Body weight, 'bad' cholesterol new risk factors for coronavirus

Maintaining a healthy body weight and increasing HDL or ‘good’ cholesterol levels can help lower the risk of Covid-19 infections, claim researchers in a new study.

Previous studies showed that people with Type-2 diabetes and a high body mass index are at a greater risk of experiencing hospitalisations and other severe complications related to Covid-19.

However, the new research from the University of Maryland in the US has identified certain lifestyle factors like body weight and cholesterol as new risk factors for Covid-19.

"Our findings point to some healthy measures people can take to help potentially lower their risk of Covid-19 infection," said Charles Hong, Professor of medicine at the University’s School of Medicine.

"Controlling body weight is very important during this time, and measures to increase HDL levels like regular exercise and a diet rich in monounsaturated fats like extra virgin olive oil and avocados might be helpful too," Hong noted.

The team found that people, who were Covid positive, were more likely to be obese or have Type-2 diabetes. They were also at greater risk of getting symptomatic infection in the first place, the researchers claimed.

On the other hand, those who tested negative were more likely to have high levels of ‘good’ HDL cholesterol and be at a healthy weight with a normal body mass index (BMI), revealed the study published in the journal PLoS ONE.

"Certain baseline cardiometabolic factors appear to either protect a person from Covid-19 infection while others make a person more vulnerable to infection," Hong said.

"But this study wasn’t designed to determine what factors actually cause Covid-19 infections. These are statistical associations that point to the importance of a healthy functioning immune system for protecting against Covid-19 infection," Hong added.

For the study, the team used data from the UK Biobank of 5,00,000 British volunteers over age 40. Health factors were compared between those who tested positive for Covid-19 and those who tested negative.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

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4 Surprising Ways Your Gut Affects You

People that suffer from chronic digestive issues will know that having an upset tummy is not fun at all, but the long-term effects of gut problems may be even worse than you expected. In the past few years, science learned a lot about our digestive system, and one of the hottest topics in medicine today is that of the gut microbiome, meaning all the beneficial microorganisms that live in our gut and help us so much.

Scientists all around the world now believe that what you eat and what bacteria you promote in your gut can affect anything from allergies to heart disease and everything in-between.

1. An unhealthy gut may promote heart disease.

It’s no news that heart disease is linked to high cholesterol levels, but only recently scientists at Harvard Medical School discovered the connection between an unhealthy gut and high blood cholesterol levels. It was found that certain kinds of gut bacteria make your blood vessels absorb more of the unhealthy cholesterol from the gut into your blood. The excess cholesterol then leads to the formation of plaques in your blood vessels and causes heart disease. It is unclear, however, which strains of bacteria affect cholesterol absorption.

What is clear, though, is that foods rich in fiber and fiber supplements, such as psyllium husks and flaxseeds, can lower the absorption of the cholesterol into the blood by as much as 25%. That is why it is always a good idea to pair fiber-rich foods with foods that are high in cholesterol, such as red meat and eggs, or to supplement fiber if you know that your diet contains a lot of foods high in cholesterol.

2. Your mental health depends on your gut health.

Your intestines share some real-estate with a lot of nerve tissues that regulate your digestion and communicate with your spine and brain. These nerves are often referred to as the gut-brain, but the scientific term is actually the enteric nervous system.

This gut-brain is suspected to regulate your mood and anxiety levels by exchanging chemical signals called neurotransmitters with your brain. In this way, what you eat and how your intestines digest food can influence your mood.

But it also goes further than that, as scientists now believe that an unhealthy gut and a poor diet may cause depression and anxiety disorders. In several studies, there was a marked improvement of anxiety and depressive symptoms after patients were administered probiotic supplements.

Even if you don’t suffer from anxiety or depression, you can make use of the gut and brain connection, as a 2016 review article suggests that fermented foods (i.e. foods rich in probiotics) can increase a person’s cognitive abilities and mood.

On more about the correlation of mental health and gut health, follow the link to our article called How Your Gut Affects Your Mind.

3. Can intestinal problems be a cause of obesity?

It is no secret that eating too much will upset your digestive system and make you gain weight, but there is another way in which a bad diet can make you overweight.

In a recent review study, the authors sum up that our friend from the previous section, the gut-brain, can sometimes trick our brains into thinking they are hungry. The gut-brain communicates with a gland that is situated in the brain called the pituitary gland that is responsible for producing hormones regulating your appetite, among other things.

Usually, all is well and your pituitary gland will produce just enough hormones for you to feel satiated after a meal. But when something goes awry with your tummy, the pituitary gland will not do its job properly and you’ll feel hungry all the time, which can lead to obesity.

To prevent this mismatch from happening and to heal your gut, it is necessary to consume foods rich with probiotics, which can be found in fermented foods, such as yogurts, pickles, and kimchi. If you’d like to learn about more foods that contain probiotics, follow the link 7 Probiotics that Boost Your Health.

4. An unhealthy intestinal tract may cause allergies.

Did you know that more than 75% of your immune cells live in your digestive system? So, it comes as no surprise that the foods you eat will affect your body’s ability to fight off all kinds of germs. Together with your gut bacteria, immune cells help your body resist infections in all of your body, and not only in the digestive system.

