Study confirms heart benefit of soy

US regulators should continue to recommend soy protein as part of a heart-healthy diet because it helps lower cholesterol, researchers conclude from an analysis of dozens of studies done in the past two decades.

The US Food and Drug Administration has allowed soy products to carry claims about heart benefits since 1999. But in 2017 the FDA proposed revoking this authorization, citing mixed results in more recent studies of the heart benefits of soy.

For the current analysis, researchers pooled data from 46 soy trials cited by the FDA in its proposal to revoke permission for soy products to be marketed as heart healthy.

Soy reduced total cholesterol, the analysis found. Soy also reduced levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, or so-called “bad cholesterol,” which can lead to blood clots and heart attacks.

“Patients can feel confident that soy will help lower cholesterol in the same way as other FDA approved plant foods such as nuts, oats and barley, psyllium products and plant sterol margarines,” said Dr. David J.A. Jenkins, lead study author and a nutrition researcher at the University of Toronto in Canada.

“The FDA has been a `trailblazer’ in alerting the public to plant foods that lower cholesterol and it is so sad to see them retreating now just as the public are waking up to the value of plant foods and protein foods in particular,” said Jenkins, who has received funding from a wide range of food companies, including some that sell soy-based products.

Since 1990, the FDA has been responsible for evaluating health claims on packaged foods to ensure that they are rooted in strong science, the FDA said in its October 2017 statement announcing its proposal to revoke the claim for soy. Other claims approved for food packages over the years include the potential for calcium and vitamin D to lower the risk of osteoporosis or for certain fruits and vegetables to lower the risk of cancer.

The FDA did not respond to a request for comment on the new study.

In the 2017 statement, Susan Mayne, director of the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said, “Our review of that evidence has led us to conclude that the relationship between soy protein and heart disease does not meet the rigorous standard for an FDA-authorized health claim.”

In the current analysis, soy reduced LDL by an average of 4.2 to 6.7 mg/dL, researchers report in the Journal of the American Heart Association. That’s similar to the average reduction of 6.3 mg/dL seen in studies completed by 1999 that contributed to the FDA authorization of heart health claims for soy, the study team writes.

“Soy foods are heart healthy and a good source of protein,” said Dr. Omer Kucuk, a researcher at Emory University who wasn’t involved in the study. “Other habits for a healthy heart include daily physical activity and a diet rich in vegetables and low in sugar and saturated fat,” Kucuk said by email.

People who want to reduce their risk of heart attacks and strokes should also avoid egg yolk, limit intake of red meat, and in general consume a more plant-based diet, said Dr. David Spence, a researcher at Western University, in London, Ontario, who wasn’t involved in the study.

Soy is one of many ways people can achieve a more plant-based diet without losing the protein they may be used to getting from meat, Spence said by email.

“Any combination of grains and legumes contains all the essential amino acids that are necessary for your body to make protein,” Spence added. “So, any combination of peas, beans, lentils, chickpeas, nuts, etc. with bread, pasta, or rice (all of which should be whole grain) gets you protein.”

SOURCE: bit.ly/2kdxJdt Journal of the American Heart Association, online July 2, 2019.

Half of statins patients don't hit 'healthy' cholesterol levels

PARIS, France - Millions of patients around the world taking statins to lower the risk of heart disease fail to achieve the recommended levels of cholesterol reduction after two years of treatment, new research said Monday.

Statins -- a class of medicines designed to reduce cholesterol linked to heart disease and strokes -- are among the most commonly prescribed drugs in the United States and Britain.

The cholesterol-lowering industry is worth billions of dollars, but guidelines over who should take statins are often unclear.

A team of researchers in Britain reviewed public health records of 165,000 patients taking the medicine and found that fewer than one in two reached the recommended "healthy" 40 percent cholesterol reduction within two years.

"Statins do work and are effective, but some trials have highlighted there have been variations in responses among some patients," said Ralph Kwame Akyea, research associate at the University of Nottingham's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

"But we've shown there are some people not reaching this (safe cholesterol level) and the reducing of their risk is lower," he told AFP.

