The so-called Mediterranean diet is claimed to be preventive with respect to diet-related degenerative diseases. It is suggested that the preventive effect especially with respect to diabetes might be the low glycemic index of this kind of diet. However, nutrients with a high GI are more frequently consumed in the ...

Mediterranean diets are characterized by olive oil, as the dominant fat source and a high to moderate consumption of fruit and vegetables, cereal products, fish, legumes, in combination with little meat and wine with meals. The "reference" Mediterranean diet seems to differ according to country, but is associated with good ...

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are growing contributors to global disease burdens, with epidemics of CVD advancing across many regions of the world which are experiencing a rapid health transition. Diet and nutrition have been extensively investigated as risk factors for major cardiovascular diseases like coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke and ...

On the great occasion of Professor Ancel Keys' 100th birthday (26 January,2004), it is particularly appropriate--and highly relevant for today and tomorrow--to note the highlights of his professional accomplishments and contributions: the Seven Countries Study (SCS) he initiated and led demonstrated unequivocally in its cross-population analyses that dietary saturated fat ...

An open multi-centre veterinary clinical trial, comparing conditions before and after treatment with a herbal dietary supplement consisting of a natural resin extract of Boswellia serrata, was conducted by 10 practicing veterinarians in Switzerland. This traditional plant-based supplement is known for its anti-rheumatic and anti-inflammatory properties. 29 dogs with manifestations ...

Dyslipidemia is an increasing problem in most industrialized societies and is a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). Imbalances in individual lipid components, including total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and serum triglycerides, have each been shown to contribute to this increased risk. Certain psychiatric ...

For many years, it has been recognized that elevated serum cholesterol is a risk factor associated with atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease, the latter being a major cause of death in Western countries. Numerous drugs that lower cholesterol have been used to treat hypocholesterolemic individuals. However, the undesirable side effects ...

Our genetic make-up, shaped through millions of years of evolution, determines our nutritional and activity needs. Although the human genome has remained primarily unchanged since the agricultural revolution 10,000 years ago, our diet and lifestyle have become progressively more divergent from those of our ancient ancestors. Accumulating evidence suggests that ...

A new category of anti-anginal drug - exemplified by ranolazine - is believed to work by partially inhibiting cardiac oxidation of fatty acids; oxidation of glucose requires less oxygen per mol of ATP generated, and thus is preferable to fat oxidation when oxygen availability is limiting in underperfused cardiac tissue. ...

Westernization of the Japanese lifestyle has been steadily progressing, and the percent energy intake as fat has increased 3.8 fold over the past 50 years. Although the serum cholesterol (C) level has also increased, the death rate due to coronary artery disease (CAD) is not increasing. Consumption of dietary fat ...

Neutrophils are activated in the coronary circulation during acute coronary events (unstable angina and myocardial infarction), often prior to the onset of ischemic damage. Moreover, neutrophils infiltrate coronary plaque in these circumstances, and may contribute to the rupture or erosion of this plaque, triggering thrombosis. Activated neutrophils secrete proteolytic enzymes ...

BACKGROUND: The glycaemic index (GI) is a physiological measure of the ability of a carbohydrate to affect blood glucose. Interest is growing in the low GI carbohydrate concept for the clinical management of people at risk of, or with established coronary heart disease. There is a need to review the ...

The best approach to the primary prevention of hypertension is a combination of lifestyle changes: weight loss in overweight persons; increased physical activity; moderation of alcohol intake; and consumption of a diet that is higher in fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products and lower in sodium content than the average ...

BACKGROUND: Despite the frequent use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), their effects on plasma lipid levels have not been systematically investigated. Our objective was to assess the effects of 8 weeks of paroxetine administration on plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels. METHOD: Blood samples ...

Persons with diabetes mellitus have an increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and therefore it is imperative to identify and treat aggressively all cardiovascular risk factors. The first line of intervention aiming to reduce the cardiovascular burden is dietary therapy along with other recommendations for lifestyle modification. Compliance with life-long dietary ...

Animal source foods (ASF) have always been a constituent of human diets. Their pattern of use, however, changed in dramatic ways over the course of human evolution. Before 2 million years ago (mya), meat in particular was acquired opportunistically via hunting of small or young animals and scavenging of animals ...