An example of this can be observed if we consider allergies. It is now widely believed that a lack of beneficial gut bacteria can make your immune cells unable to distinguish between good and bad bacteria. When that happens, your immune system will activate to harmless compounds and you will experience an allergic reaction.

In fact, several studies suggest that allergic symptoms can be greatly improved by promoting gut health, such as this clinical trial, in which seasonal allergy sufferers were given probiotic supplements for 8 weeks, which significantly reduced their allergy symptoms.

So, to promote the diversity of beneficial gut bacteria and improve your gut health you will need to have a diet rich in a variety of different foods, including but not limited to nuts and seeds, foods rich in fiber, probiotic-rich foods, and whole grains. 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

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Early menopause may raise the risk of cardiovascular issues

Researchers suggest that attaining menopause before the age of 40 is linked to several heart  conditions in women.

In the largest, single study to-date of diverse heart disease risks relative to age at menopause, researchers used the UK Biobank to examine data on more than 144,000 postmenopausal women ( average age of 60), including about 4,900 women who experienced menopause before age 40 after their ovaries were removed surgically.

During an average of 7 years of follow-up, researchers found that women who had experienced premature menopause were  significantly more likely to develop conventional heart disease risk facttors, such as high blood pressure, high levels of " bad" cholesterol and tyep 2 diabetes.

Even after accounting for conventional risk factors, women with premature menopause still had a significantly increased risk of coronary artery disease, heart failure, thickening and narrowing of the arotic valve, atrial fibrillation ( an abnormal heart rhythm) and blood clots forming in the legs or lungs.

The heart disease risks were higher for women who experienced menopause due to surgery compared to natural menopause. Some of this risk difference may be explained by differences in cardiovascular disease risk factors.

Whether or not a woman took hormones for menopausal symptoms did not change the cardiovascular risks.

Menopausal age prior to age 50 had a dose-dependent effect on cardiovascular disease risk, meaning risk continued to increase with younger menopausal ages and increased cardiovascular risks lasted for decades after menopause.

Our study reinforces the importance of menopause history in informing a woman's risk of future heart disease, said the lead author of the study.

Women should make sure their physician knows their menopause history, particularly of they experiences menopause before age 40. History of premature menopause should prompt physicians to refine the patient's estimated future risks for heart disease and to work toward lowering their heart disease risks, added the author.

He said early evaluations could lead to intervention and medication recommendations. 

Whether or not medications are warranted, eating a heart-healthy diet and exercising regularly may be especially important for women with a history of premature menopause, he said.

this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     
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https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
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Strange changes in the body that can point to heart disease

Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the world, with cardiovascular problems killing around 17.7 million people each year – that’s a huge 31 per cent of all deaths around the world.

And although heart disease is relatively common, many people may believe that the first sign of a problem is a blood pressure issues or a heart attack itself. But there are actually a number of small changes in the body worth looking out for, because they can indicate that something isn’t right with your heart. 

In an article, a director of the  Anatomy Learning Centre, listed six unusual body signs that shows that you may have heart disease. Of course, if you’re concerned, you should seek a proper medical diagnosis, but particular if you notice any of these changes in your body.

According to more than 40 different studies, many people living with heart disease notice a diagonal crease on one or both of their earlobes. It is believed that it’s a particular sign of atherosclerosis, where plaque builds up on the insides of the artery walls. Other studies have linked the creases in the earlobes to the disease of blood vessels in the brain.

So-called clubbed fingernails are another typical sign of heart disease. If you notice your fingernails changing shape or the ends of your fingers becoming wider and thicker, it’s usually because not enough oxygenated blood is reaching the fingers.

Another common sign of heart disease is developing fatty bumps over your body. Known as xanthomas, the yellow lumps typically appear on the eyelids, backside, knees and elbows. The lumps usually aren’t a problem on their own, but they are a common side-effect of familial hypercholesterolemia, a genetic disease that can result high levels of bad cholesterol.

Noticing changes in your eyes can also point to problems with your heart. In many people with heart disease, fat deposits build up in the eye, making it look as though there is a grey-ish halo around the iris of the eyeball. Up to 70 per cent of over-60s have this sign to some degree, and its usually related to coronary heart disease.

Others notice changes in and around the mouth. While painful, inflamed gums and loose teeth can be a sign of poor dental hygiene, the conditions can be a sign of declining cardiovascular health. Bleeding or raw gums and loose teeth can be particularly damaging because bad bacteria in the mouth can make its way in the bloodstream and cause further problems for blood vessels.

The colour of your lips can also be a useful heart health indicator. While lips are usually red or pink in colour, they can turn blue when someone is experiencing cardiovascular problems. Similar to the issue of clubbed fingers, lips can become dis-coloured when not enough oxygenated blood is being delivered to parts of the body.

If you experiencing any of these symptoms, speak with your GP or health professional for more detailed information and an in-depth health assessment.

There are two more symptoms, other than this, which I've read in another article, that is, hair growing on ear lobes indicates poor heart health, along with erectile dysfunction happens, due to poor blood flow to penis.

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