A study from the [b]Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington[/b] has bolstered the link between red meat consumption and heart disease by finding a strong association between heme iron, found only in meat, and potentially deadly coronary heart disease. [s]Medical Xpress[/s] reports that the study found that heme iron consumption increased the risk for coronary heart disease by 57%, while no association was found between non-heme iron, which is in plant and other non-meat sources, and coronary heart disease.
Canadian research has found that eating a daily serving of beans, peas, chickpeas or lentils can significantly reduce ‘bad cholesterol’ and therefore the risk of cardiovascular disease. [s]HealthCanal [/s]reports that a 26-person study, led by Dr John Sievenpiper of [b]St Michael's Hospital[/b], Toronto, found a 130g daily serving of pulses could lower LDL cholesterol by 5%. Sievenpiper said that would translate into a five to six per cent reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Also, researchers found that babies who were breastfed for at least three months had lower levels of a protein linked to heart disease as adults, reports [s]The Daily Telegraph[/s]. It could mean that breastfeeding continues to benefit health into old age and may reduce the risk of a heart attack. It is known that breastfeeding lowers the risk of allergies, ear infections and admission to hospital in babies and it has been linked to better health overall into adulthood, with lower rates of obesity in people who were breastfed as babies. Lead author Prof Thomas McDade of [b]Northwestern University[/b] said: ‘This is a major public health issue. If we can raise breastfeeding rates it will pay dividends in healthcare savings in the future.’
Meanwhile Australian research claims that fibroblasts, heart cells long thought to be ‘boring and irrelevant’, could eventually offer an alternative to heart transplants, reports [s]Medical Xpress[/s]. Researcher Dr Milena Furtado and her team from the [b]Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) at Monash University[/b], found that the fibroblast is a close relative to a cardiomyocyte, the cell responsible for a healthy beating heart. Furtado believes the finding will aid in the development of cell therapies for cong enital heart disease and heart failure.
[link url=http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-04-iron-consumption-heart-disease.html]Full Medical Xpress report[/link]
[link url=http://jn.nutrition.org/content/144/3/359.abstract?sid=d69be061-5fbf-40c7-abb2-ec7b5eebfbd8]Journal of Nutrition abstract[/link]
[link url=http://www.healthcanal.com/blood-heart-circulation/49535-daily-serving-of-beans-peas-chickpeas-or-lentils-can-significantly-reduce-bad-cholesterol.html]Full HealthCanal report[/link]
[link url=http://www.cmaj.ca/content/early/2014/04/07/cmaj.131727.abstract?sid=e4685f26-ccbf-4d9b-9e19-326460016a95]Canadian Medical Association Journal abstract[/link]
[link url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10780113/Breastfeeding-may-cut-risk-of-heart-disease-by-more-than-statins-research.html]Full report in The Daily Telegraph[/link]
[link url=http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/281/1784/20133116.abstract?sid=48259c79-83a4-4a68-a510-c8eedd5f39b6]Proceedings of the Royal Society B abstract[/link]
[link url=http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-04-fibroblasts-alternative-heart-transplants.html]Full Medical Xpress report[/link]
[link url=http://circres.ahajournals.org/content/114/9/1422.abstract?sid=b5498089-872c-4bb0-8fa4-7d7566c7f27f]Circulation Research abstract[/link]