Mixing Alcohol With High Blood Pressure Is Not A Drink Of Choice

Prevention is always an important part of managing your health. Ideally, you want to do everything you can so as not to develop health-related conditions in the first place. But if they do develop, the goal should be to do as much as possible to try and reverse the condition, while also doing as little as possible to make the condition worse. One-third of U.S. adults have high blood pressure (hypertension) and it can have multiple causes ranging from poor dietary habits to inadequate amounts of sleep to being overloaded with high levels of stress. In order to help relax and reduce stress, many people may “unwind” at the end of the day with a cocktail or glass of wine. But that may actually be doing more harm than good. Even an ounce of alcohol a day might alter heart function if you have high blood pressure, researchers report.

In a recent study at the University of Udine School of Medicine in Italy, researchers examined the effect of alcohol on 335 patients with high blood pressure who had no other heart problems. Their heart function was measured with an electrocardiogram and heart scans and they were asked about their drinking patterns. For someone with high blood pressure, even small amounts of drinking can impair functioning of the lower left chamber of the heart, which pumps blood to the rest of the body. Those who drank the most had thicker left ventricular walls, stiffening the chamber and making it function less efficiently, the researchers said. They also found signs of heart damage in nearly half the participants, which was associated with how much they drank. The more they drank, the more trouble the heart had properly filling with blood between each heartbeat, which could lead to more serious conditions such as a heart attack.

Patients with more damage tended to be older, heavier, have diabetes and higher blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, the study authors noted. But after taking these factors into account, the researchers found that alcohol consumption still seemed to be a factor in damaging heart function. This should be concerning because hypertension contributes to more than 350,000 deaths each year in the United States, which equates to about 1,000 per day! If high blood pressure is a major risk factor for developing heart failure, and alcohol is showing that it can contribute to the progression of it, then eliminating or limiting alcohol consumption seems to be an easy preventative measure.

From a health perspective, alcohol offers no benefit to the body. It provides no real nutritional value and can also add stress to the body by promoting dehydration and fat deposition and inflammation in the liver. And then there is the effect on weight! So while it is enjoyable to many to partake in alcohol consumption occasionally, those at risk for serious heart conditions may want to take a pass and choose another drink of choice to maximize their longevity and quality of life.

Soy and How it Effects our Body

As we continue to learn more and more about the foods we eat and how they interact with our bodies, ideas about whether a particular food is good or bad for us can get a little confusing. We heard that eggs were bad because of the cholesterol, but now we know that cholesterol isn’t the demon it was once touted to be. Margarine was supposed to be a better substitute for butter because of the saturated fat, but the trans fat in margarine is now recognized as far more dangerous. And the debates on other foods will continue as time goes on. One that is still talked about with mixed reactions is soy.

Soy was initially touted as a health food, primarily as a meatless source of protein. It is vegetarian friendly, less damaging for the environment versus the impact of raising animals with their associated waste and costs, and it does provide a source of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals — without the cholesterol and saturated fat found in meat. There was even a time when the American Heart Association used to advocate eating soy as part of a "heart healthy diet" because it showed decreases in the LDL cholesterol levels of test subjects. But they have since retracted the recommendation because the effects turned out to be minimal, only lowering LDL by 3% at an intake of 50 grams per day.

The type of soy foods eaten also have a bearing on how healthy they are. Snacking on edamame, which is soy in its natural form, is healthier than eating something like tofu hot dogs that have been processed and may include additives, preservatives and other undesirable non-food ingredients. Different cultures have eaten soy for centuries and not shown the same ill effects as we have seen in our country, but again, it is being eaten in a “cleaner” state.

Whether soy can be beneficial is also dependent on a particular person’s physiology. Soy contains isoflavones — a type of phytoestrogren that mimics the effect of estrogen on the body. When you eat lots of soy, it has the potential to disrupt estrogen-sensitive systems in your body, including the reproductive system (which includes the brain, the pituitary gland and the reproductive organs). Too much estrogenic activity in the body can disrupt a woman’s menstrual cycle or be a possible contributing factor in breast cancer risk. It can also have an impact on our thyroid function. Soy flavonoids (soy isoflavones) reduce the activity of thyroid peroxidase, the enzyme required to insert iodine into thyroid hormone. Decreased thyroid function can then lead to weight gain, brain fogginess, decreased libido and other symptoms.

