1) Cardiovascular disease kills far more men and women than cancer.
A) True
B) False
Answer: True. Although cancer fears are more common, cardiovascular disease is the chief cause of death and disability in the United States today. It affects close to 60 million Americans and every year more than a million people suffer from new or recurrent heart attacks. In fact, every 20 seconds a person in the United States has a heart attack, and one third of these attacks leads to death. The American Heart Association calls CVD “the silent epidemic.”
2) Eating a diet that includes plenty of pasta, potatoes and white rice can reduce your risk of heart disease.
A) True
B) False
Answer: False. For years we were told that a heart-healthy diet included foods low in fat and high in carbohydrates, such as fruits, veggies, legumes, grains and other starches. But now experts are saying that overloading on carbohydrates (especially the wrong kind) can make you fat and increase your risk of heart disease. Eating foods with a high glycemic index-such as cookies, cake, candy, bagels, pasta, white rice, refined bread and grains, potatoes and potato chips-raises blood sugar and insulin levels, which in turn stimulates the production of triglycerides (blood fats that raise heart disease risk).
3) Cardiovascular disease is the Number 1 health threat to postmenopausal women.
A) True
B) False
Answer: True. Evidence shows that during and after menopause, as estrogen levels decrease, the risk of heart disease in women dramatically rises. Before a woman reaches menopause, estrogen circulating throughout the body allows the coronary arteries to dilate and remain flexible. Estrogen also helps keeps cholesterol levels down. Researchers continue to study the effect that hormone replacement therapy has on lowering postmenopausal women’s risk of developing heart disease. We do know for certain that high quality nutritional supplements, a healthy diet, exercise, and relaxation all help prevent CVD by giving the body what it needs!
4) The heart muscle is totally responsible for maintaining normal blood pressure levels.
A) True
B) False
Answer: False. Your kidneys, blood vessels and heart all control blood pressure. In order to maintain healthy blood pressure and keep blood moving, the walls of your arteries, capillaries and veins need to be flexible and strong. Research has shown that nutrients such as Co-Q-10 hawthorne, red wine polyphenols, notoginseng (a cousin of ginseng), and astragalus help strengthen blood flow throughout the entire body, maintaining healthy blood pressure. In addition, EDTA removes heavy metals and toxins that interfere with the production of nitric oxide, a major factor in controlling blood pressure.
5) Risk factors and symptoms of cardiovascular disease are identical for men and women.
A) True
B) False
Answer: False. Women’s hearts, coronary arteries and other blood vessels are smaller than men’s, which means it may take less plaque to block them. Women’s arteries are also more reactive to stress and respond with unprovoked spasms. According to Marianne Legato, M.D., director of the Partnership for Women’s Health at Columbia University, as estrogen levels decrease, “Women’s hearts become stiffer, making it more difficult to relax between beats.” This is a major cause of congestive heat failure. “In many ways, a heart attack is far more serious for a woman than a man. She is twice as likely to die within the first 60 days. After a year, she is twice as likely to have a second attack, and at any age, she is at greater risk of dying,” says Legato.
Men and women also experience heart attack symptoms differently. According to Debra Judelson, M.D., medical director of The Women’s Heart Institute, Beverly Hills, CA, men tend to experience chest pressure, tightness and pain radiating to the arm, after exertion. Women tend to have symptoms without exertion, at night or with emotional upset. Those symptoms include shortness of breath; pain in the abdomen, back, jaw or throat; and feelings of uneasiness that are often dismissed, even by physicians.
6) Cardiovascular disease is hereditary and cannot be prevented.
A) True
B) False
Answer: False. Even if there’s heart disease in your family, even if you have high cholesterol, adding certain natural supplements to a healthy lifestyle can dramatically reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke.
7) CVD starts in the teenage years.
A) True
B) False
Answer: True. Dr. Scoot Calig, M.D., a pediatrician at West Hills Medical Center and an assistant clinical professor at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, says, “It’s important to keep in mind that the development of cardiovascular disease begins in the teenage years. Studies have shown that by that time, arterial plaque formation is well under way.” Just another reason to exercise, eat a healthy diet, and take nutritional supplements to strengthen the heart and arteries and clear out toxic metals that inhibit the production of nitric oxide.
8) An aspirin a day is the best way to thin the blood, in order to reduce the chance of stroke and heart attack.
A) True
B) False
Answer: False. For years, aspirin has been prescribed after a heart attack, in order to avoid a subsequent heart attack. And now, a panel of experts is recommending aspirin as a precaution against heart disease for all at-risk, healthy adults over 40. But Alfred Berg, M.D., of the University of Washington, head of the panel says, “Do not assume that an aspirin a day is without risk.” Aspirin can cause intestinal bleeding and hemorrhagic stroke. Several nutritional supplements available today have the ability to thin the blood like aspirin, without damaging the esophageal and intestinal linings, or exacerbating ulcers.
9) High blood cholesterol is the best overall indicator of cardiovascular disease.
A) True
B) False
Answer: False. Homocysteine-a by-product of the amino acid methionine- is a more sensitive indicator of cardiovascular health than cholesterol. Too much of it increases injury to arterial walls, as well as accelerates oxidation and accumulation of cholesterol in blood vessel. The good news is that folic acid, and vitamins B6 and B12 – key ingredients in multi-vitamin formulas – help keep homocysteine levels low!
10) The French enjoy a 42% lower incidence of heart disease than Americans because they drink red wine.
A) True
B) False
Answer: True. Even though the French eat a high-fat diet they boast a much lower incidence of heart disease. Why? Because in addition to eating a high-fat diet that includes whole, high-fiber grains, they drink red wine. Red wine is chock full of compounds that raises beneficial HDL cholesterol levels, helping to rid the arteries of fatty deposits-which in turn lowers the risk of blood clots and heart attack. But even if you don’t drink red wine each day, you can gain the same benefits by taking nutritional supplements containing red wine extracts.