COQ10 Benefits: Heart Health Helper

Ruth Butters asked:


One of the most exciting results of the ongoing research on CoQ10 benefits is the role it plays in maintaining and restoring heart health.

Over the years numerous studies have investigated the benefit of Coemzyme Q10 supplementation for improving cardiovascular function and over all heart health. The compound, a potent antioxidant, has been proven to enhance energy production and improve the ability of heart muscles to contract.

Landmark study demonstrates effectiveness

A landmark 1994 study, which involved more than 400 patients with cardiac disease, summarized eight years of research on the usefulness of CoQ10 in clinical cardiology. The patients were supplemented with oral CoQ10 at daily doses of 75-600 mg in addition to their conventional medical regimen, and were followed for an average of 17.8 months.

The clinical response of this study was evaluated according to the New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional scale. The results were very encouraging; 58 percent of patients improved by one NYHA class, 28 percent by two classes, and 1.2 percent by three NYHA classes.

Medical dependency was also tracked, and 43 percent of patients receiving the coQ10 supplements stopped between one and three medications, with no side effects reported.

Continued research confirms role as heart heath helper

A mounting body of research confirms the the benefit of CoQ10 supplementation for various cardiovascular conditions.

One important clinical study, for example, found that people who received daily CoQ10 supplements within 3 days of a heart attack were significantly less likely to experience subsequent heart attacks and chest pain. In addition, these same patients were less likely to die of heart disease than those who did not receive the supplements. CoQ10 supplementation is believed to reduce swelling and blood pooling in the lungs and legs of patients with congestive heart failure. Numerous clinical studies suggest that 4 to 12 weeks of CoQ10 supplementation may lower blood pressure Clinical studies show that introducing coQ10 supplementation prior to heart surgery can reduce free radical damage, lower the incidence of arrythmias, and shorten recovery time. CoQ10 may help prevent heart damage caused by certain chemotherapy drugs.

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Exercise – The Pursuit of Fitness and Heart Health

Gregory Camp asked:


Exercise – The Pursuit of Fitness and Heart Health

 Only about 25 percent of adult in the United States currently believe in exercising regularly to achieve physical fitness and overall well-being.  Attaining and maintaining peak physical condition and not getting “soft” is sufficient incentive for them.  Another large segment of the population exercises as an adjunct to dieting efforts in an effort to be slim and trim, while others exercise in an effort to decrease their risk o f heart disease.

 But whatever their reason for all this increased activity, more Americans are turning to a wide-variety of exercise regimens as a pleasurable and healthy experience.

  Putting Exercise in Perspective

 Lack of exercise is only one, albeit a strong one, among a number of factors, which may predispose an individual to the development of coronary artery disease.  Some of these risk factors are inherent and cannot be changed, such as heredity (heart disease in several close blood relatives), being male (since middle-aged men are statistically more likely to develop coronary artery disease, although the gap is closing.) On the other hand, aging is significant, since both older men and women are more likely to have coronary artery disease, than middle- aged adults.

 Other risk factors are amendable to modification.  High blood pressure and diabetes are treatable.   It is also possible to stop smoking, although in many cases, smoking cessation presents a definite challenge.  Reducing daily stress in your life can decrease the emotional tension, which may predispose to heart attack.  Also sometimes difficult, but significant, is maintaining a reasonable body weight, with an increased muscle mass, as opposed to fat content.  This today, although you cannot alter your family history, blood pressure, cholesterol level, smoking, stress, obesity and other risk factors can be medically or behaviorally controlled.

 High blood, fat levels, and physical activity can be difficult to address, as personal lifestyles become ingrained and repetitive, and we are creatures of habit.

 Good consumption and physical activity become routines and difficult to change.  Although challenging, modifying these two risk factors may turn out to be a distinctly pleasant experience.  You will have the incentives of enjoyment and recreation plus health benefits as added encouragement.  In addition to modifying your dietary intake, you will learn to change, and enjoy, your exercise habits, as you simply fell better and are able to perform your daily activities more easily.

 By adopting these changes in your lifestyle, you can learn how to attain and maintain a higher level of physical fitness and lower possibility of becoming a heart attack statistic.

 And even if you don’t become chronically health-conscious, risk factor modification may lower the possibility of developing coronary artery disease, while becoming slimmer, fitter, and more energetic.



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Improving Your Heart Health, One Step at a Time

Joseph Delainey asked:


Without a healthy heart, every day is nerve racking. You worry each time you feel the slightest discomfort that today is the day your heart will give out. Instead of worrying your days away, take positive steps to improve your odds.

The first thing you can do to improve your heart health is to stop smoking. Any treatment for heart disease will be undone by the damage to your health caused by cigarettes. Smoking increases the risk of coronary heart disease by increasing your blood pressure and your blood’s ability to clot.

Smoking also prevents you from participating in physical activity, further adding to your chances for heart disease. In America, smoking accounts for nearly 444,000 of the country’s annual 2.4 million deaths, according to the American Heart Association.

Other risk factors for heart disease include diabetes, high blood cholesterol, obesity and genetic predisposition. You can’t control your genetic makeup, but you most certainly can have a positive effect on your weight. A reduction in your overall weight will significantly improve your heart health and potentially keep you from having to suffer through surgery, hospitalization and treatment for heart disease.

Instead of being dependent on blood pressure pills and cholesterol medication for the rest of your life, try to use foresight in your daily routine. If you don’t want to die of a heart attack before your daughter gets married or your grandchild is born, you’re going to have to drastically change your lifestyle.