As you can see, the jury is still out on a definitive as to whether it is fully safe to eat or whether it should be left alone. If you do prefer to add soy to your diet, keep it in its most natural state and avoid overindulging or making it a large staple of the foods you eat. If you have any questions as to whether it is safe for your particular body, consult with one of our doctors who will be able to give an opinion that takes into consideration any health conditions or problems that you have.

In Health, 

Dr. Brad Niewierowski 

Are Egg Yolks Good Or Bad for You?

Egg white recipes and yolk free eating has become more and more popular among the “healthier” population than ever before. There are more and more people that are avoiding egg yolks at all costs due to recommendations from health experts. It is important for everyone to know that when you do toss out the egg yolk, what you are missing out on.

Egg yolks contain vitamins A, D, E and K along with omega 3 fats. Compared to egg whites which have folate, and vitamin B12. The yolks alos contain more of the nutrient choline than the whites, and all of the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin.

Many people have fallen into the stigma that yolks are dangerous for our health due to them containing cholesterol and saturated. That fact is that the cholesterol and fat that is contained in the yolks is actually the healthy fat.

Here are some "Egg Facts”

• Cholesterol rich foods tend to be among the best for your health. 
• Eating cholesterol rich foods does not lead to high cholesterol
• Egg yolks have little to no impact on cholesterol levels for most people
• More and more research shows eating eggs doesn’t raise heart risks.

For more answers on what you should or should not be consuming daily for your health call us at (210) 468-1891 for a free consultation.

In Health, 

Dr. Jacob Torres

8 Out of 10 Organic Eggs May Be Questionable, Here's How to Tell

When raised the way nature intended, both chickens and their eggs are healthy sources of high-quality nutrients that many are deficient in — especially high-quality protein and healthy fat. Eggs contain complete proteins, meaning they provide the eight essential amino acids, essential to the building, maintenance and repair of your skin, internal organs, muscles, and more.

They also contain carotenoids such as lutein and zeaxanthin, which are important for good eyesight, and choline, which is needed for the normal development of memory, as well as betaine, tryptophan and tyrosine, all of which are important for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Cholesterol is also important for health, and contrary to popular belief, the cholesterol in eggs will not adversely affect your cholesterol levels.1

However, to reap all the benefits chicken and eggs have to offer, it's important to realize that not all chickens and eggs are the same. It all depends on how they were raised. I strongly advise sticking with free-range organic varieties.

Not only is the nutritional profile of eggs and chickens raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) inferior to their pastured, free-ranging counterparts, they're also far more likely to be contaminated with salmonella.

Organic Egg Scorecard Cuts Through Confusion and Misleading Labels

While there's no way to guarantee 100 percent safety all the time, the benefits of free-range poultry are becoming more well-recognized, and reduced disease risk is definitely part of that benefits package.

As reported by The Guardian,2 sale of cage-free and organic eggs is on the rise, and five U.S. states now ban caged hens. Unfortunately, loopholes abound, allowing CAFO-raised chickens and eggs to masquerade as "free-range" and "organic."

Both consumers and corporate customers, such as McDonald's, Nestle, and General Mills, are now demanding egg producers convert to cage-free methods. It's worth noting that "cage-free" still does not mean the chickens were raised under ideal conditions.

They're not raised in cages, but they may still not have access to the outdoors. So there are still significant differences even between "cage-free" and "free range" (or "pastured") eggs. With so many loopholes and lack of transparency, it can be very confusing to sort through it all.

The Cornucopia Institute addressed these issues in a recent egg report. According to Mark Kastel, co-founder of the Cornucopia Institute, there's a factory farm takeover of the egg industry underway, with large CAFOs now controlling 80 percent of the organic egg market.

Yet less than 9 percent of hens raised in the U.S. are raised without cages.3The organic label simply means the hens have been raised on organic feed. It is not an indication that they've been humanely or sustainably raised.

"For this report, we have visited or surveilled, via aerial photography/satellite imagery, a large percentage of certified egg production in the United States, and surveyed all name-brand and private-label industry marketers," the Cornucopia Institute writes.

And, according to Mark A. Kastel, The Cornucopia Institute's co-director and senior farm policy analyst: "It's obvious that a high percentage of the organic eggs on the market are illegal and should, at best, be labeled 'produced with organic feed,' rather than bearing the USDA-certified organic logo."

