Health-on-Line asked:


Medical insurance companies are often paying out for treatment for heart conditions. In fact, it is up there at the top with cancers in being one of the biggest factors that will bring down British people. Without medical insurance, sufferers are often subjected to lengthy waits for treatment on the National Health Service.

However, there is good news. Scientists have discovered a drug which cuts death from a common heart problem by almost a third. Atrial fibrillation is a disorder of the heart rhythm but ‘Multaq’ has been shown to reduce the incidents of this claiming lives by up to thirty per cent.

This medical condition affects 700,000 Britons but the recent advancement in its treatment is the first in twenty years. The fast and erratic heartbeat of patients needs stabilising to avoid angina and heart failure. It is the upper chambers of the heart that are out of rhythm and causes the heart to beat up to twice its normal speed.

Another complication of this condition is the fact that it causes tiny blood clots to form and these can lead to strokes, another topper on the medical insurance claims. At best, previous treatments involved the use of digoxin which successfully slows the heart beat but cannot regulate it and death rates remained the same. Drugs to thin the blood followed by minor electric shocks to restore normal rhythm are also used.

This drug is considered a huge breakthrough because it is having positive effects on all those that are trialling it, without side effects. More than 4,500 patients from 33 countries have trialled the effectiveness of Multaq over a year and this is when it was discovered that cardiovascular deaths were greatly reduced among the group. Quality of life is greatly improved for all those taking the drug and life time expectancy is greatly increased. It is hoped there will be a license for using this drug as early as next year.

If this is something of a warning to those who are concerned about their heart health, or for those who would like to keep the cost of their medical insurance premiums down, there is even more good news as to how we can look after ourselves. Drink red wine.

A chemical found in the skin of red grapes contains resveratrol, an anti-aging compound. This has been captured and put into pill form and has received the backing of the UK’s largest pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline. In fact, GSK bought out the company that made the drug for £361 million.

The drug was tried in lengthy tests on mice and it was found that they lived longer, were almost immune to the effects of obesity and rarely get diabetes, cancer or Alzheimer’s. It was also found that if the rodents were subject to starvation diets they could even extend their life by up to thirty per cent. It is believed this is because starving the body activates a gene known as sirtuin, a survival gene.

These discoveries are hoped to bring about more treatment for diseases such as cancer and Alzheimers. The same scientists have also found that flavanoids in blueberries and other fresh fruit interact with nerve cells and stimulates the re-growth of brain cells.

So, it would seem that while scientists are doing their best to find the elixir of life, it will always pay to look after our bodies to enable them to continue working as long as possible. And if this includes eating tasty food with the occasional glass of red wine then who am I to argue?



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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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