This may sound overwhelming at first. After years of eating cheeseburgers, you can’t imagine being the guy that orders a salad at lunch. Well, every great accomplishment starts with a first step. Try simple steps to improve your heart health. Replace one bad habit a week with one good habit.

Instead of having potato chips for a snack while you’re watching television at night, cut up two small bananas and a cup of strawberries into slices. Enjoy the flavor of these fruits and their heart health benefits. Potassium has been proven to lower your risk of heart disease, and these foods are cholesterol free.

The following week, step out and replace another bad habit with a healthy one. Instead of watching a little bit of television after dinner, get out and walk around the block. Start off simple. The fresh air and the sunshine will lift your spirits, and the simple act of walking improves your heart health.

Then, step up your routine a single notch. If on Monday you walked around the block once, aim to go for an extra block on Wednesday. Before you know it, you’ll be looking forward to your walks and going a distance you never imagined possible. Exercise doesn’t have to mean killing yourself on a treadmill or lifting heavy weights at the gym. It simply means you need to increase your activity level a little bit at a time to improve your overall heart health.

The only person that can improve your current and future health is you. Your heart isn’t invincible. Years of punishing it with cigarettes, high cholesterol foods, a lack of exercise and other risky behaviors will eventually catch up with you. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Get out, get active, change your habits and get a new lease on life with a brand new set of heart healthy habits.



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Alcohol and the Benefits to your Heart Health

S. Michael Windsor asked:


Alcohol and the Benefits to Your Heart Health

After countless studies have been conducted on how alcohol affects our cardiovascular health, many extraordinary results have been discovered. Namely, how moderate consumption of alcohol actually helps our heart. There are numerous ways in which alcohol helps our heart, but we will merely be looking at the surface of what benefits drinking 1-2 drinks per day can provide.

As most of us have already heard, red wine has a very beneficial element that can help improve our health. Red wine contains polyphenol antioxidants which assist in fighting cardiovascular diseases as well as many other diseases and conditions such as thrombosis, or blood clotting.

Drinking moderately has not only also shown that it can help prevent blood clotting and blood clotters like fibrinogen; it also can increase your HDL cholesterol levels, which is the good cholesterol. In addition to these wonderful attributes, alcohol consumption in moderation can help alleviate artery stress spasms, increase insulin sensitivities, while improving blood flow.

Not only is it a good thing for individuals to drink alcohol moderately, but many doctors use alcohol in treatments for such things as improving artery walls in addition to alcohol’s healing attributes.

Studies have shown that those who drink moderately tend to live longer and healthier lives, as opposed to those who remain abstinent or are heavy drinkers, after reviewing the results. Also, tests have shown that those who drink alcohol moderately also help prevent heart attacks and/or the survivability of a heart attack. This also demonstrated that those moderate drinkers who did have a heart attack were less likely to have another heart attack.

In addition to heart health alone, alcohol has the ability to prevent strokes. However, it is important to remember that this is in reference to a moderate amount of alcohol regularly. Individuals who drink more than a moderate amount, such as heavy drinkers, do raise the bar and provide themselves with a higher risk of stroke as well as many other health risks.

There are many more benefits to moderate consumption of alcohol, as we discuss in other articles as well as at The Hangover Network website. But, as for alcohol and our cardiovascular health, it seems that alcohol is indeed becoming more and more realized as a preventative measure against many different types of diseases and conditions versus an alcohol free or heavy alcohol consumption lifestyle. Please remember that these statements are based on tests done by organizations and colleges such as Harvard Medical, The U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), World Health Organization, and The American Heart Association.



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Latest Discussion on Heart Health!

daveclark asked:


Hearth health has become the biggest concern among people around the world these days. Now people are better informed and have gained information through various researches and clinical trials, they are more conscious about their heart health and have better control over their heart than their predecessors thus reducing risks of hearth related ailments to a large extent. 

Numerous researches have been conducted on heart health. The talk on ‘statins’ also figures prominently in discussion about the heart. Statins have been highly helpful in controlling cholesterol levels in the people suffering from heart disease. Statins act by effectively lowering the LDL (levels of bad cholesterol); though, they do slightly affect raising HDL (the levels of good cholesterol).

In the latest researches, it has been found that those who have had a heart attack or some other cardiac problem get more benefit by the immediate high-dose statin therapy.

Main advantages of statins are as follows:

Statin acts to reduce the risk of death, heart attack and it also minimizes the need for cardiac procedures.

Statin therapy proves beneficial for people with high levels of C – reactive protein (a substance in the liver, produced by the inflammation of arteries). It must be noted here that one can have low cholesterol but still s/he might be at the high risk of heart problem; if s/he has high levels of C-reactive protein.  

It has been found that statins are not only safe but also a well-tolerated in the majority of patients using it. 

In another research conducted in mice, it has been found that leafy greens can prove beneficial in reducing the chances of heart attack or stroke. It is due to the fact that nutrients in the veggies protect the heart from getting damaged. To reach at this conclusion, some mice were provided with the drinking water that contained nitrites or nitrates while others were given plain drinking water.

After a week’s time, the mice were given an induced heart attack to study their heart after the attack. It was found that the mice having nitrite or nitrate contained water had less heart attack damage compared to those mice that were drinking plain water. Diets comprising of cauliflower, spinach, collard greens, meat and broccoli are ideal.

In the ayurvedic approach to have good heart health, it has been pointed out that practicing transcendental meditation for 20 minutes twice in a day leaves a positive and considerable effect on the accumulation of fatty deposits in arteries. It plays a vital role in reducing pain in a number of patients if practiced regularly. However, the experts have added that meditation is used only as a supplement, so it must not be taken as a substitute to the existing heart problem therapy.



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