February is Heart Month

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Heart Health

By Shannon Macdonald

The statistics on heart health paint a clear but dramatic picture: Canada is experiencing a national cardiovascular epidemic. Eighty per cent of Canadians aged 20 to 59 years of age live with at least one key risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Of that group, 10% live with three or more risk factors. Most risk factors for heart disease and stroke can be controlled by making healthy lifestyle choices. This information is all around us, but are we getting the message? Check your risk level on the chart.

If measured in lives lost, 36% of all deaths in Canada (1999) are related to heart disease and stroke. The economic burden of $18.5 billion (1998) is more than any other disease.

In The Growing Burden of Heart Disease and Stroke in Canada 2003, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC) reported an increase in physical activity and a decrease in smoking. However, over the same period of time, rates of obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes continued to climb.

Weight control and heart disease
Over 60% of Canadian adults are either overweight or obese; a statistic that sets off alarm bells when we consider that excess weight is linked directly to heart disease and stroke. As our weight increases, so too does our risk for heart disease and stroke. Conversely, even small reductions in weight can bring our overall risk down significantly.

The Body Mass Index (BMI) is the common tool used to evaluate weight. The BMI simply assigns a score to an individual based on their weight and height. For example, at 5’9” and 164 lbs, I scored 24 on the BMI. I was shocked; a score of 25 - 29.9 is considered overweight and a score of 30 or more is deemed obese. I’m close to being clinically overweight.

There’s no magic solution to weight loss. Except in extreme cases where surgery may be appropriate for the very obese, experts agree that success requires a combination of increased physical activity and healthier food choices. 

• Burn calories so they don’t get stored as fat
• Help lose fat and tone muscles
• Speed up metabolism so that our bodies use more calories even when resting
• Workout the heart muscle. When we physically exert ourselves – the heart pumps faster to deliver oxygen to working muscles. With regular activity, the heart muscle becomes stronger and stronger.

Food facts
What we eat and when we eat has a significant impact on our weight and long-term heart health. Understanding what foods do in the body is key to helping us make reasonable, educated choices. 

FIBRE: An important tool in weight management. Soluble fibre helps reduce cholesterol and control diabetes, two of the best sources: apples and oats. Insoluble fibre acts like a broom as it travels through the digestive system. It cleans up waste so that nutrients can be better absorbed. Good sources of insoluble fibre are vegetables and whole grains. As an added bonus, high-fibre meals and snacks bring water into the digestive system to make us feel full and ultimately eat less. (Also read ‘Burn fat using food’)

FAT: The human body needs fat – it helps us absorb nutrients from our food, build healthy cell membranes and aids in nerve transmission. But too much fat results in weight gain, heart disease and certain types of cancer. The obvious conclusion is to limit fat intake. Health Canada recommends no more than 30% of one’s average daily intake of calories should be from fats, however there are good fats and bad fats so we need to know what to embrace and what to avoid.

Good fats (polyunsaturated and mono-unsaturated) do important work and contribute to weight loss and a healthier heart. They are liquid at room temperature and are found in certain oils (olive, canola, flax), nuts, seeds, oily fish (salmon, mackerel, tuna) and avocados.
Bad fats (saturated and trans-fats) compromise health by increasing unhealthy cholesterol (HDL-cholesterol). Saturated fats are naturally solid at room temperature and become hard when chilled. They’re found in animal products, dairy, eggs, some seafood and specific vegetable oils (coconut, palm and palm kernel oil).
Trans-fats pack a one-two punch. They increase bad cholesterol and at the same time, decrease good cholesterol! Small amounts are found naturally in some dairy and animal products but the majority of trans-fats have been manufactured through the process of partial-hydrogenation of oil for the purpose of producing a more stable product with a longer shelf life. Vegetable shortening is an excellent example of a trans-fat product. It can be found in crackers, cookies, donuts, cakes, pastries, muffins, croissants, snack foods, and deep-fried fast foods.

The hidden fat
To get a sense of the trans-fat issue  I decided to explore my kitchen cupboards. I put everything containing “partially hydrogenated oil” (aka trans-fats) on the kitchen table and when I was finished, the cupboards were almost bare. At least two-thirds of the food was on the table – crackers, peanut butter, kids snacks, microwave popcorn, cake mixes, baked goods, and on and on. I didn’t realize the scope of the problem.
                       
Scientific evidence has shown that trans-fats are a toxic food substance posing significant health risks. In 2005, Canada became the first country in the world to introduce mandatory labeling of trans-fats. The government also created Trans Fat Task Force, in collaboration with HSFC. The report released June 2006 details the effort required to reduce and/or eliminate trans-fats from the Canadian food supply.

H&L