The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is primarily responsible for acquiring and digesting food, absorbing nutrients and water, and expelling wastes from the body as feces. A proper diet and normally functioning GI tract are integral for the delivery of nutrients, prevention of nutrient deficiencies and malnutrition, repair of damaged intestinal epithelium, ...

Research has shown that high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), "bad cholesterol," is a risk factor for cardiac disease. This article provides an overview of d" cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein, HDL) and "bad" (LDL) cholesterol, assesses the role of triglycerides in heart disease, and offers strategies for cholesterol lowering and heart ...

We administered a step I diet to 50 hypercholesterolemic patients with coronary artery disease during 12 weeks. Compared with baseline, the step I diet significantly changed lipoprotein levels, significantly improved the percent flow-mediated dilation response to hyperemia by 32 +/- 7% (p <0.001), increased plasma levels of nitrate by 45 ...

While there are many examples of people who live for 100 years or more with little evidence of a decline in brain function, many others are not so fortunate and experience a neurodegenerative disorder, such as Alzheimer disease or Parkinson disease. Although an increasing number of genetic factors that may ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether "low-intensity" exercise (walking) and "high-intensity" exercise (aerobic dance), when added to a weight loss diet, have different effects on coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors and physical fitness. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Ninety obese women were divided into diet only (DO), diet plus walking (DW), and ...

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is multifactorial with a complex etiology. Conventional risk factors including serum lipids account for less than one half of future IHD events. In the past few years, novel risk factors such as hemostatic and thrombotic factors contributing to the development and progression of IHD have been ...

Hypercholesterolemia is a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD) and also could contribute to impaired immune response. The National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel recommends a therapeutic lifestyle change (TLC) diet to reduce the risk for CHD. We investigated the effects of changing from a high-fat Western diet to ...

Advances in nutrition research during the past few decades have changed scientists' understanding of the contribution of vegetarian diets to human health and disease. Diets largely based on plant foods, such as well-balanced vegetarian diets, could best prevent nutrient deficiencies as well as diet-related chronic diseases. However, restrictive or unbalanced ...

This article has considered a vast literature attesting to the efficacy of dietary intervention on risk factors for CHD and on vascular outcomes. Rather than relying solely on pharmacotherapy to improve risk factors and vascular outcomes, physicians, nurses, dietitians, pharmacists, and medical providers should emphasize the benefits of a well-balanced, ...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of premature death in the UK and a major cause of ill health and disability. Whilst death rates from CVD have been falling since the late 1970s in the UK, levels of morbidity (such as angina) do not seem to be falling and ...

High BP is one of the most important and common risk factors for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and renal disease. The contemporary approach to the epidemic of elevated BP and its complications involves pharmacologic treatment of hypertensive individuals and "lifestyle modification," which is beneficial for both nonhypertensive and hypertensive persons. A ...

BACKGROUND: Adherence to a Mediterranean diet may improve longevity, but relevant data are limited. METHODS: We conducted a population-based, prospective investigation involving 22,043 adults in Greece who completed an extensive, validated, food-frequency questionnaire at base line. Adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet was assessed by a 10-point Mediterranean-diet scale that ...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has a multifactorial aetiology and many potential risk markers are known. As it was not feasible to discuss all markers and their possible interactions in relation to all aspects of CVD, selections had to be made in this paper. In the context of claims and functional foods, ...

BACKGROUND: Few studies have investigated the effects of dietary fats on the development of Alzheimer disease. We examined the associations between intake of specific types of fat and incident Alzheimer disease in a biracial community study. METHODS: We performed clinical evaluations on a stratified random sample of 815 community residents ...

In the past decade there has been an explosion of data on the beneficial role of cholesterol reduction in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD). While earlier clinical trials focused primarily on patient populations with very high cholesterol levels, more recent studies have also included individuals with somewhat ...

This work is about the comparison between two studies performed in southern Italy: 'Montecorvino Rovella Project' (PMR, 1988-1989) and 'VIP Project' (Prevention in the Irno Valley, 1998-1999) to evaluate the trend of cholesterolaemia in an area of the Campania region. These two areas which are near the city of Salerno ...

During the last two decades it has been established that Greenland Eskimos living on their traditional diet, have a lower incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) than when living in Denmark on a western diet. These findings have been attributed to their diet, particularly the high amounts n-3 polyunsaturated fatty ...

Our knowledge is far from complete regarding the relationship between vegetarian diets and human health. However, scientific advances in the last decades have considerably changed the role that vegetarian diets may play in human nutrition. Components of a healthy vegetarian diet include a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grain cereals, ...

