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Pretoria Health and Wellness Research Hub, Pretoria (2026)

25/10/2024

Straight from the heart
When people envision a heart attack victim, it's usually an older male that comes to mind. However, this perception is far from accurate.

Heart disease and its related conditions can affect anyone. According to Dr Anchen Laubscher, medical director of the Netcare Hospital Division: “One in three men and one in four women will have a heart condition of one kind or another by the time they reach the age of 60. This avoidable health crisis will increasingly strain our healthcare system unless individuals take ownership of their health and lifestyle choices.”

Clicks Pharmacist, Waheed Abdurahman, agrees: “Heart disease is a serious issue. Regardless of race, age or gender you can improve your heart’s health and reduce your chances of disease by simply making small changes to your lifestyle.”

September is National Heart Health Awareness month and South Africans are being encouraged to keep the engine room of their bodies running smoothly. “There are a number of vitamins and supplements on the market which claim to support heart health. However, many of these have not been the subject of rigorous trials and we would probably be wise to view them with some wariness,” Laubscher says.

“On the other hand, the benefits of supplements such as Omega 3 oils are quite well documented and some doctors prescribe them to patients to support heart health or to assist deal with cardiovascular risk factors such as high cholesterol. It is certainly one of the most commonly taken supplements for heart and general health. Omega 3 oil is an anti-inflammatory agent, which assists in keeping the heart and vascular systems healthy.

“Red yeast rice is another supplement that is used to lower ‘bad’ cholesterol, improve blood flow and help prevent heart attack. It is derived from a type of yeast that grows on rice and has become very popular in South Africa in recent years. Some of the other supplements that may benefit your heart include B-Complex vitamins (B6, B12, folic acid), fibre, niacin, plant sterols and green tea extract.”

In recent years South Africans have been exercising less. Our dietary habits have also worsened. “Cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, high cholesterol levels, diabetes and obesity have increased dramatically,” Laubscher says. “A heart attack generally translates into many years of unhealthy habits.

It occurs when the supply of nutrient-rich blood to the heart muscle is reduced or stopped. While there are many reasons for a reduction in blood supply, arteriosclerosis, an arterial disease that causes a narrowing and blockage of the arteries, is one of the most common. Many scientific studies show that certain risk factors increase the risk of coronary heart disease. High blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, cigarette smoke and physical inactivity are considered modifiable high risk factors while diabetes mellitus and obesity are contributing risk factors.

Individuals should take control of what are known as their modifiable risk factors, such as their diet. If you want to have a healthy heart, you need to have healthy eating habits since all the food you consume affects the health of your heart.”

Before you decide that life is going to be incredibly dull without your favourite foods, take heart (pun intended). Alcohol can be good for you. “In recent years there have been some widely publicised studies that show that a moderate intake of alcohol may have some health benefits,” says Laubscher. “However … people who regularly drink excessive amounts of alcohol are damaging their health and their hearts.”

25/10/2024

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25/10/2024

High blood pressure: The silent killer
Many articles have been published on the dangers of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. However, relatively little information is readily available on low blood pressure (hypotension).

According to medicinenet.com, your blood pressure is expressed as systolic/diastolic blood pressure – for example, 120/80. The systolic blood pressure (the top number) represents the pressure in the arteries as the muscle of the heart contracts and pumps blood into them. The diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) represents the pressure in the arteries as the muscle of the heart relaxes following its contraction.

A normal blood pressure reading would be 120/80 at rest. Low blood pressure symptoms occur when blood pressure is less than 90/60.

Dr Tai Seng Shierenberg, general manager at Netcare Sunning-hill Hospital, answered a few questions about this physiological problem.

What causes low blood pressure?

Insufficient blood volume, blood loss or dehydration or electrolyte imbalance can cause it. Insufficient vascular tone, such as sudden severe infection or septic shock, as well as insufficient output from the heart due to a weak heart or a heart that beats irregularly, too slowly, or too fast can also be a cause. One of the rarer reasons the heart beats abnormally is due to conduction disturbances within the heart muscle, whereby the electrical impulses are conducted along pathways that are diseased or abnormal.

This could be congenital or due to an ageing heart which is chronically deprived of blood and oxygen or due to a number of other causes including drug side effects, metabolic disturbances etc.

There are a number of additional underlying causes to low blood pressure, including pulmonary embolus, acute myocardial ischemia (when a heart muscle is acutely deprived of oxygen), aortic stenosis, myocarditis and pericarditis (inflammation of heart muscle and covering respectively), hormonal disturbances (adrenal insufficiency) and side effects from drugs.

What are the symptoms?

