Quality Health Care?

Just in case you haven’t noticed, there is a health care crisis in the United States; one that is different from the much touted health insurance crisis.  For example, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical School the United States spends 44 percent more per capita on health care than Switzerland, which has the second most expensive health care system in the world.[i]  The same study reported that the per capita health care expenditure in the Untied States was 134 percent more than the average in developed countries.   One might expect that such a large expenditure would result in world-class health care.  It doesn’t.  The United States ranks 27^th in the world in life expectancy at birth and 39^th in infant mortality.  Here are a few more statistics on the state of health care in the United States:

·          Today about 66 percent of U.S. adults, about 134 million people, are overweight or obese.  By comparison, only 44.8 percent of the population was overweight or obese in the period between 1960-1962.

·         Nearly one-third of U.S. adults, about 64 million people, are obese.

·         The percent of children and adolescents who are overweight or obese has increased from 4.2 percent (1963-65) to 17.5 percent (2001-04).

·         Obesity is associated with about 112,000 excess deaths per year in the U.S. population relative to healthy weight individuals.

·         23.5 million people, or 10.7 percent of the U.S. population over age 20 have diabetes.

·         The percentage of the population with hypertension (high blood pressure) has increased from 21.7 percent (1988-94) to 26.7 percent (2001-04).

·         Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.

·         While deaths from heart disease and stroke have declined due to improvements in long-term and emergency care, cancer deaths have remained relatively constant since 1950, at about 200 deaths per 100,000 people.

·         Only 31 percent of adults over age 18 engage in regular physical activity (three or more sessions per week of at least 20 minutes each).

Take control of your health, don't expect your doctor to do it for you!

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[i] Anderson, G. F., U. E. Reinhardt,  P. S. Hussey, and V. Petrosyan.  (2003).  It’s the Prices, Stupid:  Why the United States is So Different from Other Countries.  Health Affairs, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 89-105.

Another Reason for Taking your Vitamin C

You always knew that Vitamin C was good for you, but did you know that it reduces blood pressure?  A recent study has linked high blood levels of vitamin C with lower blood pressure in young women.  This study, which involved about  250 women who were between 11 years old when they entered the study.  It tracked them over a 10-year period and found both their systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings were inversely associated with ascorbic acid levels (Nutrition Journal December 17, 2008; 7:35)

Previous research has already linked high plasma levels of vitamin C with lower blood pressure among middle-age and older adults.  Several studies have examined the effect of vitamin C on blood pressure. Vitamin C, an antioxidant, helps neutralize cell-damaging free radicals. Research has shown that antioxidants can help to reduce high blood pressure, possibly by protecting your body's supply of nitric oxide, a molecule that relaxes blood vessels.

Previous research has also confirmed that adding vitamin C to your diet can help to reverse the degenerative process caused by free radicals resulting in lower blood pressure levels.

In addition vitamin C can also give extra power to other antioxidants, such as catechins, which are naturally occurring antioxidants found in green tea.  Green tea has been linked to heart- and cardiovascular health because it improves both blood flow and the ability of the arteries to relax. One 2007 study discovered that complementing green tea with either citrus juices or vitamin C increases the amount of catechins available for your body to absorb (Science Blog November 13, 2007).

Other natural supplements, in addition to Vitamin C, that can help improve your blood pressure include grape seed extract and olive leaf extract.  Grape seed extract is another  powerful antioxidant that, like Vitamin C, has been shown to reduce blood pressure by an average of 8-12 millimeters. The antioxidant power of grape seed extract comes from proanthocyanidins. Scientific studies have shown that the antioxidant power of proanthocyanidins is 20 times stronger than vitamin C and 50 times stronger than vitamin E.

Finally, one recent study found that  supplement users taking 1,000 mg of olive leaf extract per day showed a substantial dip in their blood pressure and lowered levels of LDL cholesterol. The active agent responsible for the hypotensive action of the olive leaf is oleuropein, which acts as an antioxidant and helps relax and dilate blood vessels.