Month: March 2022

How well are you protecting yourself against heart disease, the nation’s leading cause of death? A check of five important numbers can give you a good idea: blood pressure, blood sugar, LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and waist circumference. Those values provide a picture of a person’s overall health and, more specifically, what factors they may need to address to lower their chance of a heart attack or stroke.

Below are the ideal values for each measurement, along with why they’re important and targeted advice for improving them. Universal suggestions for improving all five measurements appear at the very end.

How do your heart health numbers stack up?

While the ideal values are good goals for most people, your doctor may recommend different targets based on your age or other health conditions.

Blood pressure

Less than 120/80 mm Hg

Blood pressure readings tell you the force of blood pushing against your arteries when your heart contracts (systolic blood pressure, the first number) and relaxes (diastolic blood pressure, the second number). Your blood pressure reflects how hard your heart is working (when you’re resting or exercising, for example) and the condition of your blood vessels. Narrowed, inflexible arteries cause blood pressure to rise.

Why it matters to heart health: High blood pressure accelerates damage to blood vessels, encouraging a buildup of fatty plaque (atherosclerosis). This sets the stage for a heart attack. High blood pressure forces the heart’s main pumping chamber to enlarge, which can lead to heart failure. Finally, high blood pressure raises the risk of strokes due to a blocked or burst blood vessel in the brain.

What helps: A diet rich in potassium (found in many vegetables, fruits, and beans) and low in sodium (found in excess in many processed and restaurant foods); minimizing alcohol.

LDL cholesterol

Less than 70 mg/dL

A cholesterol test (or lipid profile) shows many numbers. Doctors are usually most concerned about low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, particles that makes up about two-thirds of the cholesterol in the blood.

Why it matters to heart health: Excess LDL particles lodge inside artery walls. Once there, they are engulfed by white blood cells, forming fat-laden foam cells that make up atherosclerosis.

What helps: Limiting saturated fat (found in meat, dairy, and eggs) and replacing those lost calories with unsaturated fat (found in nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils).

Triglycerides

Less than 150 mg/dL

Perhaps less well-known than cholesterol, triglycerides are the most common form of fat in the bloodstream. Derived from food, these molecules provide energy for your body. But excess calories, alcohol, and sugar the body can’t use are turned into triglycerides and stored in fat cells.

Why it matters to heart health: Like high LDL cholesterol, elevated triglyceride values have been linked to a higher risk of heart attack and stroke.

What helps: Limiting foods that are high in unhealthy fats, sugar, or both; eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids (such as fish); avoiding alcohol.

Blood sugar

Less than 100 mg/dL (fasting)

High blood sugar defines the diagnosis of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is most common. It occurs when the body develops insulin resistance (insulin enables cells to take in sugar) and does not produce enough insulin to overcome the resistance.

Why it matters to heart health: High blood sugar levels damage blood vessel walls and cause sugar (glucose) to attach to LDL. This makes LDL more likely to oxidize — another factor that promotes atherosclerosis. Excess sugar in the blood also makes cell fragments called platelets stickier so they’re more likely to form clots, which can trigger a heart attack or stroke.

What helps: Avoiding sugary beverages and foods high in sugar; eating whole, unprocessed grains instead of foods made with refined grains (white flour, white rice).

Waist circumference

Whichever number is lower:

Less than half your height in inches

OR

Women: Less than 35 inches

Men: Less than 40 inches

Measure your waist around your bare abdomen just above your navel (belly button). A big belly — what doctors call abdominal or visceral obesity — usually means fat surrounding internal organs.

Why it matters to heart health: Visceral fat secretes hormones and other factors that encourage inflammation, which triggers the release of white blood cells involved in atherosclerosis.

What helps: Consuming fewer calories, especially those from highly processed foods full of sugar, salt, and unhealthy types of fat.

Universal advice to improve all five measures of heart health

If one or more of your numbers is above ideal levels, you’re far from alone. Most Americans are overweight or obese and have bigger-than-healthy bellies. Excess weight and waist circumference affect blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar. Eating a healthy, plant-based diet can help. Regular exercise also helps: aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise like brisk walking most days. Other lifestyle habits that can lower your heart disease risk include getting seven to eight hours of sleep nightly and managing your stress level.

