Turmeric May Equal Exercise In Heart Health Benefits

'Curcumin, the powerful antioxidant of the popular Indian spice Turmeric, may benefit cardiovascular health to the same extent as exercise, says new data from a clinical trial from Japan.

Previous research has shown that daily supplements of curcumin combined with diet and exercise strategies could be associated with more than a 60% reduction in triglyceride levels, a reduction known impossible through pharmaceutical intervention alone.

Powdered turmeric has been used for centuries to treat a host of illnesses. It inhibits inflammatory reactions, has anti-diabetic effects, reduces cholesterol among other powerful health effects. A recent study led by a research team in Munich showed that it can also inhibit formation of metastases.'


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Why Red Wine is Good for Your Heart

Photo Credit: Life Extension Blog


'The “French Paradox” was coined by Dr. Serge Renaud and introduced to Americans on TV in 1991 during a 60 Minutes segment. Explaining his research, Renaud noted a profound lifestyle difference between Americans and the French — red wine consumption.

The two cultures ate the same kinds of food, yet more Americans were dying from heart attacks than the French. He proposed the theory that red wine provided some sort of cardio-protective benefit to the French despite all of the butter and fat that they ate.'


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Olive Oil Turns Off Heart Disease Genes

'Long touted as a "heart healthy" fat, olive oil has now been shown to work its magic at the genetic level by turning off genes that are associated with heart disease and inflammation.

Researchers in Spain have shown that just because you inherited some "bad genes" from your parents and grandparents, you are not doomed to suffer the diseases to which you are predisposed. A healthy diet, they say, can modulate the effect of these genes.'

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Avoiding Heart Disease & Strokes

'Many doctors do not believe that people have to be sitting ducks for deadly heart attacks or strokes for that matter. Heart disease can be prevented—and even reversed—with the right information and simple lifestyle adjustments. That said, most heart specialists have not the slightest idea of the most basic cause of heart disease and most doctors today have not the slightest idea about the benefits of good nutrition.


Even clinical nutritionists, card-carrying members of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics—generally known to the public by its old name, the American Dietetic Association—really know nothing about how malnutrition leads directly to heart attacks. That does not stop them from wanting legal control over who may provide nutrition counseling in a professional context. That means that they really want to see millions suffer and die. The ignorance of cardiologists about magnesium alone actually guarantees that heart disease will continue to kill a million people each year in America alone.'




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Two Apples a Day More Effective At Reducing Heart Disease Than Statin Medications

'More evidence continues to surface supporting the superior effectiveness of nature's foods over medication in preventing disease. New research shows that just two apples a day could help protect women against heart disease lowering blood fat levels by almost 25 percent, a claim unattainable by cardiovascular prescription medications.


Scientists found apples significantly lowered blood fat levels in postmenopausal women, the group most at risk of heart attacks and strokes.


Studies in the past have found that flavonoids act as antioxidants -- enzymes that target free radicals that can damage DNA. Flavonoids are commonly found in chocolate, green tea and other fruits and vegetables.
Snacking on the fruit every day for six months slashed levels of so-called "bad cholesterol" by almost a quarter, a figure that all statin drugs combined cannot attain.'




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The Problem with Interventional Drug Therapy for Coronary Heart Disease

 

By Caldwell B.Esselstyn, Jr., MD

'For the minority of heart patients, specifically those in the midst of heart attacks or acute coronary syndromes, stents or coronary artery bypass may be lifesaving. For the rest, none of the present therapies targets the cause: the Western diet. As a consequence, the disease marches on in all patients, which leads to more drugs, stents and bypasses, increasing heart damage, heart failure and, too often, death. 

In 1985, I initiated a study that treated seriously ill patients with coronary artery disease with plant-based nutrition and succeeded in the arrest and reversal of their disease. This program has been published at 5, 12 and 16 years, and most recently summarized at 20 years in my book, "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease," making it one of the longest investigations of its type in medical research. The duration of the study is testimony that patients with coronary disease will adhere to these food changes for decades and beyond.'


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Foods That Will Help Your Heart

'Making changes to your diet is one of the best ways to prevent heart disease. So why not start making healthier choices right now? Here's what to put on your menu.

If diet is one of the biggest contributors to heart disease, changing your diet is one of the best ways to prevent it. Even if you already have heart disease, the right diet can help you reverse it—something no cholesterol-lowering pill will do—by improving your cholesterol readings and taming high blood pressure, steadying blood sugar, dousing inflammation and even taking off extra weight.'

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