Recently many of us were provided an opportunity to watch a highly interesting video on the internet covering a talk given by Dr. Salim Yusuf at a recent Cardiology Update meeting. Dr. Yusuf is the Marion W. Burke Chair in Cardiovascular Disease at McMaster University Medical School in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and current President of […]
Why LDL-Cholesterol May Be Overestimated on a Low-Carb, High-Fat (LCHF) Diet
Elevated LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) is common among people who adopt a low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) lifestyle. That’s why many physicians and nutritionists remain doubtful when it comes to LCHF, despite overwhelming evidence that such a dietary approach improves several other lipid parameters, usually leads to weight loss and positively affects glucose metabolism. Several studies have shown that LDL-C constitutes a major risk factor for the […]
Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) is Not Detected by Measuring Cholesterol
Elevated blood cholesterol is a common reason why people see their doctor. Most of us have been told that high cholesterol increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, and we are usually urged to lower it by any means available. But, the problem is that high cholesterol is often harmless, and heart disease can occur in the absence of […]
Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) in Atherosclerosis and Heart Disease
The death rate from coronary artery disease (CAD) has declined considerably over the last three decades, mostly because of better control of risk factors and advances in therapy. However, due to the aging of the population and better survival of those affected, the prevalence of the disease remains high. The current epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes will likely escalate the problem further. Atherosclerosis, […]
High Triglycerides – How to Lower Triglycerides
Triglycerides are important organic compounds. Most of the fat we consume in our diet is triglyceride and so too is most of the fat we store in our body. Fatty acids contained in triglycerides are an essential source of energy for our cells. Triglyceride concentration can be measured in blood and may provide valuable information about metabolism and general health. High levels may reflect […]
Which Is Most Atherogenic, High-Fat Cheese, High-Fat Meat or Carbs?
Atherosclerosis is the most common underlying cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD. It is caused by a complex interplay between lipoproteins, white blood cells, the immune system and the normal elements of the arterial wall. Atherosclerosis can affect all arteries in the body but seems to have a strong affinity for the coronary arteries. The resulting […]
Diet and Heart Health – The Dawn of a New Era
The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans are due to be published later this year. The Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) released February 23 this year suggested that we may see important changes of direction in certain areas. Since the publication of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines important scientific data has emerged […]
Benefits of Coffee – Caffeine Benefits Explained
It’s been almost forty years since Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris sang about the guy who left his gypsy girl for a journey “to the valley below”. His final cup of coffee became a classic. One more cup of coffee for the road One more cup of coffee ‘fore I go To the valley below – Bob Dylan 1976 Coffee, second […]
The Year of the Fat
During the first few months of this year, we’ve seen at least three strong signs suggesting that health authorities have misled the public for several decades about dietary fats. This finding is of particular interest because later this year the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans will be published. Ever since the beginning of the 1960s, “eat less fat, in […]
What About Saturated Fats if You Already Have Heart Disease?
We’re all aware of the aggressive campaign driven by public health authorities and medical professionals to decrease blood cholesterol. It all started more than fifty years ago when the Framingham Heart Study reported that high blood cholesterol was a major risk factor for coronary heart disease (1). Central to the dogma was the belief that lowering blood cholesterol would lower […]
HDL Cholesterol – The “Good” Cholesterol Explained
High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL cholesterol) is commonly measured to assess the risk of heart disease. If you’ve had a blood sample drawn for assessment of lipid panel you probably already know if your cholesterol level is acceptable or not. You might also recall something about good and bad cholesterol and the ratio between these two. Of course, […]
Vegetarian Diet – Will Going Vegan Reduce the Risk of Heart Disease?
I became a bit puzzled the other day when I read a blog article written by Kim A Williams MD, a cardiologist at Rush University in Chicago and the next president of the American College of Cardiology. Doctor Williams describes how one of his patient’s history inspired him to change his dietary habits and adopt a cholesterol […]
The Modern-Day Heart Patient – From One Risk Profile to Another
Although the death rate from coronary heart disease (CHD) has declined rapidly during the last few decades, CHD remains the most common cause of death in most countries around the world. The reduction in death rate is partly due to fewer people being diagnosed with CHD and partly due to a better prognosis of those […]
Statins For Elderly People – A Deceptive Message
People older than 65 years are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Such disease accounts for more than 80 percent of deaths in this population. Age itself appears independently associated with risk, and risk factors such as high blood pressure, lipid disorders and diabetes are common among the elderly. An important question facing the medical […]
10 Pitfalls of Using LDL Cholesterol to Assess Risk
Blood levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), commonly termed the “bad cholesterol” are widely used to assess the risk of future heart disease. A traditional lipid panel measures total cholesterol, triglycerides, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). These numbers are then used to calculate LDL-C which has been found to be strongly correlated with the risk of cardiovascular disease […]