Category Archives: coronary heart disease

October 8, 2010 · 2:00 AM

Heart and Stroke Patients: Avoid Weight-Loss Drug Sibutramine (Meridia)

The weight-loss drug sibutramine (Meridia) should be withdrawn from the U.S. market, suggests an editorialist in the September 2, 2010, New England Journal of Medicine.  Based on a clinical study in the same issue, it’s more accurate to conclude that sibutramine shouldn’t be prescribed for people who aren’t supposed to be taking it in the first place.

Sibutramine is sold in the U.S. as Meridia and has been available since 1997.  Judging from the patients I run across, it’s not a very popular drug.  Why not?  It’s expensive and most people don’t lose much weight.

The recent multi-continent SCOUT trial enrolled 9,800 male and female study subjects at least 55 years old (average age 63) who had either:

  1. 1) History of cardiovascular disease (here defined as coronary artery disease, stroke, or peripheral artery disease)
  2. 2) Type 2 diabetes plus one or more of the following: high blood pressure, adverse cholesterol levels, current smoking, or diabetic kidney disease.
  3. Or both of the above (which ended up being 60% of the study population)`.

Here’s a problem from the get-go (“git-go” if you’re from southern U.S.).  For years, Meridia’s manufacturer and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have told doctors they shouldn’t use the drug in patients with history of cardiovascular disease.  It’s not the scary “black box warning,” but it’s clearly in the package insert of full prescribing information.

Half the subjects were randomized to sibutramine 10 mg/day and the other half to placebo.  All were instructed in diet and exercise aiming for a 600 calorie per day energy deficit.  They should lose about a pound a week if they followed the program.  Average follow-up was 3.4 years.

What Did the Researchers Find?

Forty percent of both drug and placebo users dropped out of the study, a very high rate.

As measured at one year, the sibutramine-users averaged a weight loss of 9.5 pounds (4.3 kg), the majority of which was in the first 6 weeks.  After the first year, they tended to regain a little weight, but kept most of it off.

Death rates were the same for sibutramine and placebo.

Sibutramine users with a history of cardiovascular disease had a 16% increase in non-fatal heart attack and stroke compared to placebo.  To “cause” one heart attack or stroke in a person with known cardiovascular disease, you would have to treat 52 such patients.

Folks in the “diabetes plus risk factor(s)” group who took sibutramine had no increased risk of heart attack or stroke.

So What?

Average weight loss with sibutramine isn’t much.  Nothing new there.  [Your mileage may vary.]

People with cardiovascular disease shouldn’t take sibutramine.  Nothing new there either.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Reference:  James, W. Philip, et al.  Effect of sibutramine on cardiovascular outcomes in overweight and obese subjects.  New England Journal of Medicine, 363 (2010): 905-917.

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September 30, 2010 · 8:10 AM

Diabetes and Shortened Lifespan: “How Bad Is It, Doc?”

Diabetes mellitus for years has been linked with cardiovascular disease such as heart failure and coronary heart disease (blocked arteries in the heart, and the leading cause of death in the Western world).  How scared should diabetics be?

An article  in the Archives of Internal Medicine gives us one answer.

Researchers from the Netherlands and Harvard examined medical records of 5,209 people (mostly white, 64% men) enrolled in the Framingham (Massachusetts, USA) Heart Study.  This cohort has been examined every other year for more than 46 years. 

Study subjects who had diabetes at age 50 were identified; health outcomes going forward were then analyzed, with particular attention to lifespan and cardiovascular disease.  “Cardiovascular disease” in this context means coronary heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, intermittent claudication (leg pain during exertion caused by blocked arteries), and transient ischemic attack (stroke-like symptoms that resolve within 24 hours).

Results

Compared to those in the cohort free of diabetes, having diabetes at age 50 more than doubled the risk of developing cardiovascular disease for both women and men. 

Compared to those without diabetes, having both cardiovascular disease and diabetes approximately doubled the risk of dying, regardless of sex.

Compared to those without diabetes, women and men with diabetes at age 50 died 7 or 8 years earlier, on average.

