News You Can Use: Lipoprotein "Little a" cholesterol

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston) have have finally uncovered the connection between lipoprotein (a) or "lipoprotein little a (LPa)" as it is commonly referred to, and heart disease. Like C-reactive Protein, LPa has long troubled cardiologists, primary care providers, and researchers because the magnitude of its effect on heart disease could not be measured.

In an article published in the September 20th edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers describe a new testing method that allowed them to analyze blood collected ten years ago from participants in the Women's Health Study. The researchers used frozen blood specimens from nearly 28,00 women who did not have heart disease at the time their blood was drawn, then compared the LPa results to those women's heart disease rates now.

According to their analysis it takes a very high level of LPa to cause heart disease; in fact, their results indicate that LPa levels must be more than two times higher than previously thought to increase heart disease risk. One in ten women will have a LPa level of 65.5 or greater; these women have a 66% higher risk of developing heart disease than women at levels lower than this. One in 100 women have LPa levels that are 130.7 or higher; levels that high double a woman's risk of developing heart disease.

LPa teams up with LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, making it more likely that LDL will become inserted in the walls of arteries, causing the plaque build-up that results in coronary artery disease (CAD). Because of this connection, women with higher blood levels of LDL are at the greatest risk of developing coronary artery disease.

The researchers report that there is still no need for routine testing of LPa levels, because there is still no proof that lowering one's LPa level will actually decrease their heart disease risk. Like the current belief about C-reactive protein levels, it is recommended that testing be done only on those individuals who have been diagnosed with CAD at a young age, and for whom there is no other obvious risk factor for heart disease. Sadly, those individuals are few and far between.

Laurie


Related Topics: 40-Point Cholesterol Drop = 20% Lower Heart Risk, WebMD Video: The Battle of Your Life: Women & Heart Disease

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Big Tobacco Strikes Again

If you've read my past posts you know how I feel about big tobacco's campaign to addict our kids to nicotine. It's appalling that despite court rulings specifically telling tobacco companies that they need to work to prevent kids from becoming smokers, they continue to manipulate the market in a manner that encourages kids to begin smoking.

Here are some specifics to help you understand the magnitude of the problem:

• A recent report indicates that "tobacco companies have secretly and significantly increased the levels of nicotine in cigarette smoke between 1998 and 2004." (See full text here). Do you realize that despite years of lawsuits and increasing regulations against the tobacco companies, they have managed to maintain total control over the content of cigarettes? This means that they can change the amount of nicotine and other addicting and poisonous additives without having to apply to any regulatory agency for approval! Think about that.

• Nicotine is a drug, just as your heart medications are drugs, and stimulants for ADHD are drugs, and your glass of wine or beer is a drug. There are additives in cigarettes such as formaldehyde, cyanide, and toluene that under any other circumstances require informed consent through a materials data safety sheet (MSDS) before use. Why is it that we regulate the content of medications and toxic products in the workplace, but not that of cigarettes? The simple answer is that the tobacco companies have managed to prevent the assignment of a regulatory agency such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to oversee their products.

• Every day 1,500 kids become new regular smokers; tobacco companies need to maintain this new smoker rate in order to maintain profits against the loss of smokers who die every day from tobacco-related illnesses. Certain cigarette brands market themselves to potential youth smokers, including Marlboro, Newport, and Camel brands. The Massachusetts Department of Health noted in their report about increased nicotine levels in tobacco products that Kool brand by R.J. Reynolds increased their nicotine levels by 20% between 1998 and 2004. Menthol cigarettes are particularly marketed to minority smokers; I have included below a photograph of youth advertising that is targeted to these smokers.

When are we going to stop allowing the tobacco companies to control our lives? It's time we told our Congressional leaders that they must give the FDA authority over tobacco products and require tobacco companies to apply for FDA approval before they make ingredient changes in their products. We must find a way to regulate tobacco and to eventually remove it from society to prevent future illness and deaths related to tobacco use. Our kids are depending on us to protect them from this scourge.


For more information, see Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, Try to Stop (for those who want to quit), or Chantix.com (Info about Chantix, the best promise medicine has to help smokers quit).

Laurie

Related Topics: Movie Smoking Greatest in Kids' Movies, Tobacco in All Forms Hurts the Heart

Technorati Tags: quit smoking, nicotine, tobacco addiction