Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death among all the major diseases. In the United States 36 percent of the people who die do so because of some form of heart or cardiovascular disease. This number is simply staggering and points to the importance of controlling and preventing the suffering that heart disease brings. The good news is that the majority of people can successfully prevent or reverse the effects of this deadly disease with some rather simple lifestyle changes.

The first change that anyone with heart disease must make is dietary. Today’s fast food and processed meal in a box are some of the worst choices anyone can make when it comes to the health of their cardiovascular system. By avoiding saturated and trans-fat that are found in fried foods and some red meats we can significantly reduce the risk posed by coronary heart disease. Both these types of fat cause LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) to increase in the blood stream. This can lead to a build up of plaque which hardens and narrows the arteries leading to a heart attack or stroke.

A diet high in fiber and low in fat is the way to go in preventing heart disease. Fruits, vegetables, low fat products, and whole grains cannot only prevent heart disease it can also reverse the effects of this dangerous condition.

The second lifestyle change that needs to be made to fight the effects of coronary heart disease is exercise. It doesn’t have to be a drastic undertaking. It can be something as simple as taking a walk everyday or using the stairs instead of the elevator. The point is to gradually build up your cardiovascular strength and add to it as you get stronger.

If you smoke then you need to quit. There is nothing that increases the risk of coronary heart disease quite like smoking. Every year more than 135, 000 people in the United States die from heart disease that is caused or exacerbated by the use of tobacco. The risk of death from this disease increases two to three times with the continued use of cigarettes.

There are also certain medical treatments and procedures that are effective in the fight against coronary heart disease. There are a number of medications that help reduce blood pressure or lower levels of LDL cholesterol, but like any drug there are also side affects to using them. Surgery is also an option when the disease has reached the life threatening stage but for most people living a healthy lifestyle will prevent them from ever having to see an operating room.

Avoiding the type of lifestyle that leads to coronary heart disease can help millions of people live long and healthy lives without the fear that they may fall victim to this deadly disease.

Andrew Bicknell is a writer who researches a wide range of subjects. To learn more about coronary heart disease please visit his website Heart Disease by clicking here.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/the-fight-against-coronary-heart-disease-892748.html

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Congenital heart disease is the form of heart disease that a person is born with. The affects of any form of heart disease can be deadly, but for the person with congenital defects making lifestyle change such as diet and exercise will not prevent or reverse the effects of their form of this disease. Getting diagnosed early in life is the best defense against this kind of heart condition.

Congenital heart disease is an actual defect of the heart or large blood vessels that connect to the heart. This type of defect is something that people are born with. Other forms of heart disease form over time, and in most cases are caused by unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles. Most people are diagnosed with a congenital heart defect a week or two after they are born. Considering it is one of the most common birth defects all doctors are trained to recognize the signs and symptoms that a new born infant will present if they have this type of defect.

For the unborn baby this type of defect is not life threatening because they are still using their mother’s cardiovascular system, through their attachment to the placenta, to pump blood and nutrients through their own circulatory system. Their heart is beating and there are times that a defect can be seen with an ultrasound but the majority of defects remain undiagnosed until after the baby is born and their own heart takes over.

There are many different forms of congenital heart disease so the treatments for these forms can vary. For some people surgery to fix the defect is recommended, for others prescription medications along with a strict diet and exercise program will keep any problems in check. Anyone with this type of heart problem must follow the advice and program laid out by their cardiologist. Their life depends on it.

For those who suffer from congenital heart disease it is a condition that they will spend their life time fighting. While it is a disease to be wary of with doctors able to detect it early in life those who suffer from it can lead long productive lives. Medical science and technology is constantly making inroads into the treatment of congenital defects and this along with patients who take responsibility for living a healthy life style can effectively manage their condition.

Andrew Bicknell is a writer who researches a wide range of subjects. To learn more about congenital heart disease please visit his website Heart Disease by clicking here.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/understanding-congenital-heart-disease-890179.html

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 Have you ever wondered exactly what process causes heartburn? There’s a lot of research into the whole deal and how different treatments work to control your heartburn. I’ll be explaining how it all works in a bit of detail, shouldn’t be too technical but it’ll give you an in depth look at what’s happening.