[Specific causes of death were not reported.]

Take-Home Points

We’d likely see longer lifespans and less cardiovascular disease if we could prevent diabetes in the first place.  How do we do that?  Strategies include regular physical activity, avoidance or reversal of overweight and obesity, and low-glycemic-index diets.

The Mediterranean diet it linked to reduced heart attacks and strokes, and longer lifespan.  That’s why I’ve been working for the last year and a half to adapt it for diabetics.

ResearchBlogging.orgWe have better treatments for cardiovascular disease and diabetes and these days, so the death rates and illness numbers shouldn’t  be quite so alarming.  Up-to-date management of diabetes and cardiovascular disease will prevent some acute disease events—such as heart attacks and strokes—and prolong life.   

Steve Parker, M.D.

References: 

Franco, O., Steyerberg, E., Hu, F., Mackenbach, J., & Nusselder, W. (2007). Associations of Diabetes Mellitus With Total Life Expectancy and Life Expectancy With and Without Cardiovascular Disease Archives of Internal Medicine, 167 (11), 1145-1151 DOI: 10.1001/archinte.167.11.1145

Knowler, W.C., et al.  Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin.  New England Journal of Medicine, 346 (2002): 393-403.

Tuomilehto, J., et al.  Prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus by changes in lifestyle among subjects with impaired glucose tolerance.  New England Journal of Medicine, 344 (2001): 1,343-1,350.

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September 19, 2010 · 1:34 AM

Do We Really Need to Cut Salt?

Dr. Paul Maher just finished a two-part series on dietary salt that is well worth a read, especially if you are convinced we need to cut our consumption.

Part 1

Part 2

Polititians and public health mandarins have been on the low-salt bandwagon again for the last couple years.  Some researchers question whether it’s even possible to reduce salt consumption as low as they would have us.

I’ll consider the polititians’ opinions on my salt intake as soon as they produce reasonable wait times at the post office, reasonable service times at the Department of Motor Vehicles, improve public school student achievement scores to a respectable level, balance state and federal budgets, and drastically reduce corruption in their hallowed halls. 

Steve Parker, M.D.

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September 1, 2010 · 2:00 AM

Are Refined Carbs Worse for Your Heart Than Saturated Fat?

To reduce coronary heart disease, we need to focus on reducing consumption of refined carbohydrates rather than fat and cholesterol, according to Dr. Frank Hu.

Dr. Hu is not a wild-eyed, bomb-throwing radical. He’s a Harvard professor of nutrition and epidemiology with both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees.  High-glycemic-index carbs in particular are the bad boys, he writes in an editorial published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition earlier this year.

Additional details are at my April 26, 2010, post at the Self/NutritionData Heart Health Blog.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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August 25, 2010 · 2:00 AM

Do Calcium Supplements Cause Heart Attacks?

They might, if you’re a woman over 50 taking over 500 mg elemental calcium daily without a vitamin D supplement.

Details are at my recent Self/NutritionData Heart Health Blog post.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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August 5, 2010 · 2:00 AM

Are Most Statin Prescriptions a Waste of Money?

A recent medical journal article suggests that three of every four statin prescriptions do nothing to prevent death, since they’re taken by people without an established diagnosis of cardiovascular disease.  The researchers don’t address whether statin drugs prevent heart attacks or strokes or otherwise improve quality of life. 

Most of the “healthy” people taking statins are trying to prevent heart attacks associated with high cholesterol levels.  You’d think if statins prevented heart attacks, they’d prolong life.  That’s not what these researchers found.

Details are at my recent Self/NutritionData Heart Health Blog post.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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July 28, 2010 · 9:32 AM

Paleo Diet and Diabetes: Improved Cardiovascular Risk Factors

Compared to a standard diabetic diet, a Paleolithic diet improves cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetics, according to investigators at Lund University in Sweden.

Researchers compared the effects of a Paleo and a modern diabetic diet in 13 type 2 diabetic adults (10 men) with average hemoglobin A1c’s of 6.6% (under good control, then).  Most were on diabetic pills; none were on insulin.  So this was a small, exploratory, pilot study.  Each of the diabetics followed both diets for three months.