The results of large prospective epidemiologic investigations support the hypothesis that coronary disease risk depends on the quality rather than quantity of dietary fat. Whereas saturated fat and cholesterol appear to increase the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) as predicted by their effects on blood lipids, strong evidence has ...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in most developed countries. Most CVD deaths are preventable through life-style measures such as diet, exercise and avoidance of cigarette smoking. Decreased intake of saturated fat and cholesterol and increased intake of cholesterol-reducing foods, such as pulses, deserve a high priority ...

CONTEXT: Coronary heart disease (CHD) remains the leading cause of mortality in industrialized countries and is rapidly becoming a primary cause of death worldwide. Thus, identification of the dietary changes that most effectively prevent CHD is critical. OBJECTIVE: To review metabolic, epidemiologic, and clinical trial evidence regarding diet and CHD ...

BACKGROUND: The rapid emergence of coronary artery disease (CAD) in south Asian people is not explained by conventional risk factors. In view of cardioprotective effects of a Mediterranean style diet rich in alpha-linolenic acid, we assessed the benefits of this diet for patients at high risk of CAD. METHODS: We ...

A reduction in dietary fat has been widely advocated for the prevention and treatment of obesity and related complications. However, the efficacy of low-fat diets has been questioned in recent years. One potential adverse effect of reduced dietary fat is a compensatory increase in the consumption of high glycaemic index ...

Hypertriglyceridaemia, diabetes, hypertension and obesity are the deadly quartet indicating a syndrome at high risk for cardiovascular disease for which, in 1998, WHO proposed the definition of Metabolic Syndrome, related to an elevated degree of insulin resistance. Treatment will often include behavioural changes that reduce body weight and increase physical ...

Elevated circulating cholesterol can have profound effects on the health of an individual. Such excess cholesterol can promote coronary artery disease, production and accumulation of beta-amyloid in the brain, and possibly Alzheimer's disease (AD). In a clinical trial evaluating the benefit of a cholesterol-lowering drug in the treatment of AD, ...

The consumption of diets enriched in monounsaturated fat has been related to a lower rate of coronary heart disease. It is well known that this dietary model decreases LDL-cholesterol plasma levels when replacing a saturated fat enriched diet. For this reason, a high monounsaturated fat diet is now being advocated ...

In addition to pathology in the gray matter, there are also abnormalities in the white matter in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Sulfatide species are a class of myelin-specific sphingolipids and are involved in certain diseases of the central nervous system. To assess whether sulfatide content in gray and white matter in ...

The traditional Mediterranean diet as outlined in this article is an ideal eating pattern for prevention of cardiovascular disease. The essence of this diet is the use of natural, whole foods and the avoidance of highly processed ones. We believe that current understanding and scientific evidence are adequate to recommend ...

1. The Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (ATPIII) will significantly increase the number of Americans treated for hypercholesterolemia. 2. The ATPIII focuses on lowering low density lipoprotein cholesterol as a primary initiative and using ...

We evaluated the role of a Mediterranean-style diet in preventing acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Data from CARDIO2000, a multi-centre retrospective case-control study investigating the association between ACS and demographic, nutritional, lifestyle and medical risk factors were used. We studied 661 patients hospitalized for a first ACS event and 661 matched ...

A diet high in carbohydrates with high glycemic indexes (GI) and glycemic load were linked to risk of coronary heart disease development in women in a large prospective study. Two cross-sectional studies showed that low-GI diets are associated with high HDL-cholesterol concentrations, especially in women. In a tightly controlled study ...

INTRODUCTION: Students aged 13 and 14 y, in a region in northern Norway with high blood cholesterol levels and high mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) in the adult population, were studied with respect to lifestyle, dietary habits, nutritional intake and blood lipids including fatty acids in serum. The students ...

The proposition that environmental agents, such as diet, aluminum, and viruses, are as important as genetic factors in the etiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) was advanced by the authors at the Challenging Views of Alzheimer's Disease meeting held in Cincinnati on July 28 and 29, 2001. Diet, dietary fat, and ...

The primary care physician is in a position to advise patients on the efficacy of alternative and complementary therapies as they relate to cardiovascular diseases. Anti-oxidant vitamin supplementation has not been shown to be efficacious in decreasing cardiovascular events. N-3 fatty acids appear to be beneficial in secondary prevention of ...