Weariness, feeling weak or tired, feeling light headed, impaired vision, dizziness, especially when standing up, loss of consciousness, and falls.

What are the dangers of having low pressure?

You can succumb to the underlying pathology or the underlying causes if it goes unrecognised and untreated. If you lose consciousness and fall over, then obviously you will run a high risk of injury to head, spine, hips, legs and other long bones, which easily fracture in the elderly.

Is it as dangerous as high blood pressure?

The dangers are different and usually more acute and short term in nature, so you must take low blood pressure seriously. The ffects of high blood pressure evolve over time and can be managed with appropriate drug therapy.

How is low blood pressure treated?

Doctors will identify and address the cause. If it is a very acute problem such as a haemorrhage, severe dehydration, sepsis or cardiac event, the patient will need to seek emergency help and will be presented to an emergency department in hospital, and/or consult with a physician or a specialist cardiologist or surgeon in the case of acute blood loss due to injury.

How do you know if dizziness is normal or if it is a sign of a low blood pressure problem?

Have your blood pressure measured and a thorough examination of your cardiovascular system. Have your doctor check, or check yourself for any signs suggestive of the above conditions. Hypotension could be the problem if you get dizzy when standing up. Likewise the blood pressure will noticeably drop from measured when lying down and then changing to the standing position.

Why do you think this affliction doesn’t get much attention in comparison to other illnesses?

It is a sign of serious underlying pathology and certainly receives acute attention if a patient presents in hospital, where it would be aggressively managed by managing underlying causes. Having said that, a lot of elderly people suffer falls and sustain injuries as a result. Often the question to ask is: why did this patient fall? Is there some underlying cardiac problem that has gone unnoticed and untreated?

24/10/2024

Heart attacks increasingly affecting younger men
Heart attacks are no longer just linked to the aged with one in five heart attack patients being younger than 40

The news of a heart attack claiming the life of cricket legend, Shane Warne at only 52 years of age sent shockwaves across the cricketing world.

Warne’s sudden passing sparked an important conversation around men’s habits and their impact on cardiovascular health.

Nicole Jennings, spokesperson for Pharma Dynamics said heart attacks are no longer just linked to the aged with one in five heart attack patients being younger than 40.

“What many don’t realise is that there are usually no signs or symptoms of high blood pressure (hypertension) or high cholesterol, yet both increase your risk of a heart attack and stroke. That’s why it is so important to have these checked by your GP on a regular basis, especially if you’re 40 and older.”

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in South Africa after HIV/AIDS where every hour five people suffer a heart attack.

Jennings said heart disease is preventable.

“The earlier you start to look after your health, the better for your heart. The first place to start is to recognise the risk factors for heart disease.”

“These include smoking, unhealthy eating leads to excess weight gain and obesity, excessive salt intake leads to water retention, physical inactivity heightens your risk of developing high blood pressure by 30-50%, heavy drinking and stress.”

Jennings said making small changes to a diet by eating more fruit, vegetables and wholegrains and reducing salt consumption is a much safer way to lose weight, than resorting to extreme dieting.

“Proactive, preventative care is the best approach to reduce heart attack deaths among middle aged men. We urge men 40 years and older to have regular heart checks done. This will inform your doctor about what lifestyle changes you need to make and whether you will benefit from medicines to lower your blood pressure and/or cholesterol levels.”

Warning signs of a heart attack in men include chest pain and/or discomfort, which can spread to the arms, neck, jaw or back. Dizziness or light-headedness, feeling nauseas, indigestion, unexplained sweating or shortness of breath are also critical signs.

24/10/2024

Eating dairy every day may lower risk of diabetes, high blood pressure
Eating two or three servings each day could reduce the risk of certain health conditions, according to new research.

New research has found that eating a diet rich in dairy products appears to be linked to a lower risk of certain health conditions, including diabetes and high blood pressure.

Carried out by an international team of researchers, the new study looked at 147,812 participants aged between 35 and 70 from 21 countries: Argentina; Bangladesh; Brazil; Canada; Chile; China; Colombia; India; Iran; Malaysia; Palestine; Pakistan; Philippines, Poland; South Africa; Saudi Arabia; Sweden; Tanzania; Turkey; United Arab Emirates; and Zimbabwe.

The participants were asked to complete Food Frequency Questionnaires which assessed their diet over the last 12 months.

Dairy products included milk, yoghurt, yoghurt drinks, cheese and dishes prepared with dairy products, which were classified as full or low-fat (1-2%). However, butter and cream were assessed separately as they are not commonly eaten in some of the countries included in the study.