How Did the Diets Differ?

ResearchBlogging.orgCompared to the diabetic diet, the Paleo diet was mainly lower in cereals and dairy products, higher in fruits and vegetables, meat, and eggs.  The Paleo diet was lower in carbohydrates, glycemic load, and glycemic index.  Paleo vegetables were primarily leafy and cruciferous.  Root vegetables were allowed; up to 1 medium potato daily.  The Paleo diet also featured lean meats [why lean?], fish, eggs, and nuts, while forbidding refined fats, sugars, and beans.  Up to one glass of wine daily was allowed.

See the actual report for details of the diabetic diet, which seems to me to be similar to the diabetic diet recommended by most U.S. dietitians.

What Did the Researchers Find?

Compared to the diabetic diet, the Paleo diet yielded lower hemoglobin A1c’s (0.4% lower—absolute difference), lower trigylcerides, lower diastolic blood pressure, lower weight, lower body mass index, lower waist circumference, lower total energy (caloric) intake, and higher HDL cholesterol.  Glucose tolerance was the same for both diets.  Fasting blood sugars tended to decrease more on the Paleo diet, but did not reach statistical significance (p=0.08).

So What?

The greater improvement in multiple cardiovascular risk factors seen here suggests that the Paleo diet has potential to reduce the higher cardiovascular disease rates we see in diabetics.  Larger studies—more participants—are needed for confirmation.  Ultimately, we need data on hard clinical endpoints such as heart attacks, strokes, and death.

These diabetics had their blood sugars under fairly good control at baseline.  I wouldn’t be surprised if diabetics under poor control—hemoglobin A1c of 9%, for example—would see even greater improvements in risk factors as well as glucose levels while eating Paleo.

I see a fair amount of overlap between this version of the Paleo diet and Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution diet and the Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet. 

Steve Parker, M.D.

Reference:  Jönsson, T., Granfeldt, Y., Ahrén, B., Branell, U., Pålsson, G., Hansson, A., Söderström, M., & Lindeberg, S. (2009). Beneficial effects of a Paleolithic diet on cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetes: a randomized cross-over pilot study Cardiovascular Diabetology, 8 (1) DOI: 10.1186/1475-2840-8-35

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June 28, 2010 · 2:00 AM

MSDP Protects Against MetSyn (NCEP ATP-III Criteria) in FHSOC

ResearchBlogging.orgTranslation:  A Mediterranean-style dietary pattern protected against onset of metabolic syndrome (as defined by National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III) in the Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort.

Made you look! 

Don’t you just love acronyms?  Lately it seems you gotta have a clever acronym for your scientific study or it won’t get published or remembered. 

Metabolic syndrome is a constellation of clinical traits that are associated with increased risk for developing cardiovascular disease (two-fold increased risk) and type 2 diabetes (six-fold increased risk).  It’squite common—about 47 million in the U.S. have it.  Metabolic syndrome features include insulin resistance, large waist circumference, low HDL cholesterol, elevated fasting blood sugar, high triglycerides, and elevated blood pressure. 

For optimal health, you want to avoid metabolic syndrome.

Boston-based researchers reported in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition last December that followers of the the Mediterranean diet had less risk of developing metabolic syndrome; not by much, but it was statistically significant.  The study population was the Framingham (Massachusetts) Heart Study Offspring Cohort.

Several thousand men and women were studied via food frequency questionnaires, lab work, and physical exams.  Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was measured via a calculated score ranging from zero to 100.  No diabetics were enrolled.  Average age was 54.  Follow-up time averaged seven years.

They found that those adhering closely to the Mediterranean diet had fewer metabolic syndrome traits at baseline: less insulin resistance, lower waist size,  lower fasting blood sugar, lower triglycerides, and higher HDL cholesterol levels.