Akyea's study, published in the journal Heart, found that people on average started taking statins aged 62. It found nearly 23,000 cases of cardiovascular disease within six years of statin treatment among patients. 

In total, 51 percent of patients had an insufficient drop in cholesterol even while taking the drugs. 

Akyea stressed that the study -- the largest of its kind to date -- could not establish why some patients responded positively to statins while others didn't.

"Probably some people would have stopped taking their medication, maybe they had side effects," he said. 

"There might also be a role played by genetic variation. Not everyone responds to the medication and there are currently studies looking at the genetics of drug response."

MILLIONS MORE PATIENTS EXPECTED

Recent changes to prescription guidelines are set to see statins given to more than 55 million people in the US and 12 million people in Britain in the next few years.

Akyea and his team suggested that better guidance and monitoring was needed to ensure those given statins were taking the correct doses for the prescribed amount of time. 

Writing in a linked editorial, Marcio Bittencourt, from Sao Paulo's University Hospital, said the study's results were "clearly alarming". 

He stressed, however, that statins had been shown to significantly reduce the likelihood of heart attacks and strokes in a large percentage of at-risk patients. 

"Patients and society should be educated on the scientific evidence documenting the benefits of lipid lowering therapy," said Bittencourt. 

"Anti-statin propaganda based on pseudoscience should be strongly disavowed."

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source: news.abs-cbn.com

Can this mushroom help reduce cholesterol, lower blood pressure?

An endemic mushroom that could help reduce cholesterol and lower blood pressure was found in Agoo, La Union.

Maybelline Avelino accidentally discovered a cluster of mushrooms behind the municipal hall of Agoo.

Avelino, who cultivates mushrooms, asked for help after she was unsuccessful in identifying the species.

She posted a photo on a Facebook group, and later learned it is endemic.

Dr. Renato Reyes, a Filipino scientist from Central Luzon State University, identified the mushroom as Collybia reinakeana.

It was Reyes who discovered the mushroom in Nueva Ecija following an earthquake that struck Central and Northern Luzon in 1990.

He named the mushroom as Novoecijanotak. The mushroom grows up to one foot and usually propagates in dead plants.

According to him, the endemic mushroom is safe to eat. The mushroom, Reyes said, has the potential to lower cholesterol and blood pressure.

The Central Luzon State University is currently studying anti-cancer and anti-diabetic properties of Collybia reinakeana. - report from Teomar Bautista, ABS-CBN News

source: news.abs-cbn.com

This cholesterol is good for you

MANILA – Not all cholesterol is bad for you.

Speaking on radio DZMM Tuesday, Dr. Kurt Glen Jacoba of the Philippine Heart Center said there is a form of cholesterol that may be good for the body.

Low density lipoprotein, the "bad" cholesterol, can clog arteries and blood vessels.

Meanwhile, high density lipoprotein (HDL) can eliminate the bad cholesterol from the system.

“Pag titingnan mo yung molecules ng dalawa, ang difference lang is that yung bad cholesterol, yung LDL, meron siyang konting protein, pero maraming cholesterol. Yung good cholesterol, mas madaming protein, less yung cholesterol,” he explained.

Jacoba said the clogging of arteries and other blood vessels may lead to cardiovascular diseases and heart problems.

Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the Philippines.

The cardiologist explained that the best way to know your cholesterol level is to give a blood sample to a laboratory after adequate fasting.

A doctor, however, may see telltale signs of high cholesterol levels by looking at a person’s eyes using an instrument.

Whitish accumulations on the eye may indicate high cholesterol.

If your fingertips take some time to return to their normal color after you pinch them, this may also mean that some of your capillaries are clogged because of cholesterol.

Jacoba said HDL cholesterol may be obtained from the omega fatty acids in fish.

Exercise may also help reduce the amount of cholesterol in the body.

Those prone to cholesterol problems are also advised to avoid fatty foods.

When frying dishes, it may be better to use corn oil or olive oil.

Or, if it is possible, don’t fry the dishes. Steaming and other ways of cooking food are better for your health, he said. “Madami naming luto ang Pilipino na masarap eh,” he added.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

PH, India lead nations with highest obesity levels

MANILA, Philippines - While the world is focusing on global hunger and malnutrition, another ugly “monster” has emerged.

