stroke

• Long-known to lower LDL cholesteral, a new study shows oats also impact other markers that may be better measures of cardiovascular risk for those with diabetes or metabolic syndrome.
• An experimental study shows that whole grain foods significantly lower blood pressure compared to eating the equivalent refined grain foods.
• A review of population studies shows that the more whole grains you eat, the lower your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Eating oats lowers cholesterol on 3 markers

It’s long been known that eating oats can lower cholesterol levels, but the research focus has been on the effect on LDL cholesterol. However, there is growing evidence that two other markers provide an even more accurate assessment of cardiovascular risk:

• non-HDL cholesterol (total cholesterol minus HDL cholesterol)
• apolipoprotein B (apoB) — a lipoprotein that carries LDL cholesterol through the blood.

This is especially true for people with metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes, since they typically don't have elevated LDL cholesterol levels.

In light of this, it’s good to see a review and meta-analysis of 58 clinical trials has concluded that eating oat fibre can reduce all three markers.

The reason is thought to lie in beta-glucan, a viscous soluble fibre, for which oats are a rich source. Oat bran contains twice as much as oat meal.

The review found that overall, LDL cholesterol was reduced by 4.2%, non-HDL cholesterol by 4.8% and apoB by 2.3%.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-10/smh-rse100616.php

Whole grain diet reduces cardiovascular disease risk

A study involving 33 overweight and obese adults who followed a whole grain diet for eight weeks and a refined grain diet during another eight week period, found that those on the whole grain diet saw a more than three-fold improvement in diastolic blood pressure compared to the refined grain diet.

This improvement equates to reducing the risk of death from heart disease by almost one-third, and the risk of death from a stroke by two-fifths.

Participants were under 50. Before age 50, an elevated diastolic blood pressure is associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk (diastolic is the bottom number, when you’re given a blood pressure reading).

Overall, there were substantial reductions in body weight, fat loss, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol during both diet periods, but these differences were due to the people changing their normal dietary habits to carefully controlled diets. The order of diets was randomized, and there was a ten week period between them. The 33 participants included 6 men and 27 women.

The finding is supported by a meta-analysis of 45 different population studies that investigated whole grain intake in relation to risk of future illness or death due to specific causes. The review found that eating three more portions of whole grain foods a day was associated with a lower risk for all cardiovascular diseases and for dying of cancer, diabetes, and respiratory and infectious diseases. Three servings would be, say, two slices of whole-grain bread and one bowl of whole-grain cereal.

The benefits were dose-dependent, with the lowest risk found among those with the highest intake of whole-grain products: 7 to 7 ½ servings of whole grain products a day. This corresponds to 210-225 grams of whole grain products in fresh weight and about 70-75 grams of whole grains in dry weight.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-10/cc-ccs101816.php

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-06/nuos-sso061516.php

Ho, H., Sievenpiper, J., Zurbau, A., Blanco Mejia, S., Jovanovski, E., Au-Yeung, F., . . . Vuksan, V. (2016). The effect of oat β-glucan on LDL-cholesterol, non-HDL-cholesterol and apoB for CVD risk reduction: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials. British Journal of Nutrition, 116(8), 1369-1382. doi:10.1017/S000711451600341X

Kirwan, J. P., Malin, S. K., Scelsi, A. R., Kullman, E. L., Navaneethan, S. D., Pagadala, M. R., … Ross, A. B. (2016). A Whole-Grain Diet Reduces Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Overweight and Obese Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial. The Journal of Nutrition, 146(11), 2244–2251. https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.116.230508

Aune Dagfinn, Keum NaNa, Giovannucci Edward, Fadnes Lars T, Boffetta Paolo, Greenwood Darren C et al. Whole grain consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all cause and cause specific mortality: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies BMJ 2016; 353 :i2716 http://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i2716

A meta-analysis of 40 epidemiological studies from 1999 to 2016 has concluded that that people in the highest category of dietary magnesium consumption had a 10% lower risk of coronary heart disease, 12% lower risk of stroke and a 26% lower risk of type-2 diabetes compared to those in the lowest category. A dose–response analysis revealed that a 100 mg/day increase in dietary magnesium intake is significantly associated with a 7%, 22%, and 19% decrease in the risk of stroke, heart failure, and type 2 diabetes, respectively.

