In the News
Vascular Surgeons Group Recommends Screenings
An organization that represents the 2,400 vascular surgeons in the United States is now recommending three screenings for people age 55 and older who have risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In April 2007, the Society for Vascular Surgery announced that for the first time it was recommending the following screenings for that population:
- Ultrasound of the carotid artery to detect blockage that could lead to a stroke.
- An ankle brachial screening, using blood pressure cuffs on the arms and ankles, to detect peripheral arterial disease.
- Ultrasound to screen for abdominal aortic aneurysm.
The risk factors that indicate a need for screening include smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, a family history of abdominal aortic aneurysm, or high cholesterol. Life Line Screening offers all three screenings.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Review PAD Risk Factors With Your Doctor
In the United States, more than 8 million Americans suffer from peripheral arterial disease (PAD)—hardening of the arteries in the limbs, often the legs. PAD is caused by the same risk factors that
lead to heart disease. Those at risk include anyone over the age of 50, especially African Americans; those who smoke or have smoked; and those who have diabetes, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol or a personal or family
history of vascular disease, heart attack, or stroke. PAD is a common and treatable disease that is on the rise among midlife and older Americans. However,it is still largely unknown, often unrecognized
and regarded by many as an inevitable consequence of aging.
To learn more about PAD and to find out what you can do to “stay in circulation,” ask your health care provider to check your risk for PAD and take action
today to lower it. For more information, call the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Health
Information Center at (301) 592-8573 or visit www.aboutpad.org.
Source: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
AAA Screening Boosts Survival Among Older Men
For men age 65 and older, regular screenings for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) can cut the odds of dying in half, according to a review of four recent medical studies in England. An AAA is a weakened bulge in the aorta, and an AAA that bursts is often fatal. Screening can give advance warning of an AAA. Surgeons often repair them when they reach 5 centimeters in diameter. The review notes that surgery entails risks of its own, and patients and their doctors must weigh the risk of an aneurysm against the risk of repairing it. The impact of such screenings on the survival rate of women requires more study, the review noted.
Source: ScienceDaily
Vegetarian Spaghetti Sauce
Here’s a heart-healthy sauce that’s delicious ladled over your favorite pasta. Makes 6 servings.
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 small onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/4 C zucchini, sliced
1 Tbsp. dried oregano 1 Tbsp. dried basil
1 8-oz. tomato sauce
1 6-oz.tomato paste*
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 cup water
In a medium skillet, heat the oil. Sauté the onions, garlic and zucchini in the oil for 5 minutes on medium heat. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer covered for 45 minutes. Serve over spaghetti or other pasta.
Nutrition facts:
Serving size: 3/4 cup
Each serving provides:
Calories: 102
Total fat: 5 g
|
Saturated fat: 1 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 459 mg*
Total fiber: 5 g
Protein: 3 g
Carbohydrates: 14 g
Potassium: 623 mg |
* Note: You can reduce the sodium in this sauce to 260 mg. by using a 6-oz. can of no-salt-added tomato paste.
Source: The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
What Does Smoking Have to Do With Arterial Health?
There’s good news for smokers who want to quit the habit: Your health prospects steadily improve once you quit smoking.
A person that quit smoking as little as five years ago has the same risk of stroke as a person who has never smoked, according to the Surgeon General.
However, it’s hard for many of us to understand the connection between cigarette smoking and the health of the heart and arteries. The problem begins with the content of smoke. There are more than 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, many of them known to be toxic. These chemicals cause a cascade of health effects in the vascular system.
Among the chemicals in cigarette smoke are the addictive drug nicotine, the poisonous gases carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide, plus cyanide, benzene, formaldehyde, acetylene, ammonia and methanol.
Most people are highly aware that smoking causes deadly lung diseases, including lung cancer and emphysema. But the habit has a disastrous effect on the vascular system as well. How? Smoking causes the blood vessels to constrict, which reduces blood circulation. The toxins from cigarette smoke also injure the arteries, contributing to scarring, thickening, and the buildup of fatty deposits on the interior lining. This “hardening of the arteries” is called atherosclerosis.
Some of the fatty deposits, called plaque, can be prone to cracking and causing inflammation on the interior lining of the arteries. The body reacts to this injury by flooding the spot with blood-clotting cells. A blood clot growing on the wall of an artery can break off and block blood flow in a smaller vessel, thus robbing the heart or brain of blood—respectively, a heart attack or a stroke.
Government statistics paint a compelling reason to stop smoking:
- Smokers die an average of 13 to 14 years sooner than nonsmokers.
- Worldwide, 5 million deaths per year are attributed to tobacco use, and that figure is expected to double by the year 2020.
- People who smoke cigarettes are 2 to 4 times more likely to get heart disease—the leading cause of death in the United States— than people who don’t smoke.
- People who smoke are 10 times more likely than non-smokers to develop peripheral arterial disease.
- Smokers have twice the risk of a stroke (the third leading cause of death in the United States) over non-smokers.
- Smoking also causes abdominal aortic aneurysm.
- For every person who dies from smoking, there are another 20 people who get at least one serious illness from it.
