The silent killer

The silent killer... High blood pressure shows next to no symptoms and many don't even know they have it.  In fact, one in four adults suffer from it.

High blood pressure can lead to; damage to your arteries in the form of artery damage and narrowing, and aneurysm.  Damage to your heart in the form of coronary artery disease, enlarged left heart and heart failure.  It can also damage your brain leading to transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), stroke, dementia and mild cognitive impairment.  High blood pressure can also damage your kidneys leading to kidney failure, scarring of the kidneys and kidney artery aneurysm.

The causes of high blood pressure are many; smoking, being overweight or obese, too much salt in the diet, lack of physical activity, more than 1 or 2 alcoholic drinks per day, stress, age, genetics, family history of high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease, adrenal and thyroid disorders and sleep apnea.

Many of these causes, although not all, are due to lifestyle, so change your lifestyle and you will most probably reverse your high blood pressure.

There are several things you can do on a nutritional level to help lower your blood pressure, there are certain foods that you SHOULD eat and others that you should AVOID.

What you should AVOID:

Obviously you should lower your salt intake as this is one of the things that raises blood pressure.  However, it isn't that easy.  Yes, you can certainly lower the amount you put in your home cooked food, but salt or sodium chloride has been used as a flavor enhancer and preservative for centuries.

Adults need between 1.2 and 2.4g of salt per day, however most adults are consuming far more than that.  A review of studies involving 3,230 participants showed that reducing salt intake by 4.4g per day reduced systolic blood pressure by 4.2mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 2.1 mmHg.  Among the participants who had high blood pressure there were even bigger reductions of 5.4 mmHg (systolic) and 2.8 mmHg (diastolic).

Stay clear of processed foods and watch your added salt intake.

As already said above, more than one or two alcoholic drinks per day is associated with a systolic blood pressure reading of about 2.7 mmHg, and a diastolic reading of 1.4 mmHg - this is higher than in non-drinkers.

When you consume alcohol your blood pressure actually goes down first, only to rise later on and this rise is more likely to happen while you are awake than when you are asleep.  However, the more you drink means the greater your risk of having high blood pressure especially in men, but to a lesser extent in women too.

High intakes of caffeine increase blood pressure in the short term.  Caffeine is most commonly consumed in coffee and tea, but also in cola and in huge amounts in energy drinks such as Red Bull.

In a review of 5 clinical trials, the participants were given one or two cups of strong coffee, their systolic blood pressure increased to 8.1 mmHg and 5.7 mmHg diastolic blood pressure, up to three hours after drinking the coffee.  However response to caffeine is very different in each person, some people don't have a problem with it whereas others are very sensitive to it.  So analyze its effect on you as an individual.

Liquorice has an active ingredient called glycyrrhizic acid (GZA) but most liquorice sweets sold nowadays have very little real liquorice root in it and therefore very little GZA.  GZA causes sodium retention and loss of potassium, which contributes to high blood pressure, so you need to check the labels and be careful if it contains liquorice root.

What you SHOULD eat:

Vitamin C also known as ascorbic acid, is found in lots of fresh fruits and vegetables where an average serving contains between 10-40mg of vitamin C.

Vitamin C has been shown to improve blood pressure in a review of 29 short-term studies where participants were given 500mg of vitamin C per day over a period of eight weeks.  Their blood pressure improved significantly, with an average reduction in systolic blood pressure of 3.84 mmHg and 1.48 mmHg for diastolic blood pressure.

However, people who are susceptible to kidney stones should be careful with vitamin C consumption as it can contribute to the formation of kidney stones as the excess vitamin C is excreted via the kidneys.

Another advantage of increasing your vitamin C intake from fruits and vegetables is that you also increase your potassium intake which helps counter the effects of sodium.

You should all know by now that fiber is extremely important for good health.  Investigators found rolled oats or 25g of oat bran per day had systolic blood pressure at 2.7 mmHg lower and diastolic blood pressure was 1.5 mmHg lower than those who didn't include this amount of fiber in their diets.
that people who ate about 60g of

For on extra gram of total daily fiber, there was an extra 0.11 mmHg reduction in diastolic blood pressure.  The recommended minimum daily intake for fiber in adults is 30g for men and 25g for women.  Just make sure it is good quality fiber.

Inorganic nitrate is a compound found in beetroot.  During digestion, this compound is converted into nitric oxide, which in turn, causes arteries to dilate directly lowering the pressure within.

Beetroot juice has been shown to reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure in adult men who already had high blood pressure.  They were randomly assigned to drink 250ml of beetroot juice per day for four weeks or given a non-active placebo.

Those drinking the beetroot juice reduced their blood pressure over 24 hours, with systolic blood pressure 7.7 mmHg lower and diastolic blood pressure 5.2 mmHg lower.  