The Cornucopia Institute's report and scorecard, which took six years to produce, ranks 136 egg producers according to 28 organic criteria. According to the Cornucopia Institute:

"'Scrambled Eggs: Separating Factory Farm Egg Production from Authentic Organic Agriculture,'4 will empower consumers and wholesale buyers who want to invest their food dollars to protect hard-working family farmers that are in danger of being forced off the land by a landslide of eggs from factory farms ...

[As] consumers have become concerned about the humane treatment of animals, and are also seeking out eggs that are superior in flavor and nutrition, a number of national marketers have found success in distributing 'pasture'-produced eggs.

'There is a fair bit of overreach and the exploitation of this term is well covered in our report,' Kastel explained. 'The organic egg scorecard enables concerned consumers to select authentic brands delivering the very best quality eggs regardless of the hyperbole on the label' ..."

In Health, 

Dr. Brad Niewierowski

Exposing the Fraud of Grocery Store Organic Eggs

January 12, 2016    Mercola.com

4 Health Tests You Should Have Monitored Regularly

If you aren’t regularly paying the best attention to your health, issues are likely to creep up on you before you know it. Everything from your diet, exercise routine (or lack thereof), water intake, sleep habits and stress levels will either positively or negatively affect your state of well-being. The best way to safeguard your long-term health is to catch troublesome issues early, so monitoring certain lab values regularly can tell you whether you are going in the right or wrong direction.

BLOOD SUGAR
Produced primarily from the carbohydrates you eat, blood sugar (a.k.a. glucose) is the primary source of your body's fuel. To use this fuel for energy, your body needs the hormone insulin to take sugar from the bloodstream and produce energy inside the cells. With pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes (the most common form), the cells have decreased their sensitivity to insulin and less gets inside the cells. Glucose then builds up, leading to problems with the heart, kidneys, eyes, nerves, brain, muscles and blood vessels. Early warning signs are you might feel thirstier and hungrier than usual, become tired and cranky, or have to make more trips to the bathroom. In fact, 7 million Americans have diabetes but don't know it.
YOUR TARGET: Hemoglobin A1c below 5.7 (ideally around 5.1), Glucose in the 85-100 mg/dL range.

CHOLESTEROL
Cholesterol is a waxy, fatty substance that is necessary to produce most of your hormones, build healthy cell membranes and protect nerve cells in your brain. But whatever the body doesn't use to perform those vital jobs can cause harm. The "bad" form (LDL) cattaches to the arteries when oxidized or the vessels are damaged due to inflammation, sabotaging blood flow to your heart and triggering more inflammation. The "good" form (HDL) removes excess cholesterol and protects the vessels. Proper lifestyle modification will help keep the numbers in good balance.
YOUR TARGET: Total cholesterol 150-200 mg/dL; LDL below 100 mg/dL; HDL above 60 mg/dL

IRON
Iron is the key ingredient to the production of hemoglobin, which carries oxygen from the lungs to every cell in your body. If hemoglobin is low, you may experience symptoms such as increased fatigue, lack of energy, muscle soreness, achy joints, and sliding performance. Other values like your serum ferritin, which indicates your storage capacity for the iron you absorb, may also be low. Insufficient iron may indicate poor intake, poor absorption or be a result of increased loss, so it is always important to know the cause as supplementation alone may not fix the problem. If iron stores aren't returned to a healthy state, heart problems may arise.
YOUR TARGET: Ideally between 85-135 ug/dL

THYROID-STIMULATING HORMONE
An underactive or overactive thyroid can make major changes to your quality of life. That's because the thyroid hormone regulates how much energy reaches all cells: Too little TSH (hypothyroidism) can leave you feeling weak, foggy, cold and gaining weight while high levels of thyroid hormones (hyperthyroidism) speed up your heartbeat, cause excessive weight loss and can make you jittery. There are many levels to assessing the thyroid, including checking that T4 is being properly converted to the active T3 form and making sure that there isn’t an autoimmune component by checking thyroid antibodies. It’s a good idea to perform a full panel if thyroid complications are suspected.
YOUR TARGET: TSH level are optimal between 1.8 and 3.0 mIU/L

In Health, 

Dr. Brad Niewierowski