Here is the link to the Duke University article:
Women Live Longer, Not Better, Largely Because of Obesity and Arthritis

The largest factors for this seem to be higher rates of obesity and arthritis among women. The study also found that women are “gaining equality” with males  in regards to cardiovascular disease, stroke and emphysema, which previously had been less common among women.

This study struck a chord with me because I know the effects of excess weight and poor lifestyle choices in early life. My heart attack did not occur because of the dinner I ate shortly before, but happened because of the prior decades of lack of exercise, overeating and improper diet.

They say that our dietary habits are formed when we are very young. I can attest that they are hard to change and next to impossible to change without the entire family willing to make adjustments as well. However, it can be done and I urge all women to take a step, no matter how small, to keep yourself fit through exercise, including weight-bearing exercise, and to educate yourself on proper nutrition and incorporate what you learn for your sake and the sake of those around you.

What steps have you taken or would you like to take to improve or maintain your health? I’d love to read your comments.

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Herbs, supplements and to some extent, even food interact with each other and with drugs. You need to understand what those interactions and side effects could be. A personal example…

Under the supervision of my cardiologist, I take a prescription anticoagulant (Plavix) along with one full-strength aspirin per day to minimize the possibility of a clot causing another heart attack or a stroke. In researching how I could improve my health, I decided I needed to increase my intake of vitamin C and E. I also was advised by my cardiologist to start taking pharmaceutical-grade fish oil.

In researching the interactions of those vitamins and supplements I found that each is also a “blood thinner.” I found that while taking all of them, I bruised VERY easily. Even the slightest bump would cause a large bruise.

My cardiologist did not indicate that there would be any problem with the supplements I was taking.

I decided to drop the vitamins C and E other than what was in my multivitamin. Fish oil also is a “blood thinner.” So I backed off on the amount of fish oil I take. The bruising seemed to get better.

Maybe I’m a bit of a hypochondriac, but I don’t want to thin my blood to the point that I’m in danger of a hemorrhagic stroke.

Chocolate, besides being a vasodilator, is also a blood thinner. I eat dark chocolate (70% cacao) with blueberries and açai berries on a daily basis for several reasons (the subject of a blog for another day). Again, I had to do some research to learn the known interactions and side effects of everything I take.

Once again, each of us is ultimately responsible for our own health and needs to inform our health care providers
of all supplements we are taking along with the prescription drugs, but also we need to do our own research.

Here are a couple of sites that I’ve found useful for researching interactions and side effects.

http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/Interaction/ChooseDrugs/1,4109,,00.html
http://www.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/index.html (layperson’s version of Physician’s Desk Reference)

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