About the Author

Julie Corliss, Executive Editor, Harvard Heart Letter

Julie Corliss is the executive editor of the Harvard Heart Letter. Before working at Harvard, she was a medical writer and editor at HealthNews, a consumer newsletter affiliated with The New England Journal of Medicine. She … See Full Bio View all posts by Julie Corliss

About the Reviewer

Howard E. LeWine, MD, Chief Medical Editor, Harvard Health Publishing

Howard LeWine, M.D., is a practicing internist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Chief Medical Editor at Harvard Health Publishing, and editor in chief of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. See Full Bio View all posts by Howard E. LeWine, MD

Lifestyle changes like regular exercise, a healthy diet, and sufficient sleep are cornerstones of self-care for people with type 2 diabetes.

But what about mind-body practices? Can they also help people manage or even treat type 2 diabetes? An analysis of multiple studies, published in the Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine, suggests they might.

Which mindfulness practices did the study look at?

Researchers analyzed 28 studies that explored the effect of mind-body practices on people with type 2 diabetes. Those participating in the studies did not need insulin to control their diabetes, or have certain health conditions such as heart or kidney disease. The mind-body activities used in the research were:

• yoga
• qigong, a slow-moving martial art similar to tai chi
• mindfulness-based stress reduction, a training program designed to help people manage stress and anxiety
• meditation
• guided imagery, visualizing positive images to relax the mind.

How often and over what time period people engaged in the activities varied, ranging from daily to several times a week, and from four weeks to six months.

What did the study find about people with diabetes who practiced mindfulness?

Those who participated in any of the mind-body activities for any length of time lowered their levels of hemoglobin A1C, a key marker for diabetes. On average, A1C levels dropped by 0.84%. This is similar to the effect of taking metformin (Glucophage), a first-line medication for treating type 2 diabetes, according to the researchers.

A1C levels are determined by a blood test that shows a person’s average blood sugar levels over the past two to three months. Levels below 5.7% are deemed normal, levels from 5.7% to less than 6.5% are considered prediabetes, and levels 6.5% and higher are in the diabetes range.

How can mind-body practices help control blood sugar?

Their ability to reduce stress may play a big part. “Yoga and other mindfulness practices elicit a relaxation response — the opposite of the stress response,” says Dr. Shalu Ramchandani, a health coach and internist at the Harvard-affiliated Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. “A relaxation response can lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. This improves insulin resistance and keeps blood sugar levels in check, thus lowering A1C levels.”

A relaxation response can help people with diabetes in other ways, such as by improving blood flow and lowering blood pressure, which protects against heart attacks and strokes.

What else should you know about this study?

The results of studies like this suggest a link between various mind-body practices and lower A1C levels, but do not offer firm proof of it. Levels of participation varied widely. But because all mindfulness practices studied had a modest positive effect, the researchers suggested that these types of activities could become part of diabetes therapy along with standard lifestyle treatments.

Could mind-body practices protect people against developing type 2 diabetes, especially for those at high risk? While this study wasn’t designed to look at this, Dr. Ramchandani again points to the long-range benefits of the relaxation response.

“Reducing and managing stress leads to improved moods, and greater self-awareness and self-regulation,” she says. “This can lead to more mindful eating, such as fighting cravings for unhealthy foods, adhering to a good diet, and committing to regular exercise, all of which can help reduce one’s risk for type 2 diabetes.”

Trying mind-body practices

There are many ways to adopt mind-body practices that can create relaxation responses. Here are some suggestions from Dr. Ramchandani:

• Do a daily 10-minute or longer meditation using an app like Insight Timer, Calm, or Headspace.
• Attend a gentle yoga, qigong, or tai chi class at a local yoga studio or community center.
• Try videos and exercises to help reduce stress and initiate relaxation responses.
• Practice slow controlled breathing. Lie on your back with one or both of your hands on your abdomen. Inhale slowly and deeply, drawing air into the lowest part of your lungs so your hand rises. Your belly should expand and rise as you inhale, then contract and lower as you exhale. Repeat for several minutes.

