Age-Related Diseases: Heart Disease
01 Introduction
Age-related diseases are illnesses and conditions that happen more regularly in people as they get older. One of these age-related diseases is heart disease.
Heart disease refers to several types of heart conditions. According to cdc.gov, the most common type is coronary artery disease, which can lead to heart attacks. Many other factors play a role in heart disease, such as inflammation, epigenetic changes in the cells that make up the blood vessels, the microbiome (the bacteria in your gut), and so on. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.
In this fourth edition of Inside Longevity by NOVOS, we’ll be talking about heart disease, why it happens, and what can be done to slow it down.
02 Assessing cardiovascular risk
HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and total cholesterol ratios are important biomarkers to assess cardiovascular risk. However, people can have normal HDL, LDL, or cholesterol levels, and still have an increased risk of heart disease. Low-grade smoldering inflammation can also increase the risk of heart disease. Therefore, hs-CRP, a measure of inflammation, would also need to be measured. Keep in mind that when the good cholesterol (HDL) rises, your total cholesterol also rises, so don’t panic if your total cholesterol is too high: look at the ratio of total cholesterol versus HDL cholesterol: the lower, the better.
03 Best ways to reduce cholesterol
Keep in mind that your cholesterol levels are not everything.
Many other things can increase your risk of heart disease besides “high cholesterol,” like inflammation, crosslinking in your arteries, mitochondrial dysfunction, an unhealthy epigenome, micronutrient deficiencies, and so on.
Diet is by far the most powerful way to reduce your cholesterol. A longevity diet summarized in a nutshell:
– Make fiber-rich and micro-biome-promoting foods, particularly vegetables, beans, mushrooms, nuts (especially walnuts!), and healthy grains like quinoa, the foundation of your diet.
– Consume more healthy fats: this means fats from olives, olive oil, avocado, walnuts, fatty fish, chia seeds, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, and so on.
– Consume more healthy proteins: this means eating less red meat (beef, pork, veal, mutton, etc.) and more white meat (poultry) and fatty fish (salmon, anchovy, mackerel, herring, etc.).
– Consume fewer sugars (soda, cake, cookies, etc.) and starches (bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, etc.).
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04 Omega-3 supplements
Another important way to reduce your risk of heart disease is with Omega-3 fats. Omega-3 fatty acids are very important for proper health. They reduce inflammation and are necessary for optimal immune, heart, eye, and brain health. That’s why various health organizations, including the World Health Organization, recommend consuming sufficiently high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids.
The best way to consume more omega-3 fats is by eating fatty fish at least four times per week, and by also regularly consuming fish roe (eggs of fish that are full of omega-3 oils, including the rare lysophosphatidylcholine-omega-3s).
However, on top of regular fish consumption, we recommend taking an omega-3 supplement consisting of at least 1500 mg of omega-3 fatty acids.
05 Meat and aging
One of the reasons why we age is the accumulation of proteins inside and outside cells. This protein accumulation is also called a “hallmark of aging.” Protein accumulation plays a key role in heart disease, particularly heart failure.
A high-animal-protein diet can accelerate this process. Given that “protein accumulation” plays a major role in aging, following a “high protein diet” could accelerate this mechanism.
The longevity diet recommends that in order to expand your lifespan, reducing your intake of animal protein, especially processed red meat (sausages, salami), and replacing them with white meat (poultry), fatty fish (salmon, herring, mackerel), and meat substitutes (based on tofu, pea, or mushroom protein) can contribute to a longer lifespan and a reduced risk of heart disease.
06 NOVOS CEO’s journey to human longevity
NOVOS CEO and founder, Chris Mirabile, authored an article in the August 2022 issue of Best Holistic Life Magazine.
In the article, Chris discussed how his interest in longevity originated and, subsequently, why he launched NOVOS in 2020.