OPTIMIZE YOUR HEALTH
Living a Heart Healthy Lifestyle

Broken Heart Leads to Inflammation
By Jannet Huang, MD, FRCPC, FACE

With Valentine’s Day approaching, February is filled with images of hearts everywhere. It is only fitting that we focus on heart disease prevention in this month’s e-newsletter. Did you know that a broken heart (psychological stress) is actually linked to inflammation and thereby development and progression of cardiovascular disease?

Atherosclerosis, leading to heart attacks and strokes continue to be the number 1 killer of both men and women in the United States. Statistics show that one American man or woman dies from cardiovascular disease every 33 seconds! All of you are very familiar with the traditional (classical) heart risk factors including family history of premature coronary heart disease, hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes and smoking. Other more recently identified risk factors include the inflammatory marker CRP (C-reactive protein), homocysteine, Lp(a) and lipoPLA2. The size of cholesterol particles has also been shown to correlate with atherosclerosis. Your ApoE genotype can even affect how your cholesterol respond to dietary factors such as fat content and alcohol. Obtaining the Berkeley Heart Lab advanced lipid panel will help you better understand your risk profile.

A little recognized but extremely powerful heart risk factor is psychological stress. The well-known INTERHEART study published in 2004 showed the likelihood of having a heart attack is increased by 42.3 times when a person has all four “traditional” heart risk factors (smoking, diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia), but a not so well-known finding is this likelihood is raised to 182.9 times if psychological stress is present in addition to the four traditional risk factors! A recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine (2007) showed that psychological factors such as high levels of cynical mistrust, chronic stress and depression are associated with inflammatory markers including Interleukin-6, CRP and fibrinogen.

“The Mind-Body Feedback Loop – The Endocrinologist’s Perspective of Stress and Cardiometabolic Disease” is the title of my article that has been published in a new book “Lady in the Red Dress” by Lois Trader. Here are a couple of excerpts:

“I believe that the mind and the body also operate with a feedback loop that allows constant and intricate communication to keep us in balance.”

“I am sure that the story of our author and our lady in the red dress, Lois Trader, is resonating with many readers. Her story is by no means unique, but she has the vision and courage to speak up and share her story so that other women can be more aware and therefore be more proactive about their cardiovascular health.”

Want to read more? “Lady in the Red Dress” is available for sale at the Center. For more information on Lois Trader’s efforts in promoting awareness of heart disease in women and about her book, visit her website.

I invite you to join our team in understanding your cardiovascular risk profile and in devising a plan to optimize your heart health. Then I invite you to join us as ambassadors in spreading the message about the importance of a proactive, integrative approach to cardiovascular disease prevention. It starts with you!

—February 2007

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