YouDocs: Check for chronic inflammation
June 10, 2010
You Docs
You aced your cholesterol test, but even top grades (low lousy LDL, high healthy HDL) can't protect your ticker if this bully is lurking in your body: chronic inflammation.
Its latest misdeed? Kidnapping good HDL. Normally, HDL acts like a spatula in your arteries, scooping away the gunk that can block them. But new evidence suggests that inflammation transforms good HDL into bloated blobs that make arteries more likely to clog. The tip-off: Heart-attack survivors were more likely to have a second attack if they had high levels of both HDL and a key inflammation marker known as CRP.
Here's how to find out if inflammation is doing a slow burn inside you:
Spend $20 or so, and get a CRP test. Make it a high-sensitivity CRP test (Hs-CRP). Get it in your 20s, at 35 and annually after 50. A score under 1 mg/L is low risk for cardiovascular disease; greater than 3 is high risk; and 1 to 3 is average. We're less tolerant of the “average” number. If your Hs-CRP is greater than 2, we think you should talk to your doc about taking aspirin, ibuprofen or a statin drug.
Fight inflammation every day. Do all the things you've been promising yourself to do: Quit smoking. Walk for 30 minutes daily. Take 1,000 IU of vitamin D-3 (1,200 if you're 60 or older) and 600 mg of the DHA form of omega-3s (900 mg if you're over 50). Battle belly fat. Eat plenty of high-fibre fruits and veggies. And get a good night's sleep every night!
Silent docs
You're tipping the scales a little (or a lot!) more than you should, but your doctor never mentions healthy eating. Does the silence mean?
A) Those love handles aren't affecting your health. No biggie if you round out your lunch salad with a milkshake and fries.
B) You doc confused you with the Colts linebacker who came in earlier.
C) You're missing a team player who might help you finally lose weight.
You don't have to be a “Jeopardy” contestant to pick C. Harder question: Why isn't your doc speaking up? Maybe because the M.D. down the hall isn't either. A new government report says that family doctors don't talk about healthy eating with nearly 60 per cent of their extremely overweight patients. Huh? Silence suggests that your weight's no problem when it's not only keeping you off the beach but also exposing you to type II diabetes, heart disease, stroke, bum knees, bad sex and more.
Talk about missed opportunities: There's plenty of evidence that a word from your doc can be a powerful motivator in helping you make tough changes. Waist management is a team game, and your doc should be your MVP. At your next visit, say weight loss is important to you. Find out which of your vital numbers — including blood pressure, blood sugar, heart rate, HDL and LDL cholesterol and waist size (aim for under 35 inches for women, under 40 for men) — are out of whack. Together, work out a game plan to improve them. Make a follow-up progress appointment with your MVP M.D.
Eat your veggies
Heard the rumour that produce is a dud for cancer protection? Don't believe it. Keep on sweetening your oatmeal with strawberries, and take a second helping of broccoli tonight.
We dug a little deeper into the claim that fruits and veggies offer only “weak” protection against cancer and found that if you eat six or more helpings of them a day (easier than it sounds), you could have an 11 per cent lower risk of ALL cancers than folks who shove veggies around their plate. If 11 per cent doesn't impress you, catch how big an even smaller number can be: If everyone ate just two more servings of fruits and vegetables a day, there would be 2.5 per cent fewer cancers.
That's enough to prevent about 37,000 cases of cancer a year in the U.S. alone!
Green exercise
Next time you tally up all the ways you've “friended” Mother Earth, be sure to put yourself in the picture with this quickie green prescription: Spend five minutes a day with nature. Your cranium craves that friendship.
Why? You know the ahhh feeling you get walking in a park on a summer day? New research shows that your brain really is humming a happier tune. When British scientists analyzed 10 studies of people outdoors, they discovered that just five minutes a day in a green setting seriously lifts mood and self-esteem. Yes, your self-esteem, too! Add water — a lake, stream, river, ocean or that little fountain down the block — and you'll get an even bigger jolt of well-being.
Getting your dose of nature doesn't have to take a chunk out of your day. Of course, your heart and waistline will love it if you walk for a half-hour, but the Brits' analysis showed the greatest emotional boost comes from that first five minutes of what they call “green exercise.”
The YOU Docs, Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen, are authors of “YOU: On a Diet.” Want more? See “The Dr. Oz Show” on TV (check local listings). To submit questions, go to www.RealAge.com.
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