Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
Magnesium is one of the most important nutrients for making sure the heart is functioning properly, yet your cardiologist may not put it on your radar. Here’s why your heart needs magnesium.
Triglycerides are a lipid found in the body that help ensure that your body gets the energy it needs between meals. But if you have too much of this fat, it can impact your heart, liver, pancreas and more. Learn more about how this can affect your health from Jerry Hickey, Ph.
folate
InViteⓇ Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey, Ph.
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Folate is a B-vitamin. It’s a water-soluble vitamin. It’s sometimes referred to as Vitamin B9. It’s really important to have sufficient folate, but not everybody does, sometimes because of eating habits, genetic issues or age.†
The active form of folate is called methyltetrahydrofolate. It’s needed to make normal, healthy cells. Folate is ubiquitous in vegetables and green leafy things, so it’s named after foliage.†
Without folate, you could develop very large red blood cells, also known as megaloblastic anemia. This can prevent the red blood cells from getting into the blood vessels, which also means oxygen is not flowing through your body as well. That leads to shortness of breath, fatigue and weakness.†
Your folate status is really influenced by genetic variations in the metabolism of the nutrient. There’s an enzyme called MTHFR and about 50% of people have a problem with it. This makes it harder for them to take synthetic folate often found in low quality supplements or the folate in vegetables and convert it into the active form. You can make up for that, to a degree, by taking a powerful folate or folic acid supplement or by eating more vegetables.†
HOW SPECIFIC GENES IMPACT YOUR MOOD & HEALTH – INVITE HEALTH PODCAST, EPISODE 202. Listen Now>>
If you lack folate, you get an elevated level of homocysteine. Homocysteine is a byproduct of protein metabolism and the body can handle homocysteine when it’s at a level of 12 or less. Once it gets over 12, it becomes toxic. Methyltetrahydrofolate is the vitamin that lowers homocysteine. If your homocysteine is elevated, you have a higher risk of developing heart disease or suffering from a stroke. You also have a higher risk of developing cancer, Alzheimer’s disease or a hip fracture.†
If you’re low in folate long term, you can develop heart disease. A review of 80 human clinical trials showed that even moderately elevated levels of homocysteine in your blood increases your risk of developing cardiovascular disease. This can also lead to clogged blood vessels and coronary heart disease. It makes it hard for blood to flow because the blood vessels are squeezing, so your blood pressure can also go up. Having a little bit of methyltetrahydrofolate can help support normal homocysteine levels in the body.†
This nutrient also plays a role in brain health. Your risk of Alzheimer’s disease may increase if you lack folate. We know that folate is important for brain development in babies, but studies are now showing that it is important for the brain throughout your entire lifespan, especially when you’re elderly.†
In this episode, Jerry Hickey, Ph. discusses the important role the active form of folate plays within the body. He explains the relationship between this nutrient and homocysteine and discusses how these substances both impact the health of your body.†
Key Topics:
Thank you for tuning in to the InViteⓇ Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at InViteⓇ Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the InViteⓇ Health Podcast.
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph Subscribe Today! Vitamin E is a very well-known nutritional supplement. It’s a chain-breaking antioxidant and fatty tissue. Considering that the brain is about 60% fat, it would seem that Vitamin E should be very important for …
Vitamin C is not just essential for healthy immune function. It is also important for brain and heart health, specifically for endothelial function. Here’s what you need to know.
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
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Strokes are quite common. They are a leading cause of loss of mobility and independence. Yet many strokes are preventable by making simple adjustments to your lifestyle and changing some of the foods you eat.
What are strokes?
Strokes are a leading cause of long term disability, loss of mobility, loss of independence and even death. A stroke occurs when the blood supply to the brain is reduced or interrupted. When this happens, your brain does not receive enough oxygen or the nutrients it needs to function and your brain cells start to die. Now a TIA – a transient ischemic attack – is really a warning sign that you can have a major stroke in the future. The symptoms pass quickly; frequently, by the time you get to the emergency room, the symptoms may be gone. This is why it is referred to as a mini stroke.