Magnesium-rich foods include spices, nuts, beans, cocoa, whole grains and green leafy vegetables.

Magnesium deficiency is relatively common, estimated to affect between 2.5% and 15% of the population. The recommended dietary allowance of magnesium is 350mg/day for an average male adult and 300mg/day for an average adult female, with an additional 150mg/day during pregnancy and lactation

https://www.biomedcentral.com/about/press-centre/science-press-releases/08-12-16

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-12/bc-dma120516.php

Fudi Wang et al. 2016. Dietary magnesium intake and risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and allcause mortality: A dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. BMC Medicine, DOI: 10.1186/s12916-016-0742-z

A review and meta-analysis of studies from 1982 to 2015, evaluating relationships between egg intake and coronary heart disease (total of 276,000 subjects) and stroke (total of 308,000 subjects) has found that consumption of up to one egg per day had no association with coronary heart disease (CHD) and a 12% reduction of stroke risk.

The study follows on from a 2015 meta-analysis in which dietary cholesterol was shown to have no association with cardiovascular diseases, including coronary artery disease and stroke. Consistent with this, the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans placed no daily limit on dietary cholesterol and noted eggs are an affordable, accessible, nutrient-rich source of high quality protein.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-11/enc-oep102816.php

Alexander, D. D., Miller, P. E., Vargas, A. J., Weed, D. L., & Cohen, S. S. (2016). Meta-analysis of Egg Consumption and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 35(8), 704–716. https://doi.org/10.1080/07315724.2016.1152928

A 10-year French study of 7,313 older adults (65+), of whom nearly 30% of the women and 15% of the men had high levels of depressive symptoms, has found that repeated occurrences of depression produced increasing risk of heart disease or stroke. Those who had high levels of depressive symptoms on one, two, three, or four occasions during the study had 15%, 32%, 52%, and 75% greater risk, respectively, of experiencing heart disease or stroke events.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/ags-foa020116.php

Péquignot, R., Dufouil, C., Prugger, C., Pérès, K., Artero, S., Tzourio, C., & Empana, J.-P. (2016). High Level of Depressive Symptoms at Repeated Study Visits and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke over 10 Years in Older Adults: The Three-City Study. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 64(1), 118–125. http://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.13872

A study has revealed that the immune system has a seasonal cycle, in which its activity is boosted during the winter and relaxes during the summer. While the winter increase in immune defences presumably helps us stave off infections, it also raises the risk of harmful inflammation, effectively lowering the threshold for heart attacks, stroke, diabetes and even some psychiatric conditions. This may explain why deaths from conditions ranging from heart attacks to diabetes and schizophrenia increase in winter.

The study used blood samples from more than 16,000 people living in both the northern and southern hemisphere

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/12/winter-immune-boost-may-actually-cause-deaths-study-suggests

Dopico, X. C., Evangelou, M., Ferreira, R. C., Guo, H., Pekalski, M. L., Smyth, D. J., … Todd, J. A. (2015). Widespread seasonal gene expression reveals annual differences in human immunity and physiology. Nature Communications, 6, 7000. http://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8000

Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes that affect how quickly cells age. With age, they shorten, and as their structural integrity weakens, the cells age and die quicker. Telomere length thus is a biomarker of cellular age. Stress is also thought to shorten telomere length.

A year-long study that looked at the effects of three healthy behaviors in 239 post-menopausal, non-smoking women has found that women who engaged in lower levels of healthy behaviors showed a significantly greater telomere shortening for every major life stressor that occurred. However, stress didn't lead to greater shortening in those women who maintained active lifestyles, healthy diets, and good quality sleep.

Shorter telomeres have become associated with a broad range of aging-related diseases, including stroke, vascular dementia, cardiovascular disease, obesity, osteoporosis diabetes, and many forms of cancer.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-07/uoc--hlm072414.php

Puterman, E., Lin, J., Krauss, J., Blackburn, E. H., & Epel, E. S. (2015). Determinants of telomere attrition over 1 year in healthy older women: stress and health behaviors matter. Molecular Psychiatry, 20(4), 529–535. http://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2014.70