Be careful with beetroot though as it is also very high in sugar.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

The truth behind type 2 diabetes

On 2nd October 2016, the BBC showed a documentary on their program PANORAMA.  This particular episode struck a deep chord with me as it was about Type 2 Diabetes, my father suffers from this disease and I know the struggle he has faced for years.

As a nutritionist I see type 2 diabetes as having a fairly simple solution - lose weight and you can control or even cure the progression of the disease.  However, for those suffering from type 2 diabetes don't see it as simply as I do, and this is what made watching this documentary so painful.  The impotence, the frustration and hopelessness of the patients, their families and the medical professionals is devastating.

The amount of people currently struggling with type 2 diabetes in the UK are costing the NHS 10.3 BILLION GBP per year - that's 10% of the NHS' budget spent on caring for people with type 2 diabetes.  This is because 4 MILLION people are living with this condition and 500.000 don't even know it.

So why does it cost so much?

Many people think that type 2 diabetes is basically harmless.  However, its effects are far reaching, and the truth is that this disease is a KILLER.  Type 2 diabetes can lead to heart failure, blindness, kidney disease (need for dialysis) and foot and leg amputations.

Type 2 diabetes isn't just the medication you need to control it, it's the cost both human and economic of dealing with other diseases caused by the type 2.  For example, one of the cases featured in the documentary shows an elderly man having his leg amputated due to this disease.  He had to have two operations and rehabilitation.  That's 18,000 GBP for the two ops and 20,000 GBP more for rehabilitation, not to mention the cost to him at losing a leg.  Amputations due to the body's inability to fight infection from ulcers because of the diabetes are, unfortunately, very common.  Not a welcome thought for anyone.  And this comes at an economic cost to the NHS that is threatening its survival.

If you read this blog you will know that type 2 diabetes is a lifestyle acquired disease which means there is too much glucose in the blood due, generally, to poor diet and therefore the body's mechanism for turning glucose into energy doesn't work properly.  Nine out of ten patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are overweight.

Professor Tim Barratt, from Birmingham Children's Hospital says;

"Obesity and diabetes will have a tremendous burden on our national health service.  It would be much cheaper to change lifestyles now and prevent complications than trying to pay for it with the NHS."

But type 2 isn't just for middle aged people who haven't looked after themselves.  Until the year 2000 not a single case of type 2 diabetes had been diagnosed in a child in the UK.  Now more than 500 CHILDREN have developed the disease because of poor diet and obesity.

In the UK one fifth of children are overweight or obese by the time they start PRIMARY school, and more than one in three are overweight or obese by the time they leave.

Professor Barratt says;

"Type 2 diabetes in children may be a different disease to type 2 diabetes in adults.

"So adults who get this at the age of 50 or whatever may not necessarily get these other complications.  The children we are seeing with type 2 seem to have got a more aggressive progress.  And they're getting these complications earlier than you'd expect."

The NHS is now focused on prevention.  Doctors claim that although bariatric surgery costs about 5,000 GBP, if it prevents sufferers from developing more serious complications then it is money well spent.  However, the NHS is only performing about 6,000 bariatric surgeries per year.  If it were to meet the European average, it would be closer to 50,000, enough to make a difference.

The government has also imposed a "sugar tax" on soft drinks and they have also published a childhood obesity strategy.  But many in the medical profession believe that tougher actions are needed if a difference is to be made.

But, at the end of the day, the general public has to WANT to look after themselves, and also those suffering already from type 2 diabetes have to make a huge effort with help from the medical professionals to change their lives.  Admitting you have a problem and that you need help is half the battle won.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

The Big Bad Avocado

Yes, I know, I keep going on about how good avocados are for you.  But I keep doing it because I keep getting resistance to eating them from lots of people.

Avocados have had so much bad press for so long, it's difficult to change peoples' perception of them, which is such a shame as they are packed with vitamins, minerals and HEALTHY FATS.  Avocados are rich in monounsaturated fat which helps REDUCE levels of LDL cholesterol - otherwise known as "bad" cholesterol.  They also contain more potassium than bananas and are rich in vitamins B, C and K.

But first things first; cholesterol is a type of fat that is produced by the human body and is key to good health.  We have all heard of the two most common forms of cholesterol; HDL or "good" and LDL or "bad".  HDL or High Density Lipoprotein which guards against heart problems while the LDL or Low Density Lipoprotein, causes build-up on artery walls causing blockages which can lead to heart disease.  But there are other types LP (a) a genetic variation of LDL which together with triglycerides (a form of fat made in the body), make up the TOTAL cholesterol count on your blood test.

