#18: Can We Reduce Our Risk of Heart Disease? Good News and Better News!

10/08/24 • 35 min

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the US; we understand the risk factors for it, and there are 7 key steps you can take to reduce that risk. Here is a risk calculator that will give you your 10 year risk (and test how that might fall as key problems are addressed).
1. Treat the treatable causes like hypertension, high cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, and obesity.
2. Get exercise: the most powerful way to reduce your cardiac risk based upon key studies. And more exercise leads to additional benefits.
3. Optimize your sleep. Studies show benefit from getting 7-8 hours/night, and having sleep regularity (similar sleep times each night).
4. Think about your nutrition. weight control impacts risk of diabetes and risk of heart disease. The story on type of fats is complex with no differences shown in studies of low vs. high fat diets.
5. Add some mind-body work to your life. Although there are no long term studies demonstrating that yoga/breath work/meditation lowers mortality, short term studies show that yoga reduces blood pressure (an important cardiac risk factor)
6. Consider taking a sauna: studies are pretty clear that taking a sauna (perhaps 3x/week for 20' each time) is associated with lower cardiac risk of sudden death.
7. Build and maintain strong social relationships. Large differences in mortality between those with and without strong social relationships.

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#17: Should You Rest Or Stay Active When You Feel Sick?

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It used to be when you got sick, you were advised to "take it easy". But, does the evidence support this approach? And, it isn't just an academic question since, on average, we get 2-4 colds/year and many of us will have an episode of low back pain. And, how about COVID? Rest or stay active?
1. Low back pain: a key randomized clinical trial showed that prolonged bed rest did not do better than usual activities. Now we advise patients to continue activities.
2. Moderate exercise does not lessen (or worsen) cold symptoms. But, exercise may reduce the number of colds you get.
3. Sauna use doesn't make the cold go away faster but may reduce the number of infections that you experience.
4. COVID-it appears that exercise may reduce the likelihood of fatigue, anxiety, brain fog if you do get long COVID.
5. Multiple Sclerosis-previously it was feared that exercise might worsen the disease. Recent guidance is to be physically active.
Reach out to Dr. Bobby: www.DrBobbyLiveLongandWell.com

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#19: Seed Oils: True Harm Or Just Another Food Fear Fad?

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Are seed oils the dietary villain social media makes them out to be, or is this just another food fear fad? Join me, Dr. Bobby Dubois, as I unravel the truths and myths surrounding seed oils like canola and safflower.
There are NO randomized clinical trials comparing people who eat a diet with seed oils vs a diet consisting of non-seed oils like avocado, coconut, or olive. Since we lack the key studies that we desire, I explore the topic based upon the following questions:

Are corn, peanuts, and the vegetables that produce these seed oils bad for you? (no evidence to support this concern)
Is the problem getting the oils out of these good vegetables (the extraction and denaturing process)? Likely not.
Is it the contents of the seed oils themselves harmful (e.g., the omega 6 polyunsaturated fats)? Our bodies need omega 6s and the studies that switch folks from saturated fats to seed oils show no risk of heart disease (and maybe the opposite). No evidence they they raise markers of body inflammation, and don't increase the risk of diabetes.
Is the harm related to the heating of the seed oils? Heating seed oils can produce potentially harmful compounds, but so does grilling a steak or salmon.
How much seed oil do we consume as we cook food? Not a lot. 70% of the fat we eat comes from meat (fish, beef, chicken) and not added oils.
Are we blaming the wrong food? Likely this is the key issue as cheap seed oils led to the production of yummy, highly processed, calorie dense foods. And the problem lies there....
Avocado or olive oil costs 5 times what canola/corn oil costs. Is it worth the cost to switch from seed oils to these non-seed oils? A

Take-home messages:

i don't fear seed oils
where they can be a concern is reusing oils over and over in a deep fat fryer where potentially worrisome compounds can accumulate
If you have symptoms that bother you, perhaps do an N-of-1 trial of removing them from your diet.

Live Long and Well with Dr. Bobby - #18: Can We Reduce Our Risk of Heart Disease? Good News and Better News!

Transcript

Dr. Bobby Dubois00:00:11.791

Hi , I'm Dr Bobby , and welcome to Live Long and Well , a podcast where we will talk about what you can do to live as long as possible and with as much energy and vigor that you wish .

Dr. Bobby Dubois00:00:28.420

Together , we will explore what practical and evidence-supported steps you can take . Come join me on this very important journey and I h