Not only that, the Mediterranean dieters developed less metabolic syndrome over time.  Over seven years, 38% of the folks with least compliance to the Mediterranean diet developed metabolic syndrome.  Of those with highest adherence, only 30% developed it.

This is the first study to show a prospective association between the Mediterranean diet and improved insulin resistance.  Avoiding insulin resistance is a good thing, and may help explain the Spanish study that found lower incidence of type 2 diabetes in Mediterranean diet followers.

Why didn’t the investigators report on the incidence of diabetes that developed over the course of the study?  Surely some of these folks developed diabetes.  Are they saving that for another report?  “Publish or perish,” you know.

You can start to see why the Mediterranean diet has a reputation as one of the healthiest around. 

It would be interesting to score these study participants with a very low-carb diet score (VLCDS—yeah, baby!).  Such diets are associated with lower blood pressure, lower blood sugars, lower triglycerides, and higher HDL cholesterol.  Like Mediterranean diet followers, I bet low-carbers would demonstrate lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome at baseline and lower incidence over time. 

Reference: Rumawas, M., Meigs, J., Dwyer, J., McKeown, N., & Jacques, P. (2009). Mediterranean-style dietary pattern, reduced risk of metabolic syndrome traits, and incidence in the Framingham Offspring Cohort American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 90 (6), 1608-1614 DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.2009.27908

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June 18, 2010 · 2:00 AM

Sugar-Sweetened Beverages: Bane of Mankind?

Over the last 30 years in the U.S., consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) has increased from3.9% of total calories to 9.2% (in 2001).  In that same time span, the percentage of overweight American adults increased from 47% to 66%.  The obesity percentage rose from15 to 33% of adults. 

[Did the beverages cause the weight gain, or are they just associated?] 

Those are just a few of the many facts shared by the authors of “Sugar-sweetened beverages, obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease risk,” published recently in Circulation.  Sugar-sweetened beverages, by the way, include soft drinks, fruit drinks, energy drinks, and vitamin water drinks. 

ResearchBlogging.orgSounds like an interesting article, doesn’t it?  It’s written by some of the brightest lights in nutritional science, including George Bray and Frank Hu.  Unfortunately, the article is a little too boring and technical for most of my readers.  Here are a few tidbits I enjoyed:

  • Fructose (found in similar amounts in sucrose (table sugar) and high fructose corn syrup) may particularly predispose us to deposit fat in and around our internal abdominal organs (“visceral fat,” which some believe to be more unhealthy than fat  in our buttocks or thighs).
  • Fructose may also lead to fat deposits in cells other than fat cells, potentially interfering with cell function.
  • Fructose may adversely affect lipid metabolism (higher triglyceride levels and lower HDL levels, which could promote heart disease).
  • Fructose raises blood pressure and reduces insulin sensitivity.
  • In the liver, fructose is preferentially converted to lipid, causing high triglyceride levels (associated with heart disease and insulin resistance).  [The authors did not mention the common condition of “fatty liver” (aka hepatic steatosis) in this context.]

Some of the authors conclusions:

  • SSBs are the largest contributor to added-sugar intake in the U.S.
  • SSBs contribute to weight gain.
  • SSBs may cause type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease—separate from their effect on obesity—via high glycemic load and increased fructose metabolism, in turn leading to insulin resistance, inflammation, pancreas beta cell impairment, high blood pressure, visceral fat build-up, and adverse effects on blood lipids.

I especially like their final sentence:

For these reasons and because they have little nutritional value, intake of SSBs should be limited, and SSBs should be replaced by healthy alternatives such as water.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Reference: Malik, V., Popkin, B., Bray, G., Despres, J., & Hu, F. (2010). Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Circulation, 121 (11), 1356-1364 DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.876185

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June 12, 2010 · 4:42 AM

Whole Grains in Diabetics: A Double-Edged Sword

 Whole grain and bran consumption are linked to reduced overall death rates and cardiovascular disease deaths in white women with type 2 diabetes, according to recent research from Boston-based investigators.

This is an important association since diabetics are prone to develop cardiovascular disease and suffer premature death.  Anything that can easily counteract those trends is welcome.

