Yoga May Also Calm a Dangerous Irregular Heartbeat

Yoga May Also Calm a Dangerous Irregular Heartbeat

Small study found reduction in episodes of atrial fibrillation, which can raise stroke risk

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

SATURDAY, April 2 (HealthDay News) -- In a small preliminary study, the ancient art of yoga appeared to halve the number of episodes of a potentially dangerous irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation.

Three sessions of yoga a week also improved quality of life, lowering levels of the anxiety and depression which often plagues patients with this condition, according to research to be presented Saturday at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans.

"These are exciting results," said Dr. Raul Mitrani, director of the cardiac rhythm device clinic at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Although it didn't cure atrial fibrillation, he added, it did seem to cut the number of "a-fib" episodes.

Prior research had shown other heart benefits of yoga, such as lower blood pressure and cholesterol and more elastic arteries, but this is the first study looking specifically at atrial fibrillation, said the authors, from Mid-America Cardiology at the University of Kansas Hospital.

Atrial fibrillation, which affects millions of older Americans, is an irregular heartbeat that greatly raises odds for clotting and stroke. Treatments tend to be either invasive surgery (to try to eliminate the abnormality at its origin) or medications that carry side effects. Some lifestyle tactics are also helpful, Mitrani said, such as moderating alcohol and caffeine to reduce triggers.

In the new trial, 49 patients between the ages of 25 and 70 who had atrial fibrillation participated in a supervised yoga program, conducted 45 minutes a week, three times a week for three months. Sessions involved breathing exercises, various positions (asanas), meditation and relaxation. The participants were also given an educational DVD and encouraged to practice daily at home.

SOURCES: Scott Shurmur, M.D., director, preventive cardiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha; Raul Mitrani, M.D., director, cardiac rhythm device clinic, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; April 2, 2011, presentation, American College of Cardiology annual meeting, New Orleans

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Dangerous Diet Fads

How far would you go to lose weight? As obesity hits an all-time—now affecting one billion adults worldwide—many of those battling bulge are so desperate that they’re putting their health at risk with bizarre—or downright dangerous—fad diets. 

One controversial fad involves daily injections of a pregnancy hormone, human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG), plus a 500-calorie-a-day diet. Women all over America are flocking to weight-loss clinics, shelling out up to $1,100 a month for a medical visit, a supply of the hormone, and syringes to inject themselves at home, the New York Times reports. A cheaper version of the diet uses  “homeopathic” hCG drops, sprays or lozenges, products that the FDA warns are fraudulent and illegal if they promise weight loss.

Is the key to slimming down in your genes?

The HCG diet isn’t new—it’s been around since the 1950s. Since the 1970s, the FDA has required a warning on the drug’s packaging that it doesn’t increase weight loss beyond that due to cutting calories, create a more “attractive” distribution of body fat, or reduce “hunger and discomfort” from dieting, as advocates claim. More than a dozen clinical trials show that hCG is no better than placebo injections. Weight loss is a legal, but “off-label” use of the hormone, which is FDA-approved as a fertility drug for women. Side effects include swelling, headaches, breast pain, depression and blood clots, with the FDA receiving a recent report of a hCG diet patient suffering a pulmonary embolism, a potentially life-threatening condition.

Detox diets are another risky diet craze. The most popular is Master Cleanse, which calls for drinking salty water in the morning, a mix of maple syrup, cayenne pepper, lemon juice and water during the day, and laxative tea at night, for at least ten days, to flush away toxins and excess pounds. Beyonce, Demi Moore and Ashton Kucher reportedly lost weight on Master Cleanse, which lacks protein, fatty acids and crucial nutrients. The lemon/maple drink provides about 600 calories a day.

“Although you may lose weight quickly over the short term, after you go off this extreme diet, the weight rebounds with a vengeance,” says Amy Doneen, ARNP, medical director of the Heart Attack & Stroke Prevention Center in Spokane, Washington. That’s because pounds shed on detox diets are mainly water weight, due to diarrhea. Master Cleanse can trigger dehydration and electrolyte imbalances. Detoxing repeatedly can cause metabolic acidosis (excessive acidity in the blood), a condition that can lead to coma or even death in severe cases, according to a Harvard Medical School report.

Read the latest diet reviews.

