Heart health is often overlooked among women, yet 90% of cases are preventable. Learn how in this article.
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Valentine’s Day is a fun, festive holiday that reminds us of something much more serious: American Heart Month.
During this time, health leaders like the American Heart Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health make it their mission to increase awareness about heart disease, its risk factors, and its impact on our well-being.
Heart disease is a broad term used to describe a variety of different conditions affecting the heart. These include:
- Coronary artery disease
- Congestive heart failure
- High blood pressure
- Heart rhythm problems
- Heart attack
- Stroke
Yet, despite our country’s best efforts at educating people about the importance of a heart-healthy lifestyle, heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, killing about 659,000 people (one in every four deaths) annually.
That’s one person every 36 seconds. (1)
Heart disease awareness is now more important than ever.
Since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, COVID-19 has put a spotlight on the importance of health and wellness. In the United States alone, the virus has impacted more than 50 million people and claimed more than 800,000 lives. (2)
We know that certain populations have a higher risk than others of contracting the virus, including:
- Older adults
- People with weakened immune systems
- Those with underlying medical conditions such as heart disease
Last year during American Heart Month, prompted by the increased health risk posed by the pandemic, the president issued a proclamation calling for a recommitment to the fight against heart disease. Here’s what it said.
“We have seen the death rate from heart attacks rise dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic because people are delaying or not seeking care after experiencing symptoms. It is important not to ignore early warning signs like chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath, and sudden dizziness. And the symptoms of a heart attack can be different for men and women, an often-overlooked fact that can impact when people seek care.” (3)
Heart disease affects nearly as many women as men.
As the proclamation pointed out, being aware of the early warning signs of heart disease is just as important for women as it is for men.
According to the CDC, women account for nearly half of all annual heart disease deaths, despite the fact that it is primarily thought of as a “man’s disease”. (4)
However, the symptoms of heart disease — as well as how and when it manifests — differ considerably from one sex to another.
Men tend to develop heart disease earlier in life and have a higher risk of coronary artery disease — a condition in which the arteries around the heart become narrower and hardened due to plaque buildup.
In contrast, women have a higher risk of stroke (an interruption of blood flow to the brain), and it typically occurs later in life. (5)
One explanation for this may be the onset of menopause, which begins around age 50 and has been linked to a greater risk of heart disease.
Specifically, certain hormonal changes that occur with menopause have been shown to impact heart health-related factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol. (6)
Why are women so often left out of the heart disease conversation?
Like many other health conditions, a big reason why women are often overlooked when it comes to heart disease: Medical research has historically focused on men. In fact, only in recent decades have clinical studies attempted to include women among the test subjects.
My dear friend, Dr. Mark Menolascino, addresses this issue in detail in his book, Heart Solution for Women: A Proven Program to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. In it, he states,
“Even as recently as the 1980s and ’90s, many landmark studies on heart disease were entirely focused on men. The Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial of 1982, recognized as one of the first studies to prove a link between cholesterol and heart disease, involved over 12,000 men and zero women. Appropriately perhaps, its acronym is MRFIT.”
When talking with Mark on a recent episode of Ask the Health Expert, I asked him “What’s step one for women?” when it comes to determining heart disease risk.
He told me how important it is for women to first find a doctor who knows how to look at them individually, and second, to make sure they get the right blood tests to know their risk so they can make good decisions for their health.
There are three tests in particular that Mark recommends, and it’s important to know what they are because they’re not the ones doctors typically recommend.
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First, Mark says to ask for an advanced cholesterol panel with inflammation markers.
Why? Because (he told me) we now know that heart disease and heart attacks have much more to do with inflammation than with cholesterol. (You can read more here about the dangers of inflammation.)
Second, he recommends the right kind of stress test. For women, that means a stress echocardiography, or stress echo for short. Note: This is different from the thallium stress test typically recommended for men.
Finally, women should ask for a carotid intima-thickness test, or CIMT. This is a non-radiation ultrasound of the neck arteries that looks at the millimeter level of the lining of the blood vessel and not just how big the vessel is.
