LifeStart to the Rescue for COVID-19 Patients

LifeStart to the Rescue for COVID-19 Patients

According to the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on April 17, 2020, approximately 90% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients had the following underlying conditions: hypertension (49.7%), obesity (48.3%), diabetes (28.3%), and heart disease (27.8%). All of these...
Slow Your Resting Heart Rate with Beans

Slow Your Resting Heart Rate with Beans

It was observed that eating one cup of beans a day for three months decreased a person’s heart rate by 3.4 points. A similar effect would be achieved by spending 250 hours on a treadmill. Beans provide a low-fat protein, are naturally high in fiber, have a low...
Garlic for Your Heart

Garlic for Your Heart

Heart disease patients were randomized to receive either garlic powder or placebo tablets twice daily for three months. The results were astounding in those that took the garlic powder. Their arterial function increased by 50 percent and their arteries’ structure...
Smile! It Doesn’t Cost You Anything

Smile! It Doesn’t Cost You Anything

Of the 230,000 people followed for an average of 14 years in a study, those who were optimistic had a 35% lower risk for cardiovascular events and a 14% lower risk for early death compared with their pessimistic peers. “A merry heart does good like a medicine, and a...
Coconut Oil—Friend or Foe?

Coconut Oil—Friend or Foe?

In recent years we have heard about the possible beneficial effects of coconut oil. It’s stable, doesn’t go rancid easily, and has a high smoke point. Besides that, coconut fat is pretty much neutral in taste, has a  good mouthfeel, and it is all-natural. But coconut...
Cardiovascular deaths on the rise in the US

Cardiovascular deaths on the rise in the US

According to the American Heart Association’s (AHA) recently published 2019 updated Heart and Stroke statistics in the journal Circulation, nearly half of all adults in the United States have cardiovascular disease. It caused more deaths in 2016 than previous...
Multivitamins Not Effective for Reducing Heart Disease

Multivitamins Not Effective for Reducing Heart Disease

A large meta-analysis of over 2 million adults with a mean follow-up of 12 years found taking a daily multivitamin supplement was not associated with lower risk for cardiovascular disease, stroke, or heart disease. LifeTip: Eating a healthy diet that varies from...
Too Good to be True

Too Good to be True

A large, geographically diverse study using a simple food frequency questionnaire found those consuming more Mediterranean foods experienced a lower risk of major adverse cardiovascular events than those reporting fewer such foods. However, contrary to many headlines,...
Health-related Anxiety Increases Risk of Heart Disease

Health-related Anxiety Increases Risk of Heart Disease

Researchers in Norway studied 7000 adults and found about 10% had health-related anxieties. Those anxious individuals were 70% more likely to develop heart disease in the next 12 years, even after adjusting for cardiovascular and other confounders, compared to those...
Cardiovascular Disease is Not All in the Genes

Cardiovascular Disease is Not All in the Genes

A study in the U.K. followed almost 500,000 adults for an average of 6 years. At baseline participant’s physical fitness was determined by a variety of tests. Researchers found patients with high cardiovascular fitness had a 49% lower risk for cardiovascular...
Is Butter Back?

Is Butter Back?

In spite of media attention to a systematic review and meta-analysis looking at the association of butter consumption and chronic disease, a careful analysis would suggest otherwise. Even the authors of this study suggest butter is not “back”. What the...
No Safe Level for Smoking

No Safe Level for Smoking

Lighting up just one time per day poses a significantly increased risk for heart disease and stroke. This large meta-analysis of 141 studies in 21 countries found smoking one cigarette a day was associated with a 48-74% increased risk in men, and a 57-118% risk for...

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