Sources: American Cancer Society Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Society for Vascular Surgery
How Does Ultrasound Work?
Some of the health screenings provided by Life Line Screening use state-of-the-art ultrasound technology.
In medicine, ultrasound (also called sonography) uses sound waves to create pictures of features inside your body. A machine emits high-frequency sound waves toward the part of the body being screened. When those waves bounce back, that “echo” creates a picture that’s recorded. No x-rays are involved in ultrasound, and ultrasound scans can be used as often as necessary without increased risk.
Ultrasound scanners consist of an electronics console, a display screen, and a hand-held instrument called a transducer —a device that emits the sound waves and catches the echo, which is turned into the ultrasound image. These echoes can tell healthcare workers a lot about the body part being examined, including size, shape and its appearance. Doppler ultrasound is a special technique that allows technicians to measure the flow of blood through the body’s vessels.
Ultrasound waves do not pass through air or other gasses. That’s why, when you are having a body part scanned, a technician spreads a small amount of gel on your skin and sweeps the transducer over your skin and directly against the gel. The gel seals out any air that would interfere with the ultrasound image.
Beyond the screenings provided by Life Line Screening, there’s a wide range of medical uses for ultrasound. For instance, it is used to check on the development of fetuses, to detect heart damage and to identify retinal problems in the eye. It can help doctors examine the liver, kidneys, bladder, pancreas and other organs. It is used to warm joints and relieve arthritic pain, and to break up kidney stones without surgery. Doctors use it to guide a needle for taking sample cells for laboratory tests.
While some diagnostic methods involve such hazards as radiation, risk of bleeding, risk of infection, and exposure to chemicals, ultrasound is painless and non-invasive.
Sources: Radiological Society of North America www.LifeLineScreening.com
What Screenings Are Done With Ultrasound?
The following screenings at Life Line Screening employ state-of-the-art ultrasound technology. Such screenings are quick, painless and non-invasive:
Stroke/Carotid Artery Screening: To detect blockage in the carotid arteries, which could lead to stroke.
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening: To detect abnormal ballooning of the abdominal aorta.
Osteoporosis Screening: To analyze the mineral density of your bones.
Peripheral Arterial Disease Screening: To check for narrowing of the arteries
How Can I Strengthen My Bones?
When you think of bone health, you may imagine a 10-year-old being encouraged to drink his milk. But strengthening your bones is not just for kids—no matter your age, it’s never too late to improve your bone health.
Osteoporosis is a disease in which the bones are losing mass and their structure is deteriorating. Because these bones are weaker, they break more easily. It’s even possible to fracture part of your spine during daily activities, without falling or experiencing other trauma.
Osteoporosis is the most common bone disease. About 10 million Americans have osteoporosis, and another 34 million have weakened bones. Weak bones lead to 1.5 million fractures every year, most often in the hip, wrist and spine. Hip fractures are the most devastating, leading to 300,000 hospitalizations per year.
Avoiding the danger of fractures is not the only reason to keep your bones healthy. Of course, your bones are the support framework for your muscles. Bones store minerals that you need to live. They also protect organs, such as your brain, heart and lungs.
Here are ways to strengthen and protect your bones:
Move your body. “Weight bearing” activities—that is, activity in which you are carrying the weight of your own body —will help to strengthen your bones. Adults should get a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity every day. Moderate activities such as walking and stair climbing are beneficial. Having stronger muscles also reduces your chances of falling and breaking a bone.
Stock up on calcium. Dairy foods such as milk, cheese and yogurt are excellent sources of bone-protecting calcium. Also include plenty of fortified orange juice, leafy green vegetables and soybeans in your diet.
Get vitamin D, too. You can get some vitamin D just by making an outdoor stroll or gardening part of your regular activity, because your skin produces vitamin D when it’s exposed to sunlight. Also, look for foods that say they’re fortified with vitamin D—milk, for instance.
Check your bones. Find out whether you may have a bone mass problem with a quick, simple and painless ultrasound screening. Share the results with your doctor, who can diagnose and treat osteoporosis.
Source: U.S. Office of the Surgeon General
Guard Against Falls
- Here are ways to prevent falls—and therefore bone fractures—in your daily life.
- Improve your balance and coordination through physical activity.
- Install bright lighting in your home.
- Use non-slip mats in the bathtub and shower.
- Have grab bars installed wherever balance is an issue—particularly
in the bathroom.
- Don’t use step stools or small rugs.
- Wear shoes that have non-slip soles and good support for your feet.
- Remove from any walking area objects that you might trip over.
- Talk with a health professional about all of the medications you take—both prescription and over-the-counter. Some medicines or combinations of medicines can make you lightheaded or dizzy—and therefore more likely to fall.
- Have your vision checked. An out-of-date prescription for glasses or an eye condition could limit your vision and make you more likely to fall.
How Much Calcium and Vitamin D Do I Need?To protect and strengthen your bones, here are consumption levels recommended by the Office of the Surgeon General for calcium and vitamin D. To help you understand the numbers: You will get about 300 mg of calcium and 50 IU of vitamin D in either a cup of milk or a cup of fortified orange juice.
| Age |
Calcium (mg) |
Vitamin D (intl. units) |
| 18-50 |
1,000 |
200 |
| 51-70 |
1,200 |
400 |
| 70-plus |
1,200 |
600 |
How Can I Lower My Blood Sugar?
