association.

-AFP/ck


Taken From ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Too much TV puts children's hearts at risk: study

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Weight, Waist and Health

Here is something that every child should know - that every parent should know as well. It is regarding their kids' health, and it should be of prime importance.

Read on...
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Waist size may communicate more about a child's cardiovascular health than measuring height, weight and body mass index, according to new research.

With the number of children who are overweight and obese on the rise, it's not too early to begin identifying children at higher risk for heart disease and looking for ways to intervene and prevent disease, according to pediatricians. Researchers at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute examined data from 4,667 children ages 6 to 17. They found that the child's waist circumference correlated with higher pulse pressure (the difference between the systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings, and an indication of an increased risk of heart-related diseases). The child's body mass did not correlate with pulse pressure, however.

Having reliable ways to check children for possible risk factors that cause heart disease is important, said Dr. Gangadarshni Chandramohan, the lead author of the study.

"This study suggests pediatricians add their waist measurements to their routine screening of children to help determine the risk of heart-related disorders," he said in a news release. "Measuring waist circumference is a much simpler, more cost-effective and a more valid method of screening for the risk of heart-related disorders than the current practice of determining a child's body mass."

The study was presented Friday at the American Society of Nephrology's Renal Week conference in Denver.


This article was taken from below source:
Waist size says a lot about kids' health

 

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Popular cereal is a drug, US food watchdog says

Kids, watch out for this cereal! Switch to something equivalent while the heat is on; better safe than sorry.

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AFP - Wednesday, May 13

Boxes of Cheerios cereal are displayed on a shelf at a market in California. Popular US breakfast cereal Cheerios is a drug, at least if the claims made on the label by its manufacturer General Mills are anything to go by, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - - Popular US breakfast cereal Cheerios is a drug, at least if the claims made on the label by its manufacturer General Mills are anything to go by, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said.

"Based on claims made on your product's label, we have determined that your Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug," the FDA said in a letter to General Mills which was posted on the federal agency's website Tuesday.

Cheerios labels claim that eating the cereal can help lower bad cholesterol, a risk factor for coronary heart disease, by four percent in six weeks.

Citing a clinical study, the product labels also claim that eating two servings a day of Cheerios helps to reduce bad cholesterol when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, the FDA letter says.

Those claims indicate that Cheerios -- said by General Mills to be the best-selling cereal in the United States -- is intended to be used to lower cholesterol and prevent, lessen or treat the disease hypercholesterolemia, and to treat and prevent coronary heart disease.

"Because of these intended uses, the product is a drug," the FDA concluded in its letter.

Not only that, but Cheerios is a new drug because it has not been "recognized as safe and effective for use in preventing or treating hypercholesterolemia or coronary heart disease," the FDA said.

That means General Mills may not legally market Cheerios unless it applies for approval as a new drug or changes the way it labels the small, doughnut-shaped cereal, the FDA said.

General Mills defended the claims on Cheerios packaging, saying in a statement that Cheerios' soluble fiber heart health claim has been FDA-approved for 12 years, and that its "lower your cholesterol four percent in six weeks" message has been featured on the box for more than two years.

The FDA's quibble is not about whether Cheerios cereal is good for you but over "how the Cheerios cholesterol-lowering information is presented on the Cheerios package and website," said General Mills.

"We look forward to discussing this with FDA and to reaching a resolution."

Meanwhile, the FDA warned in its letter that if General Mills fails to "correct the violations" on its labels, boxes of Cheerios could disappear from supermarket and wholesaler shelves around the United States and the company could face legal action.

According to General Mills, one in eight boxes of cereal sold in the United States is a box of Cheerios. The cereal debuted on the US market in 1941.

From Yahoo! News; see the source article here.

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Popular cereal is a drug, US food watchdog says

Kids, watch out for this cereal! Switch to something equivalent while the heat is on; better safe than sorry.

-----

AFP - Wednesday, May 13

Boxes of Cheerios cereal are displayed on a shelf at a market in California. Popular US breakfast cereal Cheerios is a drug, at least if the claims made on the label by its manufacturer General Mills are anything to go by, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - - Popular US breakfast cereal Cheerios is a drug, at least if the claims made on the label by its manufacturer General Mills are anything to go by, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said.

"Based on claims made on your product's label, we have determined that your Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug," the FDA said in a letter to General Mills which was posted on the federal agency's website Tuesday.

Cheerios labels claim that eating the cereal can help lower bad cholesterol, a risk factor for coronary heart disease, by four percent in six weeks.

Citing a clinical study, the product labels also claim that eating two servings a day of Cheerios helps to reduce bad cholesterol when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, the FDA letter says.

Those claims indicate that Cheerios -- said by General Mills to be the best-selling cereal in the United States -- is intended to be used to lower cholesterol and prevent, lessen or treat the disease hypercholesterolemia, and to treat and prevent coronary heart disease.

"Because of these intended uses, the product is a drug," the FDA concluded in its letter.

Not only that, but Cheerios is a new drug because it has not been "recognized as safe and effective for use in preventing or treating hypercholesterolemia or coronary heart disease," the FDA said.

That means General Mills may not legally market Cheerios unless it applies for approval as a new drug or changes the way it labels the small, doughnut-shaped cereal, the FDA said.

General Mills defended the claims on Cheerios packaging, saying in a statement that Cheerios' soluble fiber heart health claim has been FDA-approved for 12 years, and that its "lower your cholesterol four percent in six weeks" message has been featured on the box for more than two years.

The FDA's quibble is not about whether Cheerios cereal is good for you but over "how the Cheerios cholesterol-lowering information is presented on the Cheerios package and website," said General Mills.

"We look forward to discussing this with FDA and to reaching a resolution."

Meanwhile, the FDA warned in its letter that if General Mills fails to "correct the violations" on its labels, boxes of Cheerios could disappear from supermarket and wholesaler shelves around the United States and the company could face legal action.

According to General Mills, one in eight boxes of cereal sold in the United States is a box of Cheerios. The cereal debuted on the US market in 1941.

From Yahoo! News; see the source article here.

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• FDA to General Mills: Your Marketing Has Made Cheerios Into A Drug [Fda] (consumerist.com)