This week’s news about heart disease, heart-healthy eating and other matters of the heart

The Beat Goes on...

Exercise May Help Increase Levels of “good” Cholesterol
Although exercise may help improve cholesterol levels in general, a certain exercise known as step aerobics may help increase levels of HDL or “good” cholesterol. Increased levels of HDL cholesterol have been shown to have a protective effect against heart disease. Researchers from Baskent University in Ankara, Turkey, studied 45 sedentary women in college for approximately eight weeks. Some of the women participated in step aerobics (three days a week for 45 minutes each day), some participated in traditional dance aerobics for the same time period and the other women did not participate in physical activity. After the eight-week period, both groups of active women saw a reduction in their total cholesterol levels. However, those women who participated in the step aerobics also saw an increase in their HDL cholesterol levels. The findings were published in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness.

Benefits of Alcohol Questioned
A new study published in the journal Heart and conducted by a team of researchers with the Royal Free Medical School in London have found that men who increase their alcohol consumption in the hope of helping their heart may increase their risk of dying from other conditions. The research findings indicated that men who changed their habits to become regular drinkers decreased their risk of heart disease, but increased their risk of other non-heart-related deaths. The researchers noted, “Our findings do not provide unconditional support for encouraging older men who do not drink or who only drink occasionally to take up regular drinking - whether or not they have coronary heart disease.”

Interaction Between Genes and Diet May Affect Women's Cholesterol
New research indicates that both diet and genes may play a role in a woman's risk of developing heart disease. Researchers found that women with a particular gene who consumed more polyunsaturated forms of fat had higher HDL or “good” cholesterol levels - which may be protective against heart disease - than women who also had the same gene but ate fewer polyunsaturated fats. Dr. Jose M. Ordovas of the Jean Mayer U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, MA, said, “Our results identify some subjects in the population, about 20 percent of them, for whom diets rich in vegetables oils, fish and nuts will be of special benefit for their cardiovascular health.” However, Ordovas cautioned that the study represents only one piece of the “heart disease puzzle.”