“We thought heart disease was a plumbing problem — it’s not. It’s an inflammation problem,” Mark explained, and this test is one of the best indicators for early warning signs of heart disease in women.
Here’s the good news: 90 percent of heart disease is preventable through diet and lifestyle changes. (7)
Despite its reputation for being a major killer in the United States and worldwide, 90 percent of heart disease cases are preventable.
Along with the right kind of consistent exercise and quitting smoking, women can take giant steps toward protecting heart health just by eating the right foods and eliminating the wrong foods from their diet.
I always say that if you want to be healthier, start at the end of your fork. This applies not just to weight loss but to better digestion and metabolism, improved sleep, optimal immune health, and yes: a healthier heart.
Did you know that inflammatory foods are among the biggest offenders when it comes to chronic disease? (8)
And in fact, studies have shown that following a heart-healthy diet is more effective than statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs) for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. (9)
In Virgin Diet and Sugar Impact Diet books, I talk about the importance of eliminating the seven foods most likely to trigger food intolerance and contribute to chronic inflammation. I call these the top 7 “high-FI” foods and
Ditching these seven foods from your diet is a great way to begin 2022 on a heart-healthy note!
- Gluten
- Soy
- Dairy
- Eggs
- Corn
- Peanuts
- Sugar + artificial sweeteners
With the exception of sugar, which I don’t recommend quitting cold turkey (and here’s why), the best approach to eliminating foods that cause intolerance symptoms is to cut them out of your diet completely and without exception.
This will give your system a chance to calm down and clear out those inflammatory antibodies so you know exactly which foods are causing problems.
After a few weeks, you can experiment with reintroducing the potential offenders to find out which foods are fine for you and which ones need to stay out for good.
Sugar does more damage to your heart than unhealthy fats.
For a long time, we were told that fat was the “bad guy” when it came to heart health, which is why in the 1980s and ’90s everything was fat-free this and fat-free that.
We now know two very important things:
- While saturated fats (along with artificially produced trans fats) can impact healthy cholesterol levels and contribute to heart disease risk, healthy fats such as the Omega-3 fatty acids derived from fatty fish, walnuts, and flaxseed oil are incredibly beneficial for heart health and help to decrease the risk of heart disease and heart attack; (10) and
- Sugar is far more damaging than fat to a healthy heart. (11)
A high-sugar diet has been linked to elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels, high blood pressure, insulin resistance, diabetes, weight gain and obesity, and inflammation — all of which greatly increase the risk of developing heart disease. (12)
Nowadays, hidden sugars are lurking everywhere — including inside 75 percent of all packaged foods and beverages.
Even so-called “healthy” foods like yogurt, protein bars, and green juices often contain sky-high amounts of sugar, so you’ll need to become what I call a sugar detective to keep those sneaky sugars out of your diet.
The best strategy for a healthy heart and body is to primarily eat whole, unprocessed foods and only buy processed foods from manufacturers that you trust (while carefully scrutinizing the labels). When writing my Sugar Impact Diet book,
I created the Sugar Impact Plate. When you eat by the Plate, each meal will contain:
- Clean, lean protein (1 serving)
- Healthy fats (1–2 servings)
- Non-starchy veggies (2+ servings)
- High-fiber slow, low carbs (1 serving)
This way of eating, combined with other preventative strategies like asking your doctor for the right tests, staying active, and taking care of your body will go a long way toward promoting a happier, healthier heart in 2022 — and beyond!
Researchers call magnesium the “mineral miracle” for heart health and so much more. * Whether I’m in a stressful business meeting, have a tension headache, or my mind is racing before bed, taking 300 mg of Magnesium Body Calm calms me down significantly. *
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The views in this blog by JJ Virgin should never be used as a substitute for professional medical advice. Please work with a healthcare practitioner concerning any medical problem or concern. The information here is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or condition. Statements contained here have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
References:
2. Elflein, J. Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the U.S. — Statistics & Facts. December 2021.
3. The White House. A Proclamation on American Heart Month, 2021. February 2021.
4. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Women and Heart Disease. January 2020.
