Monthly Archives: May 2012

Join Boone Heart Institute September 13-15, 2012, in Vail, Colorado, for the inaugural Living at Your Peak, the Rocky Mountain region’s premier wellness experience. At this groundbreaking event, you can network with marathon legends, cycling champions, renowned medical researchers and the nation’s leading health and fitness experts. Dr. Jeffrey Boone will be speaking at this event and the Boone Heart Institute staff will be performing C-IMT testing on event attendees. Living at Your Peak is the nation’s only gathering designed to help health-conscious individuals and influencers discover how to live longer, better and impact the wellbeing of their world. Tennis legend and wellness champion Martina Navratilova will keynote the event, and Sunday Today Show co-anchor Jenna Wolfe will emcee. The event is organized by the Vail Symposium, a grassroots, non-profit organization providing thought-provoking, diverse and affordable educational programs to the Vail Valley community. Visit www.livingatyourpeak.org for details and join the Boone Heart Institute in promoting a healthier you!

Chances are that when it comes to beets, you either love them, or you hate them.  But even if they aren’t your cup of tea (so to speak), you may want to reconsider adding them to your diet.  The great minds at the University of Reading, led by Professor Julie Longrove, recently conducted a study on the effects of beet juice on cardiovascular health.

They recruited 18 male volunteers who were instructed at random to consume 0, 100, 200 or 500 grams of beetroot juice in a single-blind, crossover-trial.  Even though the volunteers all had normal blood pressure to begin with, the study found that consumption of the beetroot juice led to significant reduction in blood pressure.  Once more, the more juice participants drank, the greater the drop.  On average, drinking the 500 grams of juice led to blood pressure reductions of 22mmHg (systolic) and 18mmHg (diastolic) respectively.

Longrove and her colleagues noted that beets contain a number of compounds that are known to offer cardiovascular benefits (fiber, folate, vitamins C and K and more). But they believe that it is the nitrates found in beets that had the largest impact on the blood pressure reduction numbers.

So whether you love them or hate them, try adding more beets to your meals!  It just might do your heart some good.

If you like your food with a bit of spicy kick to it, we’ve got some good news for you.  You may be doing your heart a favor while you’re tickling your taste buds.  A recent study has confirmed what many have theorized for years.  The compound found in spicy peppers known as capsaicin has been found in a recent study to help better prevent and even treat existing cardiovascular-related issues.

“Our research has reinforced and expanded knowledge about how these substances in chilies work in improving heart health,” said Zhen-Yu Chen, Ph.D., who presented the study. “We now have a clearer and more detailed portrait of their innermost effects on genes and other mechanisms that influence cholesterol and the health of blood vessels. It is among the first research to provide that information.”

Chen and his team found that capsaicin helps heart health in two different ways.  It reduces the body’s retention of cholesterol by increasing its ability to break it down faster and excrete it naturally as feces.  It also helps to block the body’s gene that makes arteries contract, allowing blood to flow more freely through the body.

“We concluded that capsaicinoids were beneficial in improving a range of factors related to heart and blood vessel health,” said Chen, a professor of food and nutritional science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “But we certainly do not recommend that people start consuming chilies to an excess. A good diet is a matter of balance. And remember, chilies are no substitute for the prescription medications proven to be beneficial. They may be a nice supplement, however, for people who find the hot flavor pleasant.”

So add a little spice to your dinner and your life!  It’s better for you than you might think!

We’ve all had our hearts broken and let’s face it, it’s never fun.  But did you know that it can kill?

Stress cardiomyopathy, or “Broken Heart Syndrome” is a condition in which severe heart muscle weakness is caused by intense emotional (e.g. ended relationships, death of a loved one, extreme anger, surprise, etc.) or physical stress (e.g. seizure, stroke, asthma attack, etc.). The symptoms of stress cardiomyopathy are almost identical to that of a heart attack: shortness of breath, chest pains, low blood pressure and even congestive heart failure can occur.  The biggest difference between the two is the cause.  Heart attacks are most often brought on by some sort of blockage, whereas stress cardiomyopathy is the actual weakening of the muscle.

The good news is that in most cases people recover very quickly from Broken Heart Syndrome, and it is rarely life threatening.