To Your Health
February, 2011 (Vol. 05, Issue 02) |
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Eat Your Way to a Healthy Heart
By Ronald Klatz, MD and Robert Goldman, MD
February means Valentine's Day; what better month to focus on matters of the heart, specifically how we can keep it healthy? Let's take a look at some of the best ways to optimize heart health this and every month courtesy of the latest research examining how nutrition affects the cardiovascular system.
Understanding the impact of aging on the cardiovascular system first requires an understanding of those effects pertaining to disease processes and lifestyle changes typical in aging.
In most healthy older individuals, the cardiovascular system is adequate to meet the body's need for the pressure and flow of blood. However, age-related changes in the cardiovascular system do occur, including:
- stiffening of the arteries, which increases systolic blood pressure (amount of pressure against the arterial walls), imposing a greater load on the heart;
- decline in various peripheral circulatory factors, including a decrease in muscle mass with age during exercise, a decreased ability to direct blood flow to muscles, and a decreased ability of muscle to utilize oxygen;
- decline in aerobic exercise capacity, whether measured as total work performance or maximal oxygen consumption (in older people who maintain a high level of physical activity, however, the decline appears to be approximately half of the 10 percent per decade decrease seen in sedentary individuals); and
- decline in maximal exercise heart rate (a universal age-related occurrence).
Because these age-related changes in the cardiovascular system are highly nonuniform, some changes can result in a definite impairment, while others may not cause any symptoms at all. Thus, aging is by no means associated with a generalized decline in cardiovascular functions; it should instead be viewed as a complex, highly selective and individualized process.
What, then, is a prudent anti-aging approach to heart health? While the benefits of cardiovascular activity are well-established and often receive the bulk of attention when discussing heart health, the scientific literature suggests a number of nutritional approaches also are worthy of consideration for achieving optimal cardiac fitness.
The Power of (Healthy) Protein
Previous studies have linked consumption of red meat to increased risks of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Adam Bernstein, from Harvard School of Public Health, and colleagues studied data collected on 84,136 women, ages 30 to 55, enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study. The research team examined the women's medical histories and lifestyles, including dietary habits, and tracked the incidence of non-fatal heart attacks and fatal coronary heart disease for 26 years.
Women who consumed two servings per day of red meat, as compared to those who consumed only half a serving per day, had a 30 percent higher risk of developing coronary heart disease. By comparison, the data also showed that eating more servings of protein sources such as poultry, fish and nuts was significantly associated with a decreased risk of coronary heart disease. Compared to eating one serving each day of red meat, women who substituted other protein-rich foods experienced significantly lower risk of coronary heart disease:
- 30 percent lower risk associated with eating one serving per day of nuts;
- 24 percent lower risk associated with eating one serving per day of fish;
- 19 percent lower risk associated with eating one serving per day of poultry;
- 13 percent lower risk associated with eating one serving per day of low-fat dairy products.
These findings led the researchers to an important conclusion, particularly with obesity and obesity-related disorders soaring in the U.S. and clearly associated with, among other things, excessive consumption of unhealthy food: "These data suggest that high red meat intake increases risk of [coronary heart disease] and that [coronary heart disease] risk may be reduced importantly by shifting sources of protein in the U.S. diet."
Source: Bernstein AM, et al. "Major Dietary Protein Sources and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Women." Circulation, August 2010.