Another celebrity fad is the baby food diet, linked in the rumor mill to Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Lady Gaga. Since a jar of baby food contains about 100 calories, the idea is slim down through drastic portion control. Although baby food is healthy for infants, it’s relatively low in the heart-protective fiber adults need, notes Doneen. Also, unless accompanied by milk or another source of vitamin D, baby food may not supply adequate levels of the sunshine vitamin for adults, possibly a factor in why Paltrow was diagnosed last year with osteopenia, a precursor to osteoporosis, the brittle bone disease that leads to fractures, due to vitamin D deficiency,

Some weight-loss notions that may seem far-fetched, however, actually have a basis in science: Researchers at Stanford University discovered last year that if the scale won’t budge, you might be able to blame it on your parents. Women on diets matched to their DNA lost three times more weight than those following other plans. Another inherited factor that can influence the best weight loss strategy is which variant of the ApoE gene you carry on chromosome 19, adds Doneen, who wasn’t involved in the Stanford study. “Diets should be individualized as much as possible: Some people do better on a low-fat plan and others on a low-carb diet.”

Considering a diet? Choose the right diet for you.

The skinny on how to slim down, adds Doneen, “is balancing healthy, filling foods that are low in calories, including fruits and vegetables, with exercise. Many people go on an extreme diet because they heard it worked for a celebrity and forget about the importance of physical activity to burn calories.” The CDC recommends at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity exercise, such as brisk walking, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, like jogging, along with muscle-strengthening workouts two or more days a week.

Which diet has worked best for you?

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Are Energy Drinks Dangerous to Your Health?

It’s one of the greatest marketing tricks in the history of beverages: Turning a can of obesity-inducing sugar water into the coolest product in the supermarket. Here’s how it’s done.

1. Give your can of sugar water a hip-sounding name, like Monster, Rockstar, or Amp.

2. Promise that the product will do something exciting to your body, like boosting your energy and alertness, so you, too, can be a rock star—or at least stay up as late as one.

3. Make your product sound slightly dangerous. Anything will sound cooler when grown-ups hate it: Dr. Oz calls energy drinks “addictive” and “unhealthy.” Other experts point to thousands of caffeine overdoses among young people 19 and under.

But all the hoopla surrounding energy drinks is just hysteria, right? Sure, drinking them by the six-pack isn’t a good idea, but in moderation, a single can of cold, tangy, eyeball-popping energy fuel can’t be bad for you . . .

Or can it?

Well, the truth is that while you can call a product RockStar, a more accurate name for some of their drinks might be Fat Roadie. Because while massive doses of energy drinks are obviously dangerous, adding even a single can a day of some of them to your liquid intake could cause more than 29 pounds of weight gain in a year! Below, I’ve outlined some of the worst energy drinks, and some much saner alternatives. Making these simple swaps could be the difference between Lady Gaga, and Lady Gargantua.

WORST MORNING JOLT
5-Hour Energy (1.93-oz bottle)
4 calories
0 g sugars 
Caffeine: 135 mg

Drink This Instead!
Black Coffee (12-oz cup)
0 calories
0 g sugars
Caffeine: 95-200 mg

 What’s really in 5-Hour Energy? Wouldn’t you like to know! The company claims the product is packed with a variety of vitamins and other compounds that promote energy, but when Consumer Reports recently requested a copy of the supporting research, the company balked. Here’s a golden rule of food and drink: If the company selling the product won’t put its money where its mouth is, don’t put their product where your mouth is. Bottom line: The only proven ingredient in this bottle is caffeine, and one bottle contains about as much as a cup of coffee. You know what costs much less, contains loads of natural antioxidants, and also has as much caffeine as a cup of coffee? You guessed it, a cup of coffee. No energy drink on the planet is more reliable.

Bonus Tip: 5-Hour Energy may be a lot of hype, but at just 4 calories per bottle, it won't make you fat. These sugar- and fat-laden drinks most certainly will if they're among your go-to options: The 20 Worst Drinks in America.

WORST CAFFEINATED DISASTER
Redline Power Rush (2.5-oz bottle)
0 calories
0 g sugars
Caffeine: 326 mg

Drink This Instead!
Sugar-Free Red Bull (8.4-oz can)
0 calories
0 g sugars
Caffeine: 75 mg

This is what happens when the companies that produce energy shots go to war with one another (7 hours of energy? Really?). Sipping this tiny bottle is the caffeine equivalent of gulping down about three cups of coffee, which is probably why the company's website warns minors not to drink it. Oh, and for those of us with family histories of high blood pressure, enlarged prostates, glaucoma, or any one of six other ailments, we need to consult a physician before use. The company also recommends you drink only half a bottle, but who's going to drink one-half of 2.5 ounces? That's like packing an Oreo in your kid's lunch and telling her to eat only one bite. Sugar-Free Red Bull offers the same low-cal advantage with a more reasonable amount of caffeine, which is about as much as a cup of coffee.

