Estimated US deaths due to preventable factors approach 2 million per year

An article published online on April 28, 2009 in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine ( PLoS Medicine) estimates 1,977,000 deaths each year in the United States are due to preventable risk factors. Smoking, hypertension and being overweight top the list, with 1,078,000 yearly deaths attributed to these preventable causes.

For their report, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, along with colleagues from the University of Toronto and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, utilized data from U.S. health surveys as well as mortality statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics. Deaths were categorized as preventable if the subjects would not have died at the time they did if they did not have a particular modifiable risk factor. In addition to smoking, high blood pressure and overweight/obesity, the team listed the following risk factors as among the top preventable causes of death: inadequate physical activity, elevated glucose, high low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, insufficient omega-3 fatty acid intake, high trans fatty acid intake, alcohol abuse, low vegetable and fruit intake, and low dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids. While alcohol use is protective against mortality from cardiovascular disease and diabetes, alcohol-related deaths from traffic and other accidents, violence, cancer and other diseases outweighed its benefits, leading to an estimated 64,000 yearly deaths.
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Alpha-lipoic acid reduces triglycerides in animal model of obesity/diabetes

An article published online on February 20, 2009 in the journal Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics reported the benefits of the antioxidant compound alpha-lipoic acid in lowering triglycerides. High triglyceride levels often occur in obesity, and are a predictor of atherosclerosis, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and even premature mortality. Proper diet, exercise, and weight loss can help reduce triglycerides, but are not effective for everyone.

For the current research, Regis Moreau and colleagues at Oregon State University's Linus Pauling Institute used rats bred to become obese and diabetic. At five weeks of age, the animals were given 200 milligrams per kilogram body weight R-alpha-lipoic acid per day. Control rats were matched for food intake with the animals that received lipoic acid during the five week treatment period.

Not unexpectedly, triglyceride levels following meals were higher by the end of the study compared to pretreatment levels. However, while triglyceride levels doubled among those that received alpha-lipoic acid, they increased by over 400 percent in the control group. Continue Reading

Green tea catechins improve exercise-induced abdominal fat loss

An article published in the February, 2009 Journal of Nutrition reported the outcome of a clinical trial which found a lowering effect for green tea catechins on abdominal fat and triglycerides in overweight adults.

Increased abdominal fat is a factor associated with metabolic syndrome, which increases the risk of diabetes and heart disease.Kevin C. Maki of Provident Clinical Research in Bloomington, Indiana, along with coauthors including Jeffrey B. Blumberg of Tufts University in Boston, randomized 132 overweight or obese adults to receive a beverage containing approximately 625 milligrams green tea catechins (including gallocatechin, epigallocatechin, catechin, epicatechin, EGCG, gallocatechin gallate, epicatechin gallate and catechin gallate) and 39 milligrams caffeine, or a beverage containing the same amount of caffeine without catechins daily for twelve weeks.

Participants were requested to maintain the same amount of caloric intake and to engage in at least 180 minutes per week of exercise, including at least three supervised sessions each week. Body composition, serum lipids, and other factors were assessed at the beginning and end of the study. Continue Reading

Higher vitamin C levels associated with lower blood pressure in young women

In an article published online on December 17, 2008 in Nutrition Journal, Gladys Block of the University of California, Berkeley and her associates report that young women who have higher plasma levels of vitamin C have lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as a reduced increase in blood pressure over a one year period compared with those whose levels of the vitamin are low.
The current analysis included 242 African-American and Caucasian participants in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study, a ten year longitudinal study designed to evaluate the development of obesity in adolescent girls aged 8 to 11 upon enrollment. Blood pressure was measured at the ninth and tenth annual follow-up visit, and blood samples obtained at the tenth visit were analyzed for plasma ascorbic acid (vitamin C) levels.

Following adjustment for body mass index and other factors, the research team found that women whose plasma vitamin C levels were among the top 25 percent had systolic blood pressure that averaged 4.66 mmHg lower and diastolic blood pressure that averaged 6.04 mmHg lower than women whose vitamin C was in the lowest 25 percent. When blood pressure readings from the tenth year of the study were compared with those of the ninth year, women with plasma vitamin C in the lowest 25 percent were found to have experienced an average diastolic increase of 5.97 mmHg, while those whose vitamin C levels were highest had only a 0.23 mmHg increase. A similar effect was observed for systolic blood pressure. Continue Reading

Vitamin D deficiency: emerging cardiovascular disease risk factor

A review published in the December 9, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology describes the involvement of deficient vitamin D levels in common risk factors for cardiovascular disease (including high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity) and in cardiovascular events.Vitamin D deficiency is estimated to affect up to half of all adults and 30 percent of children in the United States.

While the vitamin’s role in bone health has long been known, a flurry of recent studies have uncovered associations between deficient levels of the vitamin and a number of diseases, including cardiovascular disease. In their review, Michael F. Holick, MD, PhD and colleagues note that insufficient levels of vitamin D activate the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, which can lead to hypertension and thickening of the heart and blood vessel walls.

Altered hormone levels related to a deficiency of vitamin D (which is also a hormone) increase the risk of diabetes, which is a well known risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease. In 15,088 subjects from the NHANES III national cohort registry, higher vitamin D levels were related to a lower risk of diabetes as well as hypertension, high triglycerides, and obesity. And among Framingham Heart Study participants who had levels of vitamin D of less than 15 nanograms per milliliter upon enrollment, the risk of subsequent cardiovascular events was twice as great as the risk experienced by those with higher levels of the vitamin. Continue Reading

Greater calcium intake correlated with lower body mass index

The November, 2008 issue of the journal Nutrition published the finding of Brazilian researchers of an association between greater calcium intake and lower body mass index in men and women aged 20 to 59.
Researchers at the University of São Paulo in Brazil evaluated data from 1,459 participants in the Health Survey of the State of São Paolo, which collected health information from residents in four areas of the Brazilian state from 2001 to 2002. Calcium intake was calculated from the responses to participant questionnaires, which obtained information on food consumption, physical activity, height, and demographics. Forty-three percent of the participants were classified as overweight, of which 13.3 percent were obese.

The recommended intake value of 1000 milligrams calcium was exceeded by only 4.7 percent of the subjects. For men, the average intake of the calcium was 410 milligrams per day, and for women, the average was 483 milligrams. A significantly higher incidence of overweight and obesity was found among those whose calcium intake levels were in the lowest half of participants. For those whose intake was less than 398.5 milligrams per day, the risk of being overweight was 24 percent higher than the risk experienced by those whose intake was in the top 25 percent at 593.7 milligrams or more. Continue Reading