Other factors such as the participants’ medical history, use of prescription medicines, smoking status, measurements of weight, height, waist circumference, and blood pressure and fasting blood glucose were also recorded, and participants were then followed for an average of nine years.

The findings showed that eating at least two servings of dairy each day is linked to an 11 to 12% lower risk of diabetes and high blood pressure, while three servings of total dairy each day is linked to a 13 to 14% lower risk. The associations were also stronger for full-fat dairy than they were for low-fat dairy.

Two daily servings of total dairy were also linked to a 24% lower risk of metabolic syndrome, which is a collection of conditions that includes a higher waist circumference, high triglyceride levels, low levels of “good” cholesterol, hypertension (high blood pressure) and high fasting blood sugar, which together can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Again, the relationship was stronger for full-fat dairy; two servings of full-fat was linked with a 28% lower risk of metabolic syndrome, compared with no daily dairy intake, and eating low-fat dairy was not associated with a lower prevalence of most of the conditions that make up metabolic syndrome.

The researchers point out that the study is an observational one, and so they cannot establish a cause and effect relationship.

However, they add that: “If our findings are confirmed in sufficiently large and long term trials, then increasing dairy consumption may represent a feasible and low cost approach to reducing [metabolic syndrome], hypertension, diabetes, and ultimately cardiovascular disease events worldwide.”

24/10/2024

Why you should check your blood pressure regularly
If you have persistent unexplained headache, it might be worth it to get your blood pressure checked, since none of the symptoms are specific to the condition.

Hypertension, commonly known as high blood pressure, is a serious condition that can lead to cardiac arrest or heart attack, stroke, heart, kidney failure, blindness and more.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of hypertension worldwide, with an estimated 6.3 million people diagnosed as currently living with the condition – that’s one in three South African adults. Increasing the severity of the situation is the fact that many more people remain undiagnosed, so it can be assumed that the true number may be significantly higher. It is important that one checks their blood pressure regularly, especially if there is a positive family history.

Blood pressure is determined both by the amount of blood your heart pumps and the amount of resistance to blood flow in your arteries. The more blood your heart pumps and the narrower your arteries, the higher your blood pressure.

You can have high blood pressure for years without any symptoms. Even without symptoms, damage to blood vessels and your heart continues and can be detected. Uncontrolled high blood pressure increases your risk of serious health problems, including heart attack and stroke.

Although high blood pressure is most common in adults, children may be at risk, too. For some children, high blood pressure is caused by problems with the kidneys or heart. But for a growing number of kids, poor lifestyle habits, such as an unhealthy diet, obesity and lack of exercise, contribute to high blood pressure. Most people with high blood pressure have no signs or symptoms, even if blood pressure readings reach dangerously high levels.

A few people with high blood pressure may have headaches, shortness of breath or nosebleeds, but these signs and symptoms aren’t specific and usually don’t occur until high blood pressure has reached a severe or life-threatening stage.

If you have persistent unexplained headache, it might be worth it to get your blood pressure checked, since none of the symptoms are specific to the condition.

Risk Factors

Factors which may increase the risk of one developing hypertension include:

Age. The risk increases with age. At around age 45, high blood pressure is more common in men. Women are more likely to develop high blood pressure after age 65.

Race. High blood pressure is particularly common among blacks, often developing at an earlier age than it does in whites.

Family history. High blood pressure tends to run in families.

Certain medications, such as birth control pills, cold remedies, decongestants, over-the-counter pain relievers and some prescription drugs.

Illegal drugs, such as co***ne and amphetamines.

Being overweight or obese. The more you weigh the more blood you need to supply oxygen and nutrients to your tissues.

Not being physically active. People who are inactive tend to have higher heart rates. The higher your heart rate, the harder your heart must work with each contraction and the stronger the force on your arteries.

Using to***co. To***co can damage the lining of your artery walls. This can cause your arteries to narrow, increasing your blood pressure.

Too much salt (sodium) in your diet. This can cause your body to retain fluid, which increases blood pressure. Cutting out beverages with high sugar like soda, sweetened tea, all other sugary drinks should be the first step in any hypertension treatment, and can also help with shedding excess weight and reducing high blood sugar – both issues that further contribute to hypertension.

A reduction in carbohydrate consumption has been shown to be more effective in lowering blood pressure than eating a low fat diet. Reducing your carbohydrate intake to less than 100 grams per day will reduce your blood pressure by a variety of mechanisms.

Carbohydrate reduction will reduce insulin resistance and which can reduce the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, cause blood vessel relaxation and dilation by increasing the production of nitric oxide and reverse the abnormal sodium (table salt) retention from the kidneys.

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25/10/2024

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