Supplements for heart health

Life Health & Fitness
21

Are there any other people in your family that have had strokes? If not, it could just be him. Once you have one stroke you are much more likely to have another stroke-- I believe there is solid research on that. So a person having 3 strokes is not necessarily uncommon “if” they keep surviving the strokes. Also if you don’t know if your grandfather’s true health history (blood work) then hard to make assumptions.

I think the reason doctors are wishy-washy about what could affect blood pressure is because it is not really known based on what your lifestyle is…which is an active, healthy one. Blood pressure can vary throughout the day and depending on when you slept, ate or ect. You are looking for hard research but there really is none. I’m not sure what they could say to you because you can go online (like forumosa) and find 10 people who will find reasons why it is not right.

Supplements also are up for debate even if you believe that the main ingredient works. It is debatable of how much of that supplement you actually “absorb”.

It is much better to ‘try’ to do things with a balanced diet and exercise. But again genetics trumps all.

We have not even talked about “stress”. Stress also can cause high blood pressure. Talking while someone takes your blood pressure could also increase it.

The best preventative medicine is exactly what you are doing now…just eating well and exercising.

I remember you are tall? there was always the idea that taller people ‘in general’ die younger…as there any studies on this and if so why was it the case?

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22

I think they’ve walked back on this one. Some study was done to show that no amount of any type of alcohol, however moderate or even small, is really all that beneficial to the body. Drinking is for fun and fun only.

https://www.google.com.tw/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/health-45283401

23

I’ve read about this before. Something about how the larger the body the heart has to support, height included, the sooner it tends to crap out. But I really don’t think that would factor in nearly as much as your genes or lifestyle do. Definitely not something to lose sleep over.

24

Loads of sodium and sugar are also pretty much confirmed no good.

Probably best to cut down on soda and gelato and similar indulgences… :whistle:

25

I rarely drink soda with sugar. Not sure why you think I drink a lot sugarly drinks. And gelato has less sugar,fat, and calories than normal ice cream. Hard to believe something like 10g of sugar a day is doing this. A single orange technically has more sugar even though it’s probably better than refined sugar.

Sodium isn’t good because it makes you carry more water weight. That’s not the problem as far as I can tell.

26

I don’t have the exact number. But my grandfathers father also had strokes.

27

You have gelato every day, don’t you? It still adds up to quite a bit of sugar over time.

I seem to remember you often posting about drinking high calorie Starbucks drinks just so you can maintain or gain weight when you’re working out a lot, and you’ve talked about loving soda like Mountain Dew. So it just seems like you consume a lot of refined sugar from my POV.

28

Considering I don’t eat other forms of dessert of snacks. I don’t think something like a scoop of gelato is the sugar added that is making a difference.

When i was 16 and couldn’t get above 165lbs no matter how much I ate. There’s no Starbucks here.

When I go to Costco. How often do you think I’m going to Costco? I don’t even have Costco here.

29

There’s no need to get defensive. It’s not a crime to eat and enjoy sugar or junk food. I’m just saying it might be better for your cardiovascular health in the long run to reduce intake, since that’s something you’re worried about.

30

I’m correcting your incorrect assumptions. If you’re going to put I eat a lot of sugar, others may start giving the wrong advice with that information. Fruits would be my real source of sugar. They have quite a bit as well.

31

To be fair, this is coming from someone who eats almost no sugar aside from 1-2 pieces of fruit every day, and I guess some from milk, bread, and rice if we’re being really picky about what constitutes sugar. So any amount of the white stuff just sounds like a lot to me.

32

I’m all about fun. Comes with the job.

33

There’s a secret time to eat a lot of sugar without getting fat and actually build muscle. After you workout. Your sugar levels are depleted after a good workout and your body is going to release cortisol. Cortisol breaks down tissue like muscle for energy. To stop cortisol production, you need to trigger an insulin spike. All of that sugar will shuttle to your muscles and help the anabolic process. I usually eat some fruits after I work out.

Insulin manipulation is something people don’t seem to know about. Nutritional timing and pairing is key.

34

I think you’d have to be really tall. Closer to 7 feet. It’s probably really hard to keep pumping blood to your extremities at 7 feet. Giants always died 40-50s. I think Andre the giant died in his 40s. But I also heard stories of him drinking 100 cans of beer in one setting.

This is his hand

image

35

Not exactly sure how old you are, but age definitely plays into the equation here. You said somewhere you are younger, so I assume you’re at most in your late 30s, but probably a fair bit younger than that. In that case, you probably don’t have a lot to worry about right away.