Knowing the level of glucose, or sugar, in your blood can help you understand your risk for developing diabetes.
If you already know you have diabetes, monitoring your blood sugar helps you control the disease.
Diabetes is a serious disease, and many people don’t realize they have it. By working with your doctor and other health professionals, you can devise a plan—involving the food you eat, your activity level, and possibly medications—that can prevent type 2 diabetes (often called adult onset diabetes) or slow its course if you do have the disease.
In general, widely recognized healthy eating practices will help to lower your blood sugar levels:
- Eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, favoring less starchy choices such as green beans, broccoli and spinach. Lentils and legumes (such as kidney beans) are very beneficial, too.
- Buy whole grain foods, including breads, pastas and cereals.
- Eat fish 2 or 3 times a week, and pick lean cuts of meat and skinless poultry.
- Choose non-fat dairy items (milk, cheese and yogurt) and low-calorie drinks instead of sugary sodas and fruit drinks.
- Save pies, cakes and fatty ice cream for special occasions, and reduce your intake of other high-calorie snack foods such as chips and cookies.
Physical activity offers many benefits—one of them being a positive affect on your blood sugar. Exercise uses up the glucose stored in your muscles, and when your muscles run low on this energy source they draw more glucose from your blood. So a regular exercise program will help to lower your blood sugar. If you don’t have an exercise program, talk to your doctor about starting one. For many beginners, plain old walking is a great place to start.
Find ways to put more relaxation and less stress into your life as well. When you’re feeling stressed, hormones can make your blood glucose rise. So identify the stress factors in your life and counteract them with such reliable stressbusters as exercise, social activity, hobbies and meditation.
Sources:
American Diabetes Association
National Diabetes Information
Clearinghouse
What Should My Blood Sugar Level Be?We all have glucose, or sugar, in our blood. A simple test will indicate whether your glucose level is too high and you need to take extra measures to control it. The results of the test, which is taken after fasting, are typically expressed as milligrams per deciliter, or mg/dl. Here’s how the American Diabetes Association evaluates blood glucose levels:
Normal: Less than 100 mg/dl.
Pre-diabetes: 100-125 mg/dl.
Diabetes: 126 mg/dl or higher.
Tell a Friend... You Just Might Save a Life.
You have taken the first steps on the path of prevention. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if your friends, family members and co-workers did the same?
By calling this number 1-887-237-1354, they can locate a screening in their area. Life Line Screening’s mobile units will be back in your area soon, as well as traveling to neighborhoods across the nation!
Please encourage your family and friends to call 1-887-237-1354 to schedule their vascular and osteoporosis screenings today! You could be saving their life.
His Screening Caught What the Stethoscope Missed
A contractor by trade, Harry Gross Sr. still likes to keep him self active at age 79. He owns nine rental units—which would keep anyone on his toes—and he also finds himself mowing a lot of grass. He likes to be sure of his health, though, and that’s why he was happy to get a clean bill of health during a medical checkup. His doctor even listened to the carotid arteries in his neck with a high-tech electronic stethoscope and found nothing unusual.
A few weeks later, the Hutchins, Texas, resident received a card in the mail announcing that Life Line Screening would be setting up shop at a nearby church. He asked his doctor whether screenings for abdominal aortic aneurysm, peripheral arterial disease, osteoporosis and carotid artery blockage would be worthwhile. The doctor’s reply: “Well, it couldn’t hurt.”
When Harry received his report and scan images from Life Line Screening, he was surprised. He likes to paraphrase the report in Monopoly game terms: “Do not pass go, do not collect $200—go directly to your doctor.” Harry’s screening indicated that there was significant blockage in his right carotid artery.
Harry’s doctor was surprised by the report, too. He checked again with his stethoscope and still could hear nothing out of the ordinary in Harry’s carotid arteries. The doctor sent Harry to the hospital for another sonogram and a dye test, which confirmed that there was blockage putting him at risk for a stroke. Within a few days, Harry had surgery to correct the problem.
Harry now returns to Life Line Screening every year for follow-up screenings. He watches his diet, too. Since his wife Patsy, 78, has type 2 diabetes, they are well versed in nutritious eating. “I just try to eat healthy and stay away from all of the fatty, unhealthy foods,” Harry says.
They also like to keep active. They have 4 children (all in their 50s), 12 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren—most of them within an easy drive.
They have an RV they have driven to Florida, California and Oregon. Harry likes to fish and his wife, he says, is “a computer nerd.” They also both like to read. (Harry goes for mysteries and Patsy for adventure stories.)
And anytime they get a chance, they encourage their friends to drop in at a Life Line Screening session. “It’s inexpensive, and I credit it with saving my life,” Harry says.
Patsy adds, “We tell everybody we can think of.”
Tell Us Your Story
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Be a part of our Testimonial Program. Call us at 1-800-897-9177, extension 1708.