Why Cocoa Is A Superior Heart Health Superfood. Listen Now >>
The most common stroke by far is due to a blockage, called an ischemic stroke. It could be a blood clot or just an embolism that could just be a piece of plaque that broke of the lining of your arteries that went into the brain and blocked the major blood vessels in the brain. Less frequent is a hematocrit stroke. This is when there is bleeding in the brain, which commonly occurs in vegans and vegetarians but also in smokers and people who abuse alcohol.
Warning signs and symptoms, using FAST:
Additional warning signs include:
The Stats
Every 40 seconds someone in the United States has a stroke. Strokes tend to impact women more commonly than men. They occur twice as often in African American men than white men. Typically, almost 800,000 people a year in the United States suffer with a stroke.
50% of the factors that increase your risk of a stroke can be controlled by a healthier lifestyle. 80% of recurrent strokes can be prevented with the recurrent steps, such as controlling blood pressure and blood sugar.
Preventing A Stroke
First and foremost, you have to work with your doctor on the best methods for you personal health. Generally, the first step is to get your blood tested. You have to treat your diabetes and maintain normal blood sugar, as diabetes is a big risk factor for a stroke. You want to have your cholesterol under control by eating the right foods, exercising regularly and sometimes taking medication. Listen to our Sterols Episode, if you are someone who cannot take a statin drug.
You want to keep your triglycerides under control. High blood pressure is the number one cause of a stroke, following that is atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation is when the top chambers of the heart that pump the blood to the bottom chambers of the heart are quivering or beating faster than normal.
A couple of things not normally looked into but should be:
Other healthy lifestyle changes:
There are certain drugs that increase the risk of a stroke:
Nutrients and Foods That Support Brain and Heart Health
Minerals commonly found in vegetables and fruits like Potassium are extremely important. Only 2% of Americans get sufficient amount of Potassium in their diet. Magnesium found in fish and fresh vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables is important. Low Magnesium levels has been shown to increase your risk of stroke by about 25%. My recommendation? Magnesium Glycinate can supply a lot of Magnesium in one tablet and it is by far the best absorbed Magnesium you can purchase. A second option is Magnesium Citrate, which still has a great deal of Magnesium and is well absorbed but is not quite as good as Magnesium Glycinate. The difference is that Magnesium Citrate is also a stool softener and will work as a laxative. Magnesium Glycinate will not have this effect. Folate or Folic Acid is found in plants but it is hard to absorb. Oddly, a vegetarian eating plants all day long could still be low in folate. Plus, some people cannot convert folate to its active form and a lot of multivitamins out there use that synthetic, inactive form (folic acid). You want to use Methyltetrahydrofolate, which is already the active form of Folate.†
Cocoa gets processed into chocolate through a process called dutching that adds milk fat and sugar that creates the chocolate we all love to snack on. Unfortunately, when this process occurs, a lot of the beneficially ingredients for the heart and brain in cocoa gets damaged, especially flavonols. Cocoa in its original form has been shown to be great for circulation, the heart and the brain. Cocoa found in supermarkets can be tainted with sprays and a heavy metal called cadmium that has been connected to breast cancer. Cocoa as a supplement has to be checked for bacteria, heavy metals and things of that nature. Invite Health takes that steps further by ensuring our ingredients are not sprayed by chemicals, allowing us to offer a non-GMO cocoa supplement.†
A study by UCLA researchers reports that three cups of Green tea a day reduced risk of stroke by 21%. A meta-analysis of nine human clinical trials of 195,000 people concluded that six cups per day reduced the risk of a stroke by an additional 21%, so that means that if you have six cups of green tea a day, according to this study, you cut your risk of stroke by 42%. And the effect was consistent.†
Thank you for tuning in to the Invite Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Invite Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the Invite Health Podcast.
