It was only a year or so ago that the AMA (American Medical Association) finally weighed the evidence and decided that vitamins are healthy, and not just a once-a-day money waste.
Turns out a lot of studies are coming in and there's a lot more going on than just the multi-vitamin!
Cholesterol's the new bug on the block, and heart health is getting more interesting by the day.
Multivitamins - Good for all sorts of stuff, and keeps your body supplied with the raw ingredients it wants even when your diet isn't perfectly balanced -- like on Monday through Saturday.
Baby Aspirin - Low-dose aspirin is seen as one of the fantastic miracles of the 20th century. Studies have shown it can reduce 2nd heart attacks by up to 34% and even lowers the risk of dying DURING a heart attack by 23% (when taken during the attack and afterwards). To calculate whether you should consider taking aspirin as a daily regimen, check out the CSPI site. It appears aspirin inhibits clotting, a factor in heart attacks. BTW -- 81mg is just as good as 325mg they say for daily use, but use 325mg during a heart attack, it can reduce clotting within minutes, which is critical. Better yet, there's no patent on aspirin, so it's cheap cheap!
If aspirin's the wonderdrug of the last century, then Lipitor and other statins that lower cholesterol--mostly lowering LDL, the bad cholesterol--certainly are the 8th wonder of the 21st century. My guess is that everyone should be on it, but I'm not a doctor (and Lipitor isn't paying me any endorsement fees) so I'll hold off on that one. As an example, my overall cholesterol, on just 10mg Lipitor daily, went from 198 to 136. Wow!
Further, my Dad told me to start Lipitor early, because he is projecting that longer-term studies that are starting to be completed will show that such drugs have benefits to younger people as well, and so you may want to consider starting in your 30s, not your 40s or 50s.
If you don't want a prescription drug for lowering LDL, consider taking Phytosterols (Plant sterols). Found in pine trees and soybeans, nuts, grains and oils, manufacturers concentrate them in supplements or stuff like Benecol, the cholesterol-lowering butter product, and a new version of Minute Maid OJ. The FDA even allows them to label such products as "helping to prevent heart disease." The article I read in Nutrition Action recommends at least 800mg a day of the substances, which is quite a bit.
Fish Oil -- or more specifically, Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil. Make sure you actually get 800mg-1,000mg of actual DHA and EPA per day, I guess. The capsule may say 1,000mg, but the two active ingredients may only be 300mg per tablet, so take a few extra. Fish oil is now being found to have the ability to lower deaths from heart attacks -- good stuff!
The next chapter in this drama is probably involving raising HDL (the good cholesterol). So far, statins such as Lipitor basically only lower LDL. So, what's on tap for this next phase?
Good ol' Niacin in heavy doses. But, you'll want to talk with a doctor about it since Niacin in high amounts is reallllly powerful with some tough side effects.
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Good health to you!
Posted by BilFish at March 29, 2004 08:28 AM