First of all for a bit of anatomy, at each end of the stomach you’ve got a sphincter which is like a valve that controls the flow of food into and out of your stomach. At the top of your stomach you’ve got the LES (Lower Esophageal Sphincter) as in at the lower end of the esophageus. And at the other end of the stomach is the Pyloric Sphincter. Now the Pyloric Sphincter has to open to let broken down food through into the duodenum (the top part of your intestine) and what controls this is acid receptors or sensors at the bottom of the stomach. These receptors respond to the acidity reaching a certain level which means that the food has been broken down enough.

But what happens if the acid isn’t strong enough to trigger the sphincter to open? Well then, the food and stomach acid stays in your belly and churns around and it all begins to ferment! This process releases gases and that increases the pressure inside the stomach. All this time the body is trying to get the food to go on down the digestive tract and so the stomach is contracting to get things moving, but if the pyloric sphincter won’t open…

At the end of the day the LES is weaker than the pyloric sphincter so the build up of pressure will go up the esophageus rather than down the gut. So the burping and acid reflux is the end result of this whole process. Bit of a process I know, but I hope this makes it all a bit clearer for you. PPI’s Now, if you go a doctor with GERD (gastro esophageal reflux disease) you’ll likely be given a prescription for a PPI medication. PPI stands for Proton Pump Inhibitor and what this does is blocks the action of your stomach to produce as much acid.

This is how it works to stop heartburn, but the effects don’t stop there. Since you’ve decreased the acidity in the stomach, your food won’t be broken down as much by the time it gets into the intestine and also more bacteria will pass through the stomach and into the duodenum. This can make you much more susceptible to “stomach bugs” and excess bacteria living in the stomach. Over the longer term PPI’s have been linked to calcium deficiency as your body can’t absorb it is easily to become reliant on the PPI’s considering that as soon as you stop taking them you’ll get the heartburn back again! This could be considered a great thing by the companies that produce the PPI’s but not necessarily by the individual!

So it would seem that if you could increase the amount of acid in the stomach the pyloric sphincter would do it’s thing as it’s supposed to and the acid would go down instead of up and it’s all good. So how do you increase the acidity in the stomach? Quite simply, increase the micro nutrients that the body requires to produce stomach acid! In most cases these are a few B vitamins. Specifically Vitamins B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin) and B6 (pyridoxine) are the most common ones. Just supplementing these I your diet can fix the whole problem at it’s root.

There’s plenty of cases of chronic GERD sufferers taking B vitamins for only a few days and getting rid of most of their symptoms, without drugs and for the long term. This information isn’t meant to replace your doctors advice but hopefully it’ll all work to cure your heartburn for good!  If this information was helpful then you should check out my blog here for more great tips and information.

All the best,

Mark Syme  

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/gerd-super-secrets-to-control-your-heartburn-886790.html

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Ok, so I’m guessing that if you’re reading this article either you, or someone close to you suffers from heartburn…but do you know what it really is?  Is heartburn different from reflux?  And most importantly, how can you control your heartburn?

First of all lets take a quick look at how the stomach works (or not as the case may be!) So, basically your stomach is like a bag with two valves (or sphincters), one at each end.  When you swallow food comes in the top and sits on the bag (your stomach) until your body decides that it’s broken down enough to move on into the small intestine.  

How your body judges this is by how acidic your stomach is.  If your stomach isn’t acidic enough the bottom valve won’t open, so the food sits there and ferments letting off gas and other nasties.  The pressure then builds as the body tries to get things moving but, here the problem is that the top valve is weaker than the bottom one.  So that means the extra pressure forces all these lovely fermenting gases up your throat!

Does this sound like what you experience?

So what is really causing acid to go back up your throat, is that it’s too weak!  Sounds really strange but that’s the body for you isn’t it?  This also explains why as people age they tend to suffer from more heartburn even though their stomach acid is getting weaker.

So is there any difference between heartburn and reflux?  To put it simply…no.  They’re just two names for the same thing.  And if you’ve looked around and seen GERD everywhere and you’ve been wondering who the hell that is, it stands for gastro-esophageal reflux disease.  So just another name for the same condition.

There’s a whole range of drugs, some of which work to relax the lower valve so that food passes through.  This has been linked to fairly serious long term complications.  Other treatments focus on increasing the strength of the stomach acid so that the bodies own processes work better.  

I hope this information has been useful to you and if you want more information check out my blog here

 I wish you all the best and relief form your heartburn.

Mark Syme  

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/revealed-how-to-control-your-heartburn-882048.html

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