However, one of the most important jobs carried out by cholesterol is to help in hormone production. Cholesterol is stored in the ovaries, testes and adrenal glands and is converted to steroid hormones.  Steroid hormones are necessary for the correct functioning of the human body, and without them we would have problems with weight, sex, bone and mental health.

Cholesterol also helps in digestion.  The liver uses cholesterol in the production of bile which helps us to digest the food we eat - especially fats.

Cholesterol is also a structural compound of cells together with polar lipids, cholesterol provides a protective barrier.  Cells are affected by increases and decreases in cholesterol and these changes can affect our ability to metabolize and produce energy.

However, unhealthy diets can cause high levels of LDL cholesterol, which raises the risk of heart disease and stroke.  Being overweight or obese raises your risk of having high LDL levels, BUT normal weight people can also have high LDL levels, so it is important to get your cholesterol levels checked regularly.

Now, back to avocados.  A small study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association,

found that eating an avocado a day as part of a heart-healthy, cholesterol-lowering diet can help improve LDL levels in overweight or obese individuals.

45 overweight or obese but otherwise healthy individuals between the ages of 21 and 70 were put on three different diets to lower cholesterol.

Diet 1:  Lower-fat diet WITHOUT avocado
Diet 2:  Moderate-fat diet WITHOUT avocado
Diet 3:  Moderate-fat diet WITH one avocado per day.

Each participant ate each of the three diets for 5 weeks.

The results were astounding:

The average American diet was used as the baseline and when compared to this the reduced-fat diet (diet 1) LDL levels were 7.4 points lower.  Diet 2 - moderate-fat with NO avocado, LDL levels were 8.3 points lower.  And Diet 3 - moderate-fat WITH avocado was a whopping 13.5 points lower!  But it doesn't stop there; several other benefits were noted from the moderate-fat avocado diet: total cholesterol and triglyceride levels were improved also.

So, an avocado a day doesn't just add fiber, vitamins, minerals and healthy fats to your body, but it also helps protect your heart.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

The danger of antibiotic resistance

Bacteria resistant to antibiotics currently claim 700,000 lives per year.

And it could get worse... global public health officials have warned that the figure could climb to 10 MILLION per year by 2050 if we do not limit our use of antibiotics.

So, are you ingesting more antibiotics than you realize?

Doctors have been on a crusade for years to deny antibiotics for mundane things like the common cold.  But when your waiting room if full of people with minor ailments begging for antibiotics as a quick solution to their problem, things can get problematic and more serious cases can go undetected.

However, your antibiotic ingestion is not just down to the medical prescription for a throat infection, for example.  Our meat, chicken, pork, etc are full of antibiotics and every time you eat a steak, or a chicken breast your are ingesting tiny doses of antibiotics that gradually, day after day, contribute to the bacteria adapting to those medicines and becoming immune to it.

This means that the next time you have a throat infection - or what ever infection - the antibiotics you will be given will be useless and you could die from a minor infection.

According to those global officials, common infections such as gonorrhea and E.coli could soon be untreatable.

Right now, 70% of the antibiotics that are produced per year are used to fight infections in livestock that are reared in deplorable conditions where infections like E.coli are rife.

For the past 2 years, fast food chains have been promising to serve antibiotic-free meat, sensing their business could be in danger (and rightly so) if they don't.

But a recently published study has revealed that they have not stuck to their promise and only 2 companies managed to score an A grade (Panera Bread and Chipotle) this does not mean they are completely antibiotic-free, but that they are in the process of reducing the amount of antibiotics in their chicken.

The study: Chain Reaction II: How Top Restaurants Rate on Reducing Use of Antibiotics in Their Meat Supply.  This report was compiled by Consumers Union, the Center for Food Safety, Friends of the Earth, Food Animal Concerns Trust, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The scores, as you can see are extremely low:

Four fast food chains (Chipotle, McDonald's, Panera Bread, and Subway) have implemented strategies to make their chicken 100% antibiotic-free by 2025 - that's a long way off when human health is concerned.

Also what about beef and pork?  Why only Chicken?

It doesn't just apply to meat either.  Milk farms use massive amounts of antibiotics as the cows are forced to produce milk at such a rate that they develop mastitis, an inflammation of the mammary gland which can result in infection.  Those antibiotics and pus from the infection can be found in milk on sale in supermarkets.

The other big question is also... why only antibiotics?

Obviously you have to start somewhere and antibiotic resistance is a HUGE problem.  However, livestock breeding farms where the cattle, pigs and chicken are kept in confined spaces and knee deep in excrement are not only using antibiotics in huge amounts.  They are also using steroids and hormones to grow the animals as big as possible in the shortest amount of time.

Have you notice the increase in "man boobs"?  They aren't just from being overweight, although that does contribute, but men are actually growing breasts from all the hormones in our food.  Breast cancer in men DOES happen.

So think before you order your next McDonald's...

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com