Common Drug Increases Risk of Heart Disease!!

Good Morning Everyone!

 

      This one goes out to everyone out there that's on a statin drug for lowering cholesterol.  Recent studies in medical journals have indicated that statins are associated with a 52% increase in calcified coronary plaque when compard to non-users of the drug!!!  You read right..... your "cholesterol/heart disease reducing" medication is now being seen to increase your risk of death from heart disease!  Rule of thumb with heart disease is to avoid anything that increases your chance of arterial wall plaque, so according to these recent studies... statin drugs would now fall into that category.

 

Actions to take from this:

• Make sure to bring this concern up to your medical doctor, as they would be able to counsel you on getting off the drug if need be.
• Again... Make sure to eat healthy!!  low sugar/sweets, low saturated fats, high good omega-3 fats, low glycemic foods, 
• Exercise... This helps tremedously with reducing your risk for heart disease.

Yours in Health,

Dr. Jeff 

Sources:

*Progression of Vascular Calcification Is Increased With Statin Use in the Veterans Affairs Diabetes Trial (VADT). Diabetes Care. 2012 Aug 8. [Epub ahead of print]

 

*Atherosclerosis. 2012 Nov;225(1):148-53. doi: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2012.08.002. Epub 2012 Aug 24

Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.

HEALTH CARE Reform = SICK CARE Reform!

Good Evening Everyone!

      The popular debate on "health care" reform would be better labeled as reform on "sick care."  The current system and most medical research is set up to treat people after they get sick.  There's very little within the current health care system or medical research to actually promote "health" and prevent sickness.  If those on capital hill truly wanted to save money in health care costs, then they should be putting at least half of their efforts on preventative care and food regulations.
      Now I'm not talking about simply spending more to educate people on the benefits of eating healthy!  I think most people know that eating healthy is good for them.  The American public just needs a little help in figuring what is actually good for them.........just as the government put restrictions on smoking (because it is bad for your health), they should also apply much tighter restrictions on food manufacturing and farming.  Most people think that what they are eating is healthy for them, even though many products are filled with harmful ingredients and preservatives.  Many of the ingredients will continually promote life threatening conditions such as obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hormonal imbalance and cancer (that's just the short list).  Those conditions alone account for 100's of billions of dollars in health care spending.
      So please don't mistake this week's blog as a Republican or Democratic issue.  This is an issue for me on common sense.... If our government wants to reduce health care spending, then it has to work to help people actually become healthier!!!  Right now, Americans rank in the mid 30's for most health rankings when compared to other developed countries.  We may live to a decent age in this country, but most often we don't feel good while we're doing it (and we spend a ton of money in Not Feeling Good!).

Knowing how they do things on Capitol Hill, you may have to take care of this yourself;   So here are some rules to live by:

• Try to eat preservative free food that is preferably organic
• Eat foods come from the land as much as possible
• Avoid Genetically Modified Fruits, Vegetables and Meats    
• Avoid high sugar or high glycemic index foods (find out glycemic index from google sources)
• Make sure you can pronounce the ingredients on the food you buy (avoid harmful man-made chemicals/additives)-- Many of these additives have been proven to increase your appetite and be very addictive.
• Exercise moderately (2-3x per week with cardiovascular and resistance training)
• Take care of your spine as it is your direct communication between your brain and body!!!

*Follow those seven points and you will do a pretty good to prevent many of this country's major health issues and costs.


Yours in Health,

Dr. Jeff



Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.