I’ll use my case as an example. I have been moderately active for my entire adult life exercising two to four times a week, but I have also been moderately overweight (10-20lbs ) for most of that time. My mom had a severe heart attack at 48 years old and at that time was average body weight and was in half decent shape. Her father who also was in okay shape, and he died at 48 from a heart attack. My father, who was obese, died at 68 from heart attack. So talk about crappy genetics!!!

So I know that Andrew and I have chatted on a fair amount of threads, but just a bit of background about me. I have been in a high stress, shift work environment for the last 9 years. 2 years ago my blood pressure started to go sky high - we are talking 190/100 at the worst. We tried the no salt diet, increased exercise, all to no effect. Previous to this, my blood pressure had always just been in that borderline range - 140/90 or so. It was definitely my genetics coming into play.

So my doctor put me on a drug called Ramipril (5 mg/ once per day). It is an ACE inhibitor, and it has massively changed my life for the better. It did make me really groggy and dizzy for the first week or so, but after that I felt much better. I realized that I had become so used to my blood pressure being so high, that being very “amped up” had become my normal. Not anymore. As well, ACE inhibitors have a cardio-protective effect, so I am hoping that this helps prevent any possible future issues.

So my advice, for now keep your eyes on it and just make sure your blood pressure doesn’t go anything beyond borderline. Definitely the yo-yoing of your weight is not great for your heart, but you are still young so likely it can take the stress. Just eat normal healthy without going too crazy, and just keep in contact with your doctor doing regular blood tests once or twice a year. However, become a fair bit more vigilant as you get closer to 40.

I understand what you are doing- trying to be proactive and help prevent something unnecessary from happening, but ultimately you have to enjoy your life too.

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36

Thanks for you reply. I’m late 20s. But from my own research, heart problems are almost always a built of of years of chronic issues like BP for example. BP does normally go high when we are active, but that’s not the problem. The problem is constant high BP after years from what I have read.

So I figured, the early I start caring and being proactive, the better.

I also think perhaps it’s also my own personality? I wouldn’t say I’m always stressed. But my mind goes fast and I’m used to going fast. I am pretty amped up like you. I’m not sure if it’s the BP or the other way around. Or perhaps they both add to each other.

My last time at the doctors a month ago, the doctor made me lay down to take my BP. Has to do with Italian physical, and she needed it be under 140/90 for her to sign off on something. It was just above it.

Perhaps I should see a cardiologist and talk about my concerns. And see if it’s something I can get ahead of and take care of now.

37

A few hours ago I got sad news from my country: a friend from the school days just passed away. He had a serious heart condition that was being “treated” and under examination for years, but he knew this could happen any time and well, it finally did. It’s an emotionally confusing moment for me, not sure how to explain it, but it’s like if I still had to sit down with him for talking about this and other things, despite the distance and life in general had made us a bit more distant.

He found out about his condition because his cousin had the same problem (and also had died many years ago because of a stroke), so he went to hospital and did some tests. I also started to worry about my heart since I have had periods of recurrent arrhythmia, but the one time I tried to take a stress test the hospital didn’t have the equipment and did a super basic bullshit one that wouldn’t tell me shit.

I guess that I wanted to tell you is that if you think that there’s some problem with your genes you can go to the hospital and have it checked. In his case, his problems probably came from an overgrown and probably hardened tissue (fibrilosis or something), which was the same problem his cousin had, but in the case you had something genetic, they might be able to identify it as well and give you some sort of treatment and directions.

My friend loved sports and when he was told to stop he accepted to take it easy but he didn’t give up climbing, ice climbing and he even kept riding mountain bike, which is what we used to do together every time we met these past years (once a year). He went for a ride yesterday with his electric mountain bike and apparently temperatures were crazy (need to confirm on this but I heard it was 40ºC). He could have died any time and he knew it, but probably this was one of his stupid macho things he used to love to do (he always liked challenges, he was stupidly competitive). I’m not 100% sure, but I would say that the higher the temperature the higher the stress for your heart, indeed I did a light climb yesterday and me and my partner had high heart bpm for sure…

So as I said in a previous message, TOO MUCH EXERCISE IS NOT GOOD either . It’s great that you are active, but if you thin you might have a heart condition, take it easy.

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38

I also think the best thing to do is to see a cardiologist and ask all these questions myself to him. Keep an eye on it with a doctor.

39

Just don’t go to a shitty hospital as I did. I will try to find the time to do it myself, not sure where, because I also have to check other shit with doctors and I can’t be taking leaves everyday.

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40

Go to NTU or one of the top Catholic or Buddhist hospitals. They are better than the rest.