Doctors and nutritionists discuss overdue updates to dietary recommendations

The topic of healthy eating is on everyone's lips - and has been heavily criticized. Contradicting recommendations, dubious “experts” and, at the same time, more and more nutrition-dependent diseases: All of these are things that not only annoy experts, but also increasingly make consumers feel uncomfortable. An aspect of nutrition that is important in terms of health policy and economics is the question of whether and how consuming fat affects heart health. Since there is a lot of contradiction in this at first glance, the German Society for Fat Science (DGF) invited renowned scientists and experienced practitioners to a workshop on May 18 and 19, 2011 with the motto “Fat and Heart - An attempt to take stock” Frankfurt a.

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Already one consumption of alcohol can impair the function of the heart. This is the result of a German-Belgian study that was presented at the 77th annual conference of the German Society for Cardiology - Heart and Circulatory Research (DGK).

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The phytochemicals in tomatoes have shown in experiments to be potentially beneficial for the innermost layer of the blood vessels (endothelium), but vascular damage caused by smoking cannot be compensated for by consuming tomatoes. This is the result of a study by the Berlin Charité and the University of Jena, which was presented at the 77th annual conference of the German Society for Cardiology - Heart and Circulatory Research (DGK).

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Heart patients who regularly measure the success of their anticoagulant therapy with vitamin K antagonists themselves ("INR self-management") show a decrease in mortality risk of more than 60 percent compared to the family doctor control. This is what Prof. Dr. Heinz Völler (Rüdersdorf) at a press conference on the occasion of the 77th annual conference of the German Society for Cardiology - Heart and Circulatory Research (DGK).

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Telemedical care for patients with heart failure has a positive effect on their state of health and quality of life, and reduces the need for inpatient admissions compared to conventional therapy. The positive effects of telemonitoring are demonstrated by a number of studies that were presented at the 77th annual conference of the German Society for Cardiology - Heart and Circulatory Research (DGK).

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The possibilities of modern heart medicine and increasing life expectancy mean that more and more people are receiving an aortic valve replacement (valve of the carotid artery), including significantly older and sicker patients. It is not finally clear which valve technology is the best in each individual case. "It is important to find out which technology is best suited for which patient group and what the quality standards of the new technologies are," says Prof. Dr. Christian Hamm (Bad Nauheim) at a press conference on the occasion of the 77th annual conference of the German Cardiac Society (DGK).

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One hour of yoga twice a week appears to cut the number of atrial fibrillation episodes in half. 49 study participants with temporary ("paroxysmal") atrial fibrillation (a cardiac arrhythmia) were asked during the first three months of the study to initially engage in physical activities which they were familiar with and which they enjoyed. In the remaining three months, the test subjects took part in a program with breathing, yoga and relaxation exercises and meditation twice a week, and they were also asked to do these exercises at home with a training DVD every day. During the period in which the subjects practiced yoga exercises, the episodes of atrial fibrillation decreased from 3,8 to 2,1. The number of "felt episodes" in which a heart stumble was felt without showing any changes in the ECG was reduced from 2,6 to 1,4. 22 percent of the study participants had no arrhythmia at all. In addition, the patients' quality of life improved significantly in terms of anxiety and depression.

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A diet with a high proportion of fruit and vegetables generally has a positive effect on risk factors for cardiovascular diseases - researchers have now for the first time been able to demonstrate such a connection specifically for heart failure. As the vitamin C plasma level rises, which indicates a diet with a lot of fruit and vegetables, the risk of developing heart failure falls, according to the EPIC-Norfolk study, which is being conducted today by scientists from the Universities of Cologne and Cambridge [1] on the 77th Annual meeting of the German Society for Cardiology - Heart and Circulatory Research (DGK) presented.

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Good news for high blood pressure patients who do not respond well to medication: Overactive renal nerves that cause high blood pressure can be obliterated and switched off with a simple operation using high frequency electricity. "Blood pressure can be expected to return to normal quickly," reports DGK President Prof. Michael Böhm. (Clinic for Internal Medicine III, Saarland University Hospital, Homburg / Saar) "On average, we lower blood pressure by 30 to 40 mmHg (milligrams of mercury)." For which different antihypertensive drugs do not help either, “the method may be the therapy of choice. The results are impressive, we are very optimistic. ”According to Prof Böhm,“ the new treatment method leads to a clear and significant reduction in blood pressure not only in rest, but also under physical stress and in the recovery phase. ”

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Prof. Ulrich Kintscher (Center for Cardiovascular Research, Institute for Pharmacology; Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin) spoke out against excessive blood pressure lowering in diabetics at a press conference on the occasion of the 77th annual conference of the German Cardiac Society (DGK).

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Plant sterols or phytosterols fortified in various foods such as margarine and dairy products not only have no proven heart health benefits, but could even have negative effects. Before foods with phytosterols could be recommended, more data on efficacy and safety were needed, experts said at the 77th annual meeting of the German Society for Cardiology - Heart and Circulatory Research (DGK).

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