Several prior studies have found lower rates of cardiovascular disease in the general public eating whole grains.  I’m referring to fewer heart attacks and strokes, and fewer deaths from cardiovascular disease.

On the other hand, the carbohydrate content of whole grain products has the potential to complicate day-to-day management of diabetes by spiking blood sugars too high.  Too-high blood sugars aren’t healthy.  So, there’s the double edge.

What’s the Evidence That Whole Grains and Bran Prevent Death in Diabetics ?

ResearchBlogging.orgThe Harvard researchers followed 7,822 type 2 diabetic women in the massive Nurses’ Health Study over 26 years, during which 852 women died from any cause, including 295 from cardiovascular disease (195 from coronary heart disease, 100 from stroke).  Food-frequency questionnaires were administered periodically to the participants, with attention to whole grain and its components: cereal fiber, bran, and germ.  The hard clinical end-point in this study was death—from any and all causes, and from cardiovascular disease.   

Results

  • After adjustment for age and lifestyle and other dietary factors, only bran consumption was inversely associated with all-cause mortality: 25% lower risk of death for those eating an average of 10 g per day compared to 1 g per day.  In other words,the women who ate the most bran had the lowest risk of dying from any cause.
  • After adjustment for age and lifestyle and other dietary factors, whole grain intake trended towards protection against all-cause death, but not quite to the point of statistical significance.  Average highest consumption was 33 g per day, compared to lowest intake at 5 g per day. 
  • Bran consumption was consistently associated with lower risk of cardiovascular death: 35% lower risk comparing highest (10 g/day) with lowest consumption (1 g/day). 
  • “Added bran” was as protective against cardiovascular death as naturally occuring bran. 
  • Whole grain tended to protect against cardiovascular death, but did not reach statistical significance in the model adusting for lifestyle and other dietary variables (even when comparing 33 g/day to 5 g/day)
  • Whole grain and cereal fiber were inversely associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality when the investigators adjusted only for age, disregarding the possible effects of smoking, alcohol, overweight, physical activity, family history of heart disease, hormone therapy, duration of diabetes, total energy intake, fat intake (polyunsatrurated, trans-, saturated), magnesium, and folate.

The Researchers’ Conclusions

Whole-grain and bran intakes were associated with reduced all-cause and cardiovascular disease-specific mortality in women with diabetes mellitus. These findings suggest a potential benefit of whole-grain intake in reducing mortality and cardiovascular risk in diabetic patients.

The authors point out that whole grain and its components may be protective since they:

  • reduce blood lipids
  • lower blood pressure
  • reduce hyperinsulinemia and improve glucose control
  • improve performance of the arterial wall lining (endothelium)
  • reduce oxidative stress and iflammation

My Comments

Whole grain and bran consumption may indeed protect against death and cardiovascular disease in diabetic white women, but the effect is by no means dramatic.  I had speculated earlier whether whole grain intake might be particularly protective in diabetics, but this study suggests not.  Clearly, whole grains are no panacea. 

Diabetics hoping to avoid cardiovascular disease are well-advised to pay attention to—and modify—non-dietary risk factors for heart disease, such as obesity, smoking, and sedentary lifestyle.  Non-dietary issues probably outweigh the effects of diet, assuming blood sugars are reasonably controlled.

The traditional Mediterranean diet—prominently featuring whole grains—is associated with longer lifespan and less cardiovascular disease.   Canadian researchers in 2009 found moderately strong evidence that whole grains protect against coronary heart disease in the general population.  Yet a 2009 study did not find cereals contributing to the longer lifespan. 

I’m starting to think that the effect of diet on chronic disease is not as powerful as we have hoped.  

Steve Parker, M.D.

Reference: 
He, M., van Dam, R., Rimm, E., Hu, F., & Qi, L. (2010). Whole-Grain, Cereal Fiber, Bran, and Germ Intake and the Risks of All-Cause and Cardiovascular Disease-Specific Mortality Among Women With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Circulation, 121 (20), 2162-2168 DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.907360

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