No one wants to think about heart attacks a few days before Christmas, right in the middle of Hanukkah. But it’s essential to take care of your heart health all year round!
For people with mild blood sugar concerns, lowering blood sugar halves the likelihood of a serious heart problem, like a heart attack. Getting blood sugar within the normal range reduces the risk of hospitalization or death from heart disease by more than half. Exercise, weight loss and dietary improvements alone cannot reduce heart risks for people with blood sugar concerns. Knowing that lowering blood sugar makes a difference is a big help. It shows that metabolic health markers need to improve to move the needle for heart health.
"This study challenges one of the biggest assumptions in modern preventative medicine. For years, people with [mild blood sugar concerns] have been told that losing weight, exercising more and eating healthier will protect them from heart attacks and early death. While these lifestyle changes are unquestionably valuable, the evidence does not support that they reduce heart attacks or mortality... Instead, we show that [lowering blood sugar] is associated with a clear reduction in fatal cardiac events, heart failure, and all-cause mortality," said study lead author Dr. Andreas Birkenfeld of King's College London and Univ. Hospital Tuebingen.
Usually, for research like this, we warn that the result came from a small population or from a short timeframe. But, in this case, the research team included people from the U.S. and China and used participants from those countries. They followed the people in America for 20 years and the people in China for 30. The study had more than 2,400 people. While the study doesn’t include people of all races, it does show that the results aren’t related to a country’s diet or culture.
Christmas, Hanukkah and other winter holidays are a time for feasting and indulging. Hanukkah is a festival about celebrating a miracle of oil lasting for eight days, so it involves a lot of fried foods. And so many Christmas foods are rich and over the top. No one is saying you have to stop yourself from participating in the holidays and enjoying yourself with your family. Eating the foods of our culture is part of celebrating being alive! But, for your health this holiday season, enjoy those tasty foods in moderation. Doing that means you can help make sure you can keep celebrating with loved ones for years to come!