Obesity, a new form of malnutrition, has surfaced as an urgent challenge affecting several countries.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Philippines and India are among the developing countries with high levels of obesity and under-nutrition.

Obesity as a form of malnutrition often coexists with under-nutrition and results from shifts from local and traditional diets to foods that are increasingly heavy in salt, sugar and fat or processed foods.

The shift to a steady diet of processed food is due to the increasing cost of nutritious and natural food, the FAO said.

The global prevalence of combined overweight and obesity has risen in all regions, increasing among adults from 24 percent to 34 percent between 1980 and 2008.

The FAO said the prevalence of obesity among children has increased even faster, doubling from six percent to 12 percent over the same period.

“Overweight can co-occur with underweight within the same household, and is on the rise in countries with a high level of under-nutrition,” the FAO added in the report.

A 2011 survey by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) showed that 22.3 percent of Filipino adults are overweight and 6.1 percent are obese.

The prevalence of overweight Filipinos is expected to increase significantly by 2015.

“If this trend continues, it is highly likely that more will suffer from high-risk diseases that could lead to death,” the FNRI report said.

The factors leading to obesity in developing countries like the Philippines are numerous.

One leading factor is increasing world and domestic food prices, forcing increased purchase of unhealthy processed food over healthy and staple but expensive food.

Price increases threaten food security for poor households. For example, the 2011 increase in the price of basic grains meant that, in many developing countries, the cost of a kilogram of wheat doubled from about $.15 to $.30, a critical difference for people who live on little more than a dollar a day.

Food represents a substantial portion of the expenditure of poor households in poor countries.

For countries in Asia and Africa, expenditure on food was generally over 50 percent in the early 2000s, prior to the 2007-2008 crisis. In the Philippines, expenditures on food amount to 63 percent of a person’s income.

Biggest risk

Obesity is the biggest risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus. It likewise aggravates hypertension and raises blood cholesterol levels, which are major predisposing factors to the development of heart attacks and strokes.

In overweight men, the occurrence of impotence and sterility is higher than average while in obese women, there is a higher than average incidence of menstrual disorders, infertility and complicated pregnancies.

In both sexes, obesity increases the risk for gallbladder stones.

Obesity is likewise associated with cancers of the breast, uterus, cervix, ovary and gallbladder among women, and colon, rectum, prostate, pancreas and stomach among men.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

What happens during a heart attack

MANILA -- Here's what happens when a person suffers from a heart attack.

On Thursday's episode of "Magandang Gabi Dok," Dr. Jose Paolo Prado, a cardiologist from The Medical City, explained how a person can suffer from heart attack.

More often than not, a heart attack is caused by clogged arteries or veins.

"Nagbabara ang mga ugat sa puso dahil sa cholesterol. Ito ay sakit ng mga may edad dahil over time, habang kumakain ng pagkaing may cholesterol, nagkakaroon ng deposito 'yung sides ng ugat," Prado said.

"Ito pong mga cholesterol deposits na 'to, pinapakipot niya yung lagusan ng dugo. Ang nangyayari dito, pinapakipot niya ang lagusan ng dugo kaya hindi nasusuplayan ng dugo 'yung heart muscle kaya ito ho ay nararamdaman bilang chest pain," he added.

Chest pain is the most common symptom of a heart attack, especially if it is felt after a strenuous activities, or extreme emotions.

"Kapag bumibilis ang tibok ng puso, kinakailangan ng oxygen."

Prado also explained that unlike other people, those suffering from diabetes do not feel chest pains.

Instead, they feel pain in other parts of their body, which makes it more difficult to determine whether they are suffering from a heart attack.

Those who feel sudden chest pains must immediately go to the hospital for immediate treatment.

"Ang pagpunta po sa ospital ay napakaimportante po kasi nagmamadali po kami kapag nagbabara 'yung ugat, kasi gusto namin mabuksan ulit 'yung nagbabarang ugat ng mabilisan," Prado said, adding that if possible, an emergency angioplasty should be performed on a patient within 90 minutes.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com