About the Author

Matthew Solan, Executive Editor, Harvard Men's Health Watch

Matthew Solan is the executive editor of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. He previously served as executive editor for UCLA Health’s Healthy Years and as a contributor to Duke Medicine’s Health News and Weill Cornell Medical College’s … See Full Bio View all posts by Matthew Solan

About the Reviewer

Howard E. LeWine, MD, Chief Medical Editor, Harvard Health Publishing

Howard LeWine, M.D., is a practicing internist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Chief Medical Editor at Harvard Health Publishing, and editor in chief of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. See Full Bio View all posts by Howard E. LeWine, MD

Infertility is a remarkably common problem. It affects up to one in five people in the US who are trying to become pregnant, and 186 million people worldwide. A thorough medical evaluation can spot key contributing issues in many cases — whether in a woman, a man, or both partners — that might respond to treatment, or call for assisted reproductive tools like in vitro fertilization (IVF).

But in a substantial number of cases, no cause is found for infertility. Could inflammation be to blame for some of those cases, as recent research suggests? And if so, will an anti-inflammatory diet or lifestyle boost fertility?

Exploring the connection between inflammation and infertility

Chronic inflammation has been linked to many health conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, and cancer.

While its importance in infertility is far from clear, some evidence supports a connection:

• The risk of infertility is higher in conditions marked by inflammation, including infection, endometriosis, and polycystic ovary syndrome.
• Bodywide (systemic) inflammation may affect the uterus, cervix, and placenta, thus impairing fertility.
• Women with infertility who had IVF and followed an anti-inflammatory diet tended to have higher rates of successful pregnancy than women who did not follow the diet.

Could an anti-inflammatory diet improve fertility?

It’s a real possibility. Decades ago, researchers observed that women following a prescribed fertility diet ovulated more regularly and were more likely to get pregnant. Now a 2022 review of multiple studies in Nutrients suggests that following an anti-inflammatory diet holds promise for people experiencing infertility. The research was done years apart, but the diets in these two studies share many elements.

The 2022 review found that an anti-inflammatory diet may help

• improve pregnancy rates (though exactly how is uncertain)
• increase success rates of assisted reproductive measures, such as IVF
• improve sperm quality in men.

The authors add that improving diet might even reduce the need for invasive, prolonged, and costly fertility treatments. However, the quality of studies and consistency of findings varied, so more high-quality research is needed to support this.

Will adopting an anti-inflammatory lifestyle improve fertility?

While recent research is intriguing, there’s not enough evidence to show that an anti-inflammation action plan will improve fertility. A plant-based diet such as the Mediterranean diet, and other measures considered part of an anti-inflammatory lifestyle, improve heart health and have many other benefits.

It’s not clear if this is directly due to reducing inflammation. But this approach comes with little to no risk. And abundant convincing evidence suggests it can improve health and even fight disease.

What is an anti-inflammatory lifestyle?

Health experts have not agreed on a single definition. Here are some common recommendations:

• Adopt a diet that encourages plant-based foods, whole grains, and healthy fats like olive oil while discouraging red meat, highly processed food, and saturated fats.
• Stop smoking or vaping.
• Lose excess weight.
• Be physically active.
• Get enough sleep.
• Treat inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis or allergies.
• Avoid excessive alcohol consumption.
• Control stress.

Anti-inflammatory medicines may help in certain situations — for example, treatments for autoimmune disease. However, they are not warranted for everyone. And for people trying to conceive, it’s far from clear that any potential benefit would exceed the risk of side effects for parent and child.

The bottom line

It’s possible that inflammation plays an important and underappreciated role in infertility and that an anti-inflammatory diet or lifestyle could help. But we need more evidence to confirm this. Until we know more, taking measures to improve your overall health and possibly reduce chronic inflammation makes sense.

About the Author

Robert H. Shmerling, MD,

Senior Faculty Editor, Harvard Health Publishing; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Dr. Robert H. Shmerling is the former clinical chief of the division of rheumatology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), and is a current member of the corresponding faculty in medicine at Harvard Medical School. … See Full Bio View all posts by Robert H. Shmerling, MD