Keeing your heart healthy for life
Heart disease
Cardiovascular disease is a significant risk for men. And for men of any age. But heart disease should not be seen as something that is inevitable. The time to developing cardiovascular disease can be significantly delayed through diet and lifestyle changes, starting around age 40 when the damage starts to accumulate.
More surprisingly, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for men at all ages. If a man dies at 30 then there is a 20.8% chance it was due to heart disease; if a man dies at 75 then there is a 22.3% chance it was heart disease.
Despite these statistics, other aspects of men’s health seem to get a lot more attention. For example, prostate cancer accounts for 2-3% of all deaths in men across the ages 30 to 75 years, colon and rectum cancer accounts for 1-2%, accidents and injury account for 3-8%. (Fyi, all cancers combined are around 20%).
Cholesterol ... uh oh...
Many men who have a blood test men will be told their 'cholesterol is high'.
This is usually the first sign that things are not in order.
If cholesterol is 'high' a GP may recommend losing weight, exercising more, or sometimes they will tell men to eat less cholesterol. If you are told this then please come and see me. Dietary cholesterol does not cause cholesterol, unless you are a rabbit!
Diet and lifestyle changes
A few small changes in the diet can have a dramatic impact on the level of cholesterol in the blood.
Obvious changes involve reducing alcohol and cutting out junky sugary foods like biscuits and cakes. This should improve most health markers and help you to lose weight.
But there are other more specific diet and lifestyle changes that may be tailored to the unique profile of your blood test markers.
As a general rule, saturated fat increases cholesterol and swapping saturated fats in your diet to poly- or mono-unsaturated fats lowers cholesterol.
Sugary foods lower triglycerides - another marker of heart health captured by the blood lipids test.
Oily fish reduces ‘bad’ cholesterol if triglycerides are high.
Foods high in soluble fibre (like oats) should lower your cholesterol but may have an adverse impact on your blood sugars. Balancing the risk between blood sugar balance and heart disease is important because poor blood sugar balance may in itself damage blood vessel walls.
Garlic has been shown to reduce cholesterol. Did you know that crushing it 20 minutes before using it will activate its enzyme and increase its potency?
The list of things to do is endless, but the application is nuanced.
Everyone is different.
Read more about heart health on my blog here.