Bonus Tip: I get it—life is hectic. That's why we created our new book: The Eat This, Not That! No-Diet Diet, a complete day-by-day, meal-by-meal weight-loss plan for busy people who hate to diet. You can eat all your favorite foods, at your favorite restaurants, and even enjoy your favorite desserts--while shedding belly fat fast. Check it out.

WORST SODA HYBRID
Amp Energy (16-oz can)
220 calories
58 g sugars
Caffeine: 142 mg

Drink This Instead!
Xenergy Mango Guava (16-oz can)
0 calories
0 g sugars
Caffeine: 180 mg

No energy drink exposes the blurred line between energy and soda better than Amp. It is, after all, an offshoot of Mountain Dew. The difference is it’s shot through with more caffeine and all the dubious additives that give energy drinks their questionable energy appeal. But the problem with this can is the same problem that afflicts every other soda on the market—sugar. Guzzling this thing fills your stomach with 14 spoonfuls of sugar. If it’s energy you want, Xenergy promises all the same additives without any of the sugar. Consider it a modest vice.

Bonus Tip: Discover more surprising nutrition and weight loss secrets like this by following me on Twitter right here (where I'm giving a FREE iPad to a lucky follower) or by signing up for our FREE Eat This, Not That! newsletter.

WORST ENERGY SHOT
Clif Razz Energy Gel Shot (32 g package)
100 calories
12 g sugars
Caffeine: 0 mg

Drink This Instead!
Ito En Sencha Shot (6.4-oz can)
0 calories
0 g sugars
Caffeine: 40 mg

Be wary of any “energy” shot that comes in gel form. These packages are specifically formulated to replenish sugar stores to overworked muscles during bouts of high-intensity training. That’s great if you’re running a 10K, but it you’re not doing some serious athletics, expect it to go straight to your thighs, butt, and belly. For a more sustainable—and less fattening—form of energy, opt for green tea. Ito En’s Sencha Shot is just that, concentrated green tea laced with 152 milligrams of catechins, antioxidants that have been linked to weight loss. One of these tacked on to your daily routine can only do your body good.  

Bonus Tip: For simple steps to live a longer and healthier life, check out Dr. Oz's 25 Greatest Health Tips Ever.

WORST COFFEE BOOST
Starbucks Coffee Frappuccino (13.7-oz bottle)
290 calories
4.5 g fat (3 g saturated)
46 g sugars
Caffeine: 108 mg

Drink This Instead!
Rockstar Roasted Coffee + Energy Light Vanilla (16-oz can)
100 calories
14 g sugars
Caffeine: 240 mg

I’m not Rockstar's biggest fan, but they do a lot of things right, like this healthier alternative to Starbucks. Do you know how much whole milk you’d have to pour into your coffee to reach the 290 calories in this Starbucks bottle? Nearly two cups. Or how about this for comparison: This Vanilla Frappuccino has more calories than either a Snickers bar or a Wendy’s Jr. Cheeseburger, plus it has more sugar than two scoops of Haagen-Dazs Crème Brulèe ice cream. Switch to Rockstar’s lighter version of a caffeinated morning drink and you’ll cut your calorie load by two-thirds!

Bonus Tip: Here’s a much healthier way to boost your energy levels: Fill your plate—and belly—with these 40 Foods with Superpowers. The best part: You’ll strengthen your heart, fortify your bones, and boost your metabolism at the same time!

WORST ENERGY DRINK
Vault Red Blitz (20-oz bottle)
290 calories
78 g sugars
Caffeine: 115 mg

Drink This Instead!
Rockstar Recovery (16 fl oz)
20 calories
2 g sugars
 
And here it is, the biggest loser in the battle of the energy drinks. Vault packs in more sugar than any other energy drink on the market. In terms of sheer calories, Starbucks Coffee Frappuccino fares just as bad, but even it can’t claim to have more sugar than 3½ Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars. If you’re looking for the daily energy beverage most likely to give you diabetes, this might be it. Otherwise, pick something with less sugar. Rockstar's Recovery is as fine as any energy drink on the market. It contains 160 mg of caffeine—about as much as 14 ounces of Dunkin' Donuts coffee—and it's flavored with lemon juice.

Bonus Tip: If you're serious about losing weight, you need to cut down on sugar first. Problem is, many of us eat too much of the white stuff for breakfast.  You stay full longer when you swap out sugar for fiber, and we'll show you how to do it with ease right here: The 24